Two former Toronto Raptors employees forced to close their groundbreaking sneaker shop, Canada Reviews

Tucked behind Wellington Street is perhaps Toronto’s best known women-owned streetwear shop, founded by two entrepreneurs who vowed to create a brand just dedicated to female sneaker enthusiasts. Once a beloved, women-focused community, Makeway has announced they’ll be closing their long-standing physical location. 

Makeway, a sneaker boutique designed for women in Toronto, made a statement via Instagram on Thursday that their iconic storefront will be closing down for good. The store at 91 Walnut Ave. will remain open to the public on Saturday, April 11 for one last day before permanently shutting down — and transforming into an online-only shop. 

In the company’s statement, founders Abby Albino and Shelby Weaver discuss their journey from the start of the pandemic and how they made the difficult decision to dissolve the Makeway store.

“We’ve been in straight survival mode & we took a second to breathe & evaluate what the next chapter of makeway, Mack House and FTG will look like,” the Instagram statement read. “With that, we’ve made the tough decision to close our brick and mortar location at 91 Walnut Ave. We fought super hard for it to not come to this because we believe so deeply in what physical space does for community. But to be honest, we are f**king drained.” 

It goes on to say the financial and emotional stress of running the physical store had essentially extracted some of the “joy and passion” of running the business. 

The store, which was founded by Toronto entrepreneurs Albino and Weaver, has been in business since 2020. The two women originally met working for the Toronto Raptors, Weaver as the director of basketball advancement with the Raptors and Albino as a PR and marketing strategist who frequently worked with the team.

Since then, the store has remained completely by and for women. The brand was originally created to “solve the pain points for women who love sneakers but historically faced barriers,” according to Makeway’s website. 

The sneaker market has traditionally been built men, and the two entrepreneurs — after years of experience working in the basketball industry and seeing the prevalence of male athletes being represented by the top sneaker and streetwear brands — felt they needed to make a space for women in the field.

Makeway provides sneakers by brands like Nike, Puma, Dickies and other household names under one roof. They also carry streetwear apparel by similar brands as well as miscellaneous products such as health products, stationary and houseware. 

For now, Makeway will be available exclusively online.