There’s something special about shopping for the holidays at Yonge + St. Clair.

As the days get shorter and the air becomes crisp, the shops and businesses around Yonge + St. Clair adorn offices and street shop windows with lights and decorations, festive music starts playing, and holiday markets start appearing. The Holidays at Yonge + St. Clair are even better than ever. Come explore new shops, discover great eats, and spend time with your friends and family. It’s a truly magical experience.

So get bundled up, grab a hot beverage, and explore the great gifting options at Yonge + St. Clair. Today the blog explores the excellent shops in the neighbourhood that are only a short walk away. If you’re planning on shopping for friends, family, or coworkers – you’ll be able to find the perfect gift for anyone on your list right here.

Fiorio Salon & Spa – 1470 Yonge St | fiorio.com 

Fiorio Salon & Spa has been a staple to the Yonge + St. Clair community since Maurice Fiorio opened his very first shop here in 1976. Maurice saw an opportunity to make the salon & spa experience even better, and over the last 40 years, they have grown to become one of the top recognized beauty brands in Canada.

While Fioro does not offer season specific gift packages, they do have excellent Spa & Salon Packages starting at $136. Our personal favourite is the $247 Stress Reliever package, which comes with a sea salt body scrub massage, an aromatherapy body massage, facial, makeup touchup, and wash & blowdry. Fiorio also has an extensive line of haircare products and gift cards for your gift giving needs.

DAVIDsTEA – 2 St. Clair Ave W | davidstea.com 

Do you have a tea lover in your circle of friends or family? Because if you do, Yonge + St. Clair has one of the best tea shops right at the intersection in DAVIDsTEA. They have become THE one-stop shop for all tea-related gift buying in Toronto.

DAVIDsTEA has come a long way from their first storefront on Queen Street West in 2009, offering people around Canada an elevated tea drinking experience. Right now DAVIDsTEA is offering great gift options like the ’24 Days of Tea’ Advent Calendar ($40), and the ‘give one, gift one’ Travel Mugs (2 for $50), but our choice for top gift goes to the ‘Warm & Cozy’ Tea Set ($28), featuring all five of their limited edition seasonal winter teas in a very giftable box and is currently being offered at buy one, get one 50% off.

If you want to explore options outside of that, DAVIDsTEA offers over 150 types of tea and have an extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff that can guide you in the right direction.

Roots Canada – 1485 Yonge St | roots.com  

A brand as Canadian as mounties and maple syrup, Yonge + St. Clair is home to a Roots Canada that is a short walk north of the intersection.

Canada’s leading lifestyle brand is an excellent source for gift giving with their collection of women & mens clothing lines, footwear, and quality leather goods. To help you navigate their extensive catalog, Roots has created the 2016 Holiday Gift Guide with pieces ‘inspired by their heritage, but made for today,’ successfully infusing the Canadian classics with sophistication and contemporary design.

Our choice for gifting is something from their Cabin Collection like the scarf ($68) or cardigan ($118). No reason your friends and family can’t brave the harsh Canadian winters in style. Gift Cards are also an option for the less adventurous.

New Balance – 1510 Yonge St | newbalance.ca  

For the energetic friends and family in your life, Yonge + St. Clair has New Balance, which is right across the street from the Roots on Yonge.

Like Roots, New Balance has created a Holiday Women’s Gift Guide featuring great items like the Fresh Foam 1000 Boots ($195) and Shadow Jacket ($120), but our choice for gifting a runner is an item from New Balance’s Cold Weather line like the Feather Camo Tights ($100) or Heat Hybrid Jacket ($230).

If you want to completely blow your giftee away, New Balance lets you create custom shoes starting at $170. The process takes 12-14 days to complete so you’ll have to act fast if you want them ready for the Holidays.

The gift of a great meal  

One of the best things about living and working at Yonge + St. Clair is the quality of restaurants available within walking distance. Terroni, Nove Trattoria, Cava, Kwan Dim Sum, Capocaccia, Barnsteiner’s – Yonge + St. Clair is blessed with an amazing selection of sophisticated, quality dining.

For those seeking more casual options for friends and coworkers, Yonge + St. Clair serves up Scallywags, Holy Chuck Burger, Starbucks, The Jester on Yonge, Boxcar Social, Union Social Eatery, and the newly opened JJ Bean Coffee Roaster for your gift card giving needs.

Yonge + St. Clair will also be holding a Festive Holiday Market this Thursday, December 1st in the lobby of 55 St. Clair Ave W, to help with your holiday shopping!

Yonge + St. Clair really does offer everything you need for this Holiday season.

We are proud to announce the first annual Festive Holiday Market at Yonge + St. Clair!

The Festive Holiday Market will showcase unique merchandise from over a dozen local vendors, artisans, food merchants, and designers. Get ahead of your shopping, support local business, and come embrace the holiday spirit!

Vendors this year include Terra Soap Co, Menos, Fair + Squared, Steeped Tea, Arbonne, and various artists and jewellers from around the GTA!

The Festive Holiday Market will be happening this coming Thursday, December 1st on the ground floor of 55 St. Clair Avenue West and will run from 11:30AM to 1:00PM. The full invitation can be found here.

All are welcome and we hope to see you there!

It can be tough to maintain a work/life balance that includes living healthy and exercising. Luckily Yonge + St. Clair offers a wide variety of traditional and contemporary workout options for the energetic nine to fiver.

