If you’re from Toronto and were commuting to Vaughan to buy your favourite vintage pieces from the Batch Vintage showroom, or else missing out altogether, you’ll be excited to know that the fashionable thrift brand has expanded into the city.
You can now visit the Batch Vintage studio right on Dupont Street. The brand is known for a diverse assortment of contemporary and deadstock vintage pieces, inspired in turn by fashion shows, movies and TV, skate and rave culture, Y2k fashion and the unique tastes of the founders.
Arianna Stalteri and Marcanthony Spano are the couple who founded Batch Vintage eight years ago, at the time only 17 and 18 years old.
While they continue to run their private showroom in Vaughan, Spano says it was always their hope to open a space in Toronto. They only debated the idea knowing that the lack of affordable rent in the city would make the expansion risky.
“We went back and forth for a long time,” says Stalteri, “but we knew we had to do it because we wanted people in Toronto to be able to come shop in person, on a consistent basis.”
They began searching seriously over the past few months, until they discovered the Dupont studio space, run by the founder of The Welcome Market, Cindy Chau, and managed by Aleks Roxborough who also operates their thrift business Shop Feelings Vintage out of the building. Since their Vaughan showroom remains their home base and is quite expansive, they knew they didn’t need a large space in Toronto — room for five or six rotating racks was more than enough. And they plan to refresh the stock as often as they can.
Since their operating hours will overlap on Saturdays, the couple will actually be splitting up for the first time since starting their business together in order to welcome customers into both spaces. They’ll continue selling stock through Instagram story sales as well, separated by “Marc’s picks” or “Ari’s picks,” and curated based on their individual taste. A decent chunk of their customers only shop Batch Vintage this way since many of their repeat shoppers don’t live in Canada, which means Stalteri and Spano recognize them by Instagram handle but haven’t met them personally.
That’s the case for many of the Toronto customers who can’t easily get to Vaughan as well, but the couple is excited to see that change.
“We already had people come in who’ve been customers for years that we’ve never met,” says Spano. “It’s funny to put the Instagram handle to the person,” Stalteri says. The official opening day was April 14, and Stalteri says they easily saw 100 people come through their door.
The stock is pretty much the same as what you’d find in the Vaughan showroom with the exception of more traditional menswear (vintage T-shirts, namely), which they’ve noticed a higher demand for in Toronto among all genders. When they host a pop-up in the city, they often sell out of stock they’ve been holding onto for months because people have been waiting for the opportunity to shop from them.
“The feeling is similar to having a pop-up, but we get to come here every week now,” Spano says.
“We’re going to try to figure out what specifically people in Toronto want more of, but we have an idea from our story sales,” Stalteri adds. She intends to use the space to its maximum advantage, collaborating with Toronto creatives she has long admired, and hosting various styling initiatives within the space.
“I feel like this was meant to happen at this time,” she says. “We want everyone to come and feel welcome, I’m so excited to meet new Toronto people who love vintage.”
You can visit Batch Vintage at 1110 Dupont St., on the second floor, Thursday to Sunday from 12-6 p.m.
