Queen Street Fire

It’s with great sadness that I found out about the huge fire in Toronto earlier this week that destroyed 8 stores on Queen Street, one of them being Preloved. Both Tessa and I work at the one in Montreal (4832 Boulevard St-Laurent) and have grown really attached to the brand so finding out about the Toronto store burning down was unexpected, confusing and just very sad. We communicate daily with their staff so it almost feel like we’re all part of something big and I know speaking for myself, had the Montreal location, where I spend 2-3 days a week, burnt down, I would have been extremely upset.

Not only is the store unrecognizable except for the sign above the door, but there is also nothing salvagable in the remains of the beautiful boutique. Montreal boutique owner Colin Seymour says : “It took 150 firefighters almost 12 hours to put out the blaze. […] the entire spring/summer collection, is practically irreplaceable. Despite this, Julia [Grieve, Founder and CEO] has remained incredibly positive, and swears that preloved will rise from the ashes, in a bigger, better location.”

Most of Preloved’s clothing are one of a kind, re-constructed designer clothing made from recycled clothing from various rag houses in and around Toronto. There is nothing left of Spring line that had just arrived at the store 3 days earlier and as Julia mentions in a Globe and Mail article, “The product at Preloved, it’s a labour of love. It’s not something I can make a phone call and reproduce.”

In addition to Preloved, Duke’s Cycle, the National Sound and Suspect Video many people’s homes were lost (although there was no injuries). For those people who were left homeless in the middle of winter, Scotiabank have set up the “Queen St. Fire Fund” that anyone is welcome to donate to at any Scotiabank branch.

For some more photos, go here.

Preloved at Christmas time

Preloved Fire

The Preloved spring collection is available at the Montreal location, 4832 Boulevard St-Laurent.