STORES I LOVE: montreal

BOUTIQUE DUO, prince arthur+clark
Love this store. The salespeople are always so helpful and friendly. I always make this place a weekly stop as they are pretty good about rotating whats on the shelves. Great selection of accessories. They have a extensive price range, so if you're looking for a $30 tee shirt to go with your new jeans, or a $400 Alexander McQueen oxford to wear out. I've also known them to have a pretty reasonable sale rack in the back. This place is such a one-stop-wonder, and they totally get what the stylish Montreal man is looking for. Love the aesthetic, love the experience.

U&I BOUTIQUE, saint laurent between prince arthur and ave. des pins
Slightly pricier, but beautiful and stylish clothes nonetheless. All sorts of fashion-forward labels like Acne and Phillip Lim. They always have a really wide selection of distinctive shoes. A big thing that they're pushing right now are these winter parkas from Mackage, a local Montreal winter coat maker. The salespeople can be a little pretentious and standoffish, but the selection totally makes up for it.

FRIPERIE SAINT-LAURENT, saint laurent and duluth
Off-beat, very hit or miss vintage store specializing in leather jackets. Careful, I'm not suggesting you should run off with one of their intense-hardcore-decked-out-in-fringe-texan-cowboy-revival-hipster leather jackets, but if you look carefully enough, I'm sure you can find a buttery soft, perfectly broken in leather jacket for a pricetag that won't break the bank.

BOUTIQUE MICHEL BRISSON, saint paul between rue mcgill and rue st paul
Absolute favorite. A wide array of designers, including everything from lots of accessories to the latest in contemporary suiting. The salesperson was actually helpful and interested in selling me something I wanted and looked good on me, and wasn't pushing me to buy something for the sake of making a sale. And on top of that, when I went, they were having this rediculous sale.... Martin Margiela shirts (fashion-forward design, impