In a micro condo on Mercer Street in Toronto’s King West neighbourhood, literally everything is for sale — from the furniture to the original art on the walls, the designer clothes in the bedroom closet, the decadent delights on the kitchen counter and the Turkish towels in the bathroom. Welcome to the pop-up shop 2.0.
“I want people to feel like they have walked into another world,” interior designer Nike Onile says of The Apt by 8OO SQ FT, Canada’s first shoppable apartment. “It might be a little lofty, but I want the experience to be transformative.”
Interior designer Nike Onile (Image: Sasha Huebener)
Well, it’s clearly appealing to the 100-plus shoppers who have trickled in since the opening on June 25. The Apt holds viewings by appointment only in tandem with two-day shopping parties every month. “I had somebody come in and literally buy the bedroom,” the 31-year-old says.
The idea, Onile says, was a solution to her unsuccessful search for a retail space within her budget to open a furniture shop.
Onile cut her teeth at red-hot design firm Munge Leung before starting her own practice, 8OO SQ FT, which specializes in design for small spaces and sells about 1,000 items on its website.
(Image: Sasha Huebener)
“When you have a small space, you want impact to [lend] airiness,” Onile says. “The eyes can continue with an unobstructed view.” It’s this philosophy that led her to opt for a couch with high legs and design a floor-to-ceiling metal shelving system that doubles as a feature wall in The Apt.
Housed inside a 497-square-foot studio, the shoppable apartment offers a curated collection of au courant decor: vintage and new, local and international ($40 to $4,000). Up-and-coming label Atelier Guarin’s black and white basics are all made of neoprene (and only available at The Apt). The acrylic bookends by 8OO SQ FT have already sold out. Purple Cupcake Company's baked goods almost look too good to be edible. Onile’s art piece — a canvas print covered in an epoxy resin ($900) — has everybody asking questions (and mistaking it for a painting).
(Image: Sasha Huebener)
“When you walk in, you can see it right from the front door,” she says. “It makes the space feel bigger because you are looking at the furthest wall.”
And while we know that good things come in small packages, the idea of selling retail merchandise in an intimate apartment setting is not completely new. The Apartment in Vancouver is an art gallery that displays and sells art out of a modernist one-bedroom apartment. The Apartment by The Line in New York's SoHo neighbourhood is a showroom, store and living space all in one.
(Image: Sasha Huebener)
Still, Onile is taking the concept to another level with The Apt in Toronto's entertainment district. The entire space will change with the seasons much like the world of fashion. You will currently find and linger over the summer collection, 24 storeys up with a sparkling view of the CN Tower.
The Apt, 8 Mercer St., open by appointment 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
