Toronto's newest vintage fashion mecca just opened in Kensington Market

The people behind some of Toronto's most popular vintage and thrift stores just opened an ambitious new project in the heart of Kensington Market.

The closure of Kensington Market's legendary Blue Banana after 17 years of slinging kitschy trinkets and funky socks left the neighbourhood and its frequenters with an unsettled air.

Whether you actually shopped at the store or used it more for window shopping purposes and the air conditioning (or heating, depending on the season), the loss of such a major business left the distinct impression that the neighbourhood's tides could be turning — and the question of whether it would be for the better or worse hung thick like the cannabis smoke that saturates the area.

Not too long after Blue Banana's sudden closure, the smoke cleared, revealing an answer that, mercifully, did not come in the form of demolition or a chain takeover.

Instead, the store was acquired by a team of hometown heroes known for some of the best vintage stores in the city.

The whopping 8,000 sq. ft. store has officially been taken over by the owners of Public Butter and Black Market Vintage, transforming it into a sister location to Public Butter that's about four times larger than the original Parkdale haunt.

And if I may be so frank, it's also better, which means a lot coming from me, who could quite possibly rank among the top five Public Butter fans in the city.

Originally founded in 2008, Public Butter was established as a showcase spot for truly special — "butter," as co-owner Roy Levine says — vintage items staff had come across when sourcing for Black Market.

It quickly became just as popular as its Queen West forefather and, eventually, it became clear that an even bigger location could be in the cards.

Roy tells us that stumbling upon this particular location proved the "opportunity of a lifetime," and one step inside confirms that.

At first glance, the store could strike a person as overwhelming. Racks upon racks of curated vintage and deadstock clothing extend as far as the eye can see, culminating at the West end of the store with towering floor-to-ceiling windows that, in the retail space's past life, had been inexplicably covered up.

The more you look, the more you'll see. What at first appears to be little more than a box jammed with racks, shelves and funky bits of retro ephemera (like an antique piano and an old peach sorting machine that still rotates) eventually divides into themed "stalls" that can start your journey.

Independent vendors including Socksmith, a nod to Blue Banana's funky sock monopoly, occupy some of the curated spaces, while others are specifically designed around particular products, like children's clothing or sunglasses.

There's even a booth devoted entirely to Levi's denim.

Across the back, you'll find all manner of delightfully tacky trinkets, like pink plastic handcuffs and Betty Boop figurines in various stages of undress.

All down the middle is where you'll really find the good stuff: More vintage band tees and racing shirts than you can shake a $20 bill at, funky patterned windbreakers, deadstock lowrise jeans with bedazzled pockets, silk scarves, camouflage cargo pants, cowboy boots, ad infinitum.

Perhaps the best part of all is that, for the most part (save for the requisite $150 Grateful Dead tee or pricey pair of boots), the prices at Public Butter are utterly accessible. And that's by design.

"I think we're more of a vintage store, a very wide range of goods, but still curated and, you know, the accessibility piece and the pricing piece, I think might not be thrift store prices to a T, but certainly it allows people who of all kinds of economic backgrounds to enjoy vintage," Roy tells us.

Indeed, I walked away with two new tops and only minimal damage to my bank account which I doubled afterward at Augusta Coffee Bar.

As for being the new kids on the block, so to speak, Roy tells me that the neighbourhood is quite possibly the ultimate place in the city to open a new vintage store.

"The vintage sellers who call the market home have been nothing but kind and supportive," he says. "I think they realize there's room in the market for another player to offer a wider range of vintage, and the more people that love vintage, the more people we can bring down here, the better off we're all going to be."

For anyone serious about vintage, he adds, Kensington Market is the ultimate destination, so taking the neighbourhood by storm simply made sense.

And he's right; at a time where local colour seems to be draining out of vibrant communities across the city, anything that keeps up the devil-may-care, community-first attitude the Market has been known for for decades is a welcome addition.

Look no further than the sign hanging above the dressing rooms that states "You literally have free will piss yourself" for further evidence that, not only is Public Butter an utterly fitting addition to the neighbourhood, but it might just prove to be the nucleus the community has been needing.

The store is currently in its soft-opening phase, but they're planning an epic grand-opening event, including live DJs and giveaways. The date of the grand opening has yet to be announced.

You can visit Public Butter Kensington Market 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day of the week at 250 Augusta Ave.