Montreal's Best Cool Concept Stores

Source: By SIMONA RABINOVITCH

Posted: 11/20/09 2:39PM

Filed Under: Canada Travel Guide

Old Gold

One of the city's coolest and most unique boutiques, Old Gold stocks hip clothing, most of which is imported from or influenced by Asia. Owner Jonah Leslie (also a DJ, dancer and all around artiste) is tuned into cutting-edge trends from the Far East before they hit North America and has a knack for finding the coolest treasures on earth. Shop online at the store's recently-revamped lifestyle website, www.oldgoldboutique.com.

256 rue Mont-Royal Est., 514-509-1675

Commissaires

Part gallery, part cutting-edge furniture and design shop, this ahead-of-its-time space illustrates what the store sells: functional art. Every single thing in this Mile End mecca, from lighting to floors; furniture to accessories (by different international designers) shares a certain theme. Then, every few months, Commissaires starts over, tearing up the space and rebuilding it with a new theme, new stuff, new designers. Even if you can't afford to buy these designer pieces, just walking through the space demonstrates how art and life can be intertwined.

5226 boulevard Saint-Laurent; 514-274-4888; www.commissairesonline.com

Surface Jalouse

Graphic art is everywhere these days, with designs embossed on T-shirts, blazers, notebooks, linens, and now, your walls and furniture. Featured in the likes of Vanity Fair, an innovative Montreal design boutique can help you turn ordinary objects into customized - and functional - works of art. Even the shop's name is sexy and modern: Surface Jalouse (www.surfacejalouse.com). The shop sells a gorgeous collection of murals that are the new wallpaper; embossed furniture; and vinyl decals you can apply to virtually any surface (walls, ceilings, furniture, mirrors.) You can also commission a custom design from a graphic artist. And if your fear of commitment extends beyond relationships, no problem, the decals come off as easily as... well, use your imagination.

2672 Rue Notre-Dame West, Montreal; 514-303-6220; www.surfacejalouse.com