HomeShopping in Cabbagetown
Cabbagetown Shops: The Independent Shops on Parliament Street
Parliament Street still does what a neighbourhood high street is for. Within a few blocks there is a hardware store, a butcher, three bakeries, a florist, a bike shop and a pet shop, nearly all of them independents.
The shops of Cabbagetown sit almost entirely on one street. Parliament Street, from Gerrard Street East up to Wellesley, is where the neighbourhood buys its bread, its screws and its birthday flowers, and a short stretch of Carlton Street west of the corner adds a few more. East of Parliament the streets are houses, front gardens and not much else.
The strip is covered by the Cabbagetown Business Improvement Area, established in 1982, which the City of Toronto describes as a mix of retail shops, restaurants and cafés, health and wellness providers and other services. That mix is the useful thing about it. A walk from Carlton to Wellesley passes a pharmacy, a bike shop and a furniture store as well as the gift shops, which is why people who live here do most of their errands on foot.
This page lists the independent shops that were trading in September 2026. Places to eat and drink have their own restaurant guide.
Food shops: the grocer, the bakers and the butcher
Cabbagetown Organic Fine Foods, 499 Parliament Street. A family-run organic grocer with fresh produce, pantry staples, kombucha and a shelf of vegan and keto snacks. Older neighbourhood directories list it simply as Cabbagetown Organics; it is the same shop at the same address.
Absolute Bakery & Cafe, 589 Parliament Street. A French-style bakery at the corner of Amelia Street, known for its croissants, danishes, éclairs and fruit pies. There is a counter for coffee, but most customers leave with a paper bag.
Tasso Baking, 540 Parliament Street. A small croissant counter open on weekends only. Its founders, Mike and Olyana Tasso, started out with a café in Newmarket in 2011 before the croissants took over. Batches are small, and on a busy Saturday morning the counter can sell out, so going early pays.
Daniel et Daniel, 248 Carlton Street. Just west of Parliament, a catering house that has worked from a renovated Victorian building on Carlton since 1980, with a food shop in front for pastries, cakes and ready-made dinners.
Two long-established food shops, The Epicure Shop and St. James Town Steak and Chops, are described in the food shops section of the restaurant guide. Together with the bakeries they are enough to stock a picnic for Riverdale Park.
Home, hardware and furniture
Royal Home Hardware, 485 Parliament Street. The neighbourhood hardware store, a member of the Home Hardware group. Victorian houses need a steady supply of small repairs, and this is the hardware store on the strip.
Kendall & Co., 514 Parliament Street. An interior design business that opened a shop on Parliament after starting as a design practice in 1998. It sells upholstered furniture made in Canada, lighting, rugs, wallpaper and the smaller things that finish a room.
Parliament Furniture, 465 Parliament Street. A family-operated furniture store, in business since 1994, with delivery across the downtown streets around it.
Gifts, jewellery, flowers and books
Artisan MRKT, 503 Parliament Street. A shop that gathers work from Canadian small makers under one roof: jewellery, art prints, candles and things for the home. It opened in December 2024.
FTJCo Fine Jewellery, 576 Parliament Street. A jeweller founded in 1996 around materials with a traceable, ethical origin. The Cabbagetown studio designs custom pieces and does repairs.
Blooming Flower Bar, 559 Parliament Street. A mother-and-daughter flower shop selling cut flowers, plants and pots, opened shortly before the pandemic by a founder who had run a landscaping business before.
Great Hall Bookshop, 416 Parliament Street. A newer arrival near the Gerrard end of the strip, selling new and second-hand books, vintage comics and prints by local artists.
Akasha Art Projects, 204 Carlton Street. A framing workshop and small gallery, established in 2009, with a particular interest in photography.
Everyday errands
Cabbagetown Drug Mart, 422 Parliament Street. An independent pharmacy, separate from the chain drugstore further south on the street.
Cycle Solutions, 444 Parliament Street. A bicycle shop for sales and repairs. Its Parliament Street store listed hours seven days a week in 2026.
The Beastiary, 570 Parliament Street. A pet shop with natural and eco-friendly supplies for dogs, cats, birds and small animals, and a section of live fish and reptiles.
Shops that have gone
A high street changes, and a few names that still turn up in older guides no longer trade here. Labour of Love, the gift shop on Carlton Street, closed in May 2024 after two decades. Spruce, the home and vintage shop on Parliament, has also closed its Cabbagetown store. Treat any list of Parliament Street shops more than a year old with care, this one included once it ages.
Shopping as part of a walk
The shops fit easily around the heritage walk, which crosses Parliament Street at Carlton near its start and finishes at St. James Cemetery at the north end of the strip. Walking back down Parliament from the cemetery gates passes nearly every shop on this page in about fifteen minutes.
A few practical points. Tasso Baking opens on weekends only. The street is at its busiest on the September festival weekend, when Parliament is closed to cars and the sidewalks fill up. Many of the side streets use residents’ permit parking, as the living in Cabbagetown page explains, so the 506 Carlton streetcar or a walk from Castle Frank station is the easier way in.
Questions
Where are the shops in Cabbagetown?
Almost all of them are on Parliament Street between Gerrard Street East and Wellesley Street East, with a few more on Carlton Street just west of Parliament. The residential streets east of Parliament have hardly any shops at all.
Is there a grocery store in Cabbagetown?
Cabbagetown Organic Fine Foods at 499 Parliament Street sells organic produce and pantry goods. For fresh bread there are Absolute Bakery at 589 Parliament and, on weekends only, Tasso Baking at 540 Parliament. From spring into autumn the Tuesday farmers' market sets up in Riverdale Park West.
Is there a hardware store on Parliament Street?
Yes. Royal Home Hardware at 485 Parliament Street is a member store of the Home Hardware group and covers the usual household and repair needs.
Where can you buy flowers or a gift in Cabbagetown?
Blooming Flower Bar at 559 Parliament Street sells cut flowers and plant gifts. Artisan MRKT at 503 Parliament gathers work by Canadian makers, and FTJCo at 576 Parliament makes and repairs fine jewellery.
Are the shops open during the Cabbagetown Festival?
Parliament Street is closed to traffic for the festival weekend in September, and many shops trade through it with the crowds outside their doors. Hours on that weekend are set by each shop, so check before going for something specific. The festival page has the street closures.