Whether you prefer a gym-based workout or something less traditional, the Yonge + St. Clair fitness community offers plenty of options to help you strike the right balance between workout and play.

Balance Fitness – 52 St. Clair Ave E – (416) 225 2623

A Yonge + St. Clair staple since 2001, Balance Fitness combines “health and fitness in a soul-soothing, spa-like atmosphere.” Balance seeks to get their clientele into a state of healthy wellbeing through a unique four-part approach. Along with personal training, Balance’s schedule also offers after work programs like kickboxing; power pilates, and foundation training to help stabilize your back. They consider all aspects of their clients’ lifestyle when developing training and rehabilitation programs. It’s “no ifs, and a better butt.”

Ultimate Athletics – 1216 Yonge St – (416) 922 8181

Ultimate Athletics is a fitness club that aspires to be a more intimate affair in comparison to the chain gyms throughout the city. Club owners Paula Ryff and Vlad Radanovic have decades of experience and pride themselves in challenging workouts with a warm and friendly atmosphere. “We hope to have the opportunity to earn your trust,” Paula and Vlad proclaim on their site. “As our clients will attest, we’re quite serious about helping people achieve their true potential.” They offer a wide range of classes that last between 45 minutes and an hour, and are available to all skills and abilities.

Ferris 360 – 1910 Yonge St – (647) 347 7707

Ferris 360 is a gym that is focuses on providing carefully crafted, 60-minute full body workouts with their FULL360 classes. They pride themselves in offering their programing during ‘convenient hours’ for the working professional. Their programming is designed for all skill levels, 3-6 times a week.

Moksha Yoga Uptown – 1498 Yonge St – (416) 868 9642

If you prefer your exercise slow, steady, and a little steamy, Moksha Yoga Uptown is the place for you. Offering yoga, hot yoga, pilates, and a bustling wellness centre with registered massage therapy, Moksha has something for everyone to zen out to. With an extensive class schedule starting at 6:30AM, Moksha offers drop in, 5-classes, or 10-class options, or if you’re a newbie they have a $60 Intro Month Pass!

Studio³ – 1228 Yonge St – (416) 964 3939

If you’re looking to focus solely on wellness through Pilates and yoga, Studio³ is “how Pilates was intended to be.” Studio³‘s instructors are all fully STOTT Pilates certified and provide a varied portfolio of yoga and Pilates disciplines under one roof. New four-week programs are launched throughout each month, with many available in the evenings.

Striation 6 – 33 Davisville Ave – (416) 972 0599

A little north of Yonge + St. Clair near Davisville Station, Striation 6 offers an extremely flexible, pay-as-you-go approach to fitness. They also offer a slate of evening fitness classes, personal training, yoga, boot camps, and boasts an extensive collection of exercise equipment for self-directed workouts. Striation 6 also provides instruction on ‘Muscle Activation Techniques’ that aim to produce more efficient muscle contractions for injury prevention and rehabilitation.

Goodlife Fitness St. Clair – 12 St. Clair Ave E – (416) 927 8042

One of the larger, well known gyms in the Toronto fitness scene is Goodlife. The Goodlife Fitness at 12 St. Clair E is a fully equipped co-ed location and offers individual machine workouts as well as group exercise classes focusing on strength and conditioning, and cardio.

Yonge + St. Clair’s Extensive Ravine System

Toronto is home to a network of deep ravines and trails that run throughout the city, and Yonge + St. Clair is lucky to be within walking distance of many. David Balfour Park, the Rosehill Reservoir, and Mount Pleasant Cemetery frequently make top 10 lists for runners and cyclists, and link to the much larger trail network of Toronto.

With Remembrance Day upon us, the entire country will be taking a moment at 11 a.m. to give a moment of silence and pay tribute to the men and women who serve, and have served this great nation in times of war, conflict, and peace. With ceremonies happening all across the nation, Toronto marks Remembrance Day with a number of beautiful ceremonies to honour fallen soldiers and veterans.

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) will be at Yonge + St. Clair‘s Mount Pleasant Cemetery for the Remembrance Day ceremony and invite any and all that can attend.

The ceremony will be held on the steps of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Mausoleum near the monument dedicated to the RCAF’s Lieutenant-Colonel William Barker, the most decorated war hero in Canadian history.

The full Remembrance Day ceremony, hosted The William G. Barker Legacy Group at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, will include remarks from RCAF Lieutenant-General Mike Hood and a flyby from a CC-130H Hercules stationed at 8 Wing Trenton.

The ceremony is set to begin at 10:15 a.m.

“On Remembrance Day, we will honour more than one hundred thousand Canadians who gave their lives in the service of their country and thousands more who came home from war zones wounded in body and mind. During the ceremony at Mount Pleasant, we will also honour the memory of Lieutenant-Colonel William Barker, a Canadian who flew with the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and Canada’s most decorated war hero. He is an inspiration to us all.” – Lieutenant-General Mike Hood, Commander, RCAF

 Access to the ceremony is through the Yonge Street entrance of the cemetery north of St. Clair Avenue. Turn left inside the gates and follow the yellow line on the road to the Mausoleum.

If you cannot attend, please take a moment at 11 a.m. and pause to pay tribute to the lives lost and the victims of war.

We will remember.

This modified press release by the RCAF was written with the permission of the RCAF and Wright & Associates Group.