The Refinery

When Cher Thornton first started wearing vintage clothes in high school, she hunted for items in large thrift stores as true vintage shops were a rarity. Even when she took over The ReFinery from its previous owner in 2007, it was just one of a few vintage stores in Toronto located outside of the Kensington Market hub. “But now, there’s tons of vintage everywhere,” Cher says, explaining how the attitudes toward and demand for vintage has evolved over the years. “The whole appropriation of the word ‘vintage’ is a recent thing. Vintage as a concept is far more mainstream than it was seven or eight years ago.”

The way that The ReFinery stands out in a market that Cher admits is now “a bit flooded” is by stocking a curated selection of garments and refined textiles like cashmere and silk. Cher’s eye for great pieces has proven successful as The ReFinery is known as a source of high quality yet affordable vintage in The Annex. The shop is located on the quaint and historic Markham Street in Mirvish Village just below Vintage Bride, a wedding dress shop that Cher also owns and operates. In The ReFinery, you’ll see everything from retro work blouses to sequined party dresses and collegiate cardigans, along with some more unusual pieces like a fringed leather vest or a lace-trimmed jumpsuit, the latter of which Cher says she was particularly thrilled to find.