Frank & Oak’s Atelier in Montreal.
Menswear etailer Frank & Oak is giving its Toronto followers the opportunity to buy and try its clothing and accessories first hand, with the opening of a new bricks and mortar store on Toronto’s Queen West.
Slated to open in early November, the Toronto flagship is the second storefront for the company, which started as an ecommerce venture and is now very much a lifestyle brand.
Based on a shared passion for art and technology, childhood friends Ethan Song and Hicham Ratnani founded Montreal-based Frank & Oak more than two years ago, offering custom men’s collections, sold exclusively to an online membership.
Today the company has well over 1 million members and processes more than 35,000 orders a month for customers in Canada and the U.S.
A year ago, Frank & Oak pioneered a new trend, taking the ecommerce experience to the streets with the opening of its first bricks and mortar store in Montreal’s Mile End.
Known as the Atelier, the Montreal shop epitomizes the brand, offering more than simply a shopping experience. Dubbed a “store and community space,” customers can meet the people behind the brand and even book a style consultation. While there, they can settle in for a coffee at the on-site Café Névé; or enjoy a style and shave by one of the Atelier’s resident barbers.
The new Queen West store (exact location is still under wraps) will follow suit, reflecting the brand’s lifestyle approach to retailing, with an in-house coffee bar and barbershop—the idea is to offer male consumers a one-stop shop.
It’s not the brand’s first foray into the Toronto market. Last year, Frank & Oaks opened its first pop-up shop, called The Outpost, at 737 Queen West. Open from November to early January, the shop was positioned to take advantage of the holiday season.
Founders, Song and Ratnani, are continually rethinking and reinventing the retail experience, tapping into their digital roots to give men more of what they want when it comes to shopping.
In May the duo launched a blog and bi-annual print magazine, designed to explore “the interaction between media, culture and community.” Oak Street features photo essays, profiles and, of course, fashions editorials.
And, so as not to forget fashionable sports fans, on October 15, Frank & Oak are launching a capsule collection with the Toronto FC.
