A trio of very fashionable entrepreneurs are making their mark on Toronto’s fashion scene by curating the city’s first vintage department store, dividing up their Queen West shop into a menswear department curated under one brand and a womenswear department curated under another.
Toronto is home to massive department stores such as Holt Renfrew, Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue, divided into sections and featuring different brands —but until now, no one has tried to do the same for vintage. The lower level of the store is Cameron Alastaire Vintage (CAV), a men’s vintage designer store focused on men’s suiting, plus accessories. It was originally launched by Cameron Wilson in August of 2023, in the lower level of his friend Angela Phung’s now defunct boutique, Aka The Store. Phung now co-owns CAV with Wilson and fellow entrepreneur Karen Estrada, who also serves as the face of the new women’s brand upstairs, CA.KE Vintage.
To understand how the collaboration came to be, you have to go back in time about a decade. Wilson had been Phung’s neighbour, operating an earlier boutique business down the street from Aka. Both have a long history of entrepreneurial endeavours — Phung opened TSOQ (The Store on Queen) in 2011 and operated it for eight years, while Wilson launched his boutique shop, Untitled&Co, on Bathurst in 2012, where he curated both vintage and a line of reworked pieces he designed himself.
That business has since evolved into an original streetwear line under the same name, headed by Wilson and based in L.A. where he mostly resides, with a Toronto showroom in Liberty Village. Meanwhile Phung shuttered TSOQ pre-pandemic and opened Aka in 2021, followed by dessert boutique Happy Sundae in 2022.
Estrada, on the other hand, began working in Toronto as a law clerk with a penchant for fashion on the side. She and Phung first bonded over a mutual respect for each other’s style, and Estrada began pulling clothes from Aka as she transitioned to a career in fashion styling. She grew a roster of styling clients, including several R&B artists in Toronto and the U.S.
“I remember the moment I met Karen [Estrada],” says Phung. “She had half her head shaved, a bright red lip, crop top, and these baggy jeans, she was just super badass. And I thought, ‘I need to get to know this girl.’” They’ve been close friends ever since.
When someone trademarked the letters Aka and served Phung a copyright infringement notice for her business this past fall, it was Estrada who encouraged her to not do away with fashion retail altogether.
“We really wanted to carry out the legacy of Aka the store and TSOQ in this space,” says Estrada. “Both of those stores were so beloved by the community and by a lot of very loyal regular customers.” So they decided that they would open a women’s vintage store in its place, and name it in honour of their collaboration. The acronym CA.KE is a combination of Wilson and Estrada’s initials.
Here’s what you can actually expect from the two spaces: Cameron Alastaire Vintage is designed like an old-fashioned gentleman’s study, with checkered floors, low lighting and bookshelves lining the walls. It feels like a space in which one would drink whisky while smoking a cigar, in an expensive suit, of course.
CA.KE has a similar energy of sophistication, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and glass cabinets displaying designer bags and accessories. While the shop is generally divided by department, you can also find menswear upstairs — courtesy of CAV.
“We currently have a lot of very fun dresses, a lot of sexy dresses, and a lot of sequined ones,” says Estrada. The selection also features lingerie, corsets and tailored blazers, as well as more casual pieces like jeans, sweaters and tees.
Mall brands such as Zara and H&M are priced under $50 on the low end, while designer pieces reach upwards of $1,500 for labels that include Gucci, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent.
“We want to demonstrate to our clients that something doesn’t have to be expensive to look expensive, because it’s all about styling,” Phung says.
“We consider it an approachable way to shop vintage,” adds Estrada. “You can balance the designer items with less expensive pieces and no one will know what’s what.”
The trio says both levels collectively reflect mix of all three of their personalities. “It’s been a very serendipitous journey,” says Phung.
You can shop both CAV and CA.KE at 662 Queen St. W., from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday.
