Bloordale’s vintage staple, 96 Tears, recently opened a second location inside of the east end event space and cafe, Bevy Space — located at Dundas Street East and River Street.
The unique vintage shop selling an array of both secondhand pieces and local designers has been in business for a decade. It was originally established by owner Coletteléa Todoroff as a pop-up in Parkdale, before she joined forces with friend and fashion designer Chris Chris Koyionis and turned it into a permanent fixture on Queen Street West. They named the store after a mutually loved cover of the classic rock song by the Cramps.
It was a natural step for Todoroff, who had been invested in vintage fashion her entire life. Both she and Koyionis are from Toronto — east end and west end respectively — and met through mutual friends.
“That’s just the way the scene works,” she says.
While Koyionis was finishing fashion school, Todoroff was emerging from years of bartending, where she made a lot of connections in the city.
“At one point I felt like I’d built up enough of a community that this could work,” she remembers of her aspirations to start a business. The two were perfectly suited as business partners since Todoroff wanted someone who was familiar with menswear and Koyionis was debuting in the fashion industry with frustration at the unaffordable nature of designer clothes (obvious solution: vintage).
The vision was to curate a selection that was a little bit more fashion forward, but resided within an androgynous play.
“I think, because it’s Chris and I, I really try to meet in the middle and have it feel like it’s for everyone,” Todoroff says.
They also began making their own clothes and working with local designers. The first designer whose work they began selling was their longtime friend, Zoë Baranski, who had done styling photography for them.
“She’s brilliant,” says Todoroff, “so it was a no brainer.”
After five years in Parkdale, the city started a multi-year construction project at the intersection occupying their shop, so they packed up and moved to Bloor West. It was late 2019 and shortly after the new location opened, the pandemic hit.
They’ve been recovering ever since, but Todoroff says it’s been hard. So when their mutual friend, Bevy Space owner Phil Song, suggested that they open a new location in his space, Todoroff knew it was time. Song was looking to host a business that would be passionate about the space and would be interested in events programming, which 96 Tears has been doing for years.
“We thought, ‘Why don’t we take this risk? We’re ready for something more,’” Todoroff says.
The team hosted a launch party at Bevy in their house style – with live performances by local musicians, local vendors and cheap food and drinks. Jamaican-Irish singer-songwriter Quarterback Baby, and self-proclaimed SoundCloud rock musician Emmett S. Webb both performed, while screenings of their recently released videos played on the wall. Vendors included Good Habits vintage, Tiger Mania Records, Ragdoll Vintage and limited batch designer Sapodillas (which 96 Tears sells in-store). Todoroff says visitors can definitely count on events like this going forward.
Since Song operates two Bevy spaces, 96 Tears may see even more expansions in the future. Todoroff says that if it works out, the next move will be to set up a gift shop in Bevy’s Wellington Street location, which is a little more high-end. There, 96 Tears would sell a selection of housewares, figurines and jewelry. Since Song hopes to open a third location as well, Todoroff says she can even envision 96 Tears contributing to that with a gallery segment featuring vintage art.
“There’d be a continuity with our branding,” she explains, “but the locations are close by so we would be able to easily direct people to them.”
In the meantime, the Dundas Street East location will serve a more curated version of the main 96 Tears. “The vibe is going to be similar,” she says, “but we’re going to do larger drops, and they’ll likely be themed.”
96 Tears x Bevy Space is open Sunday-Friday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at 738 Dundas St. E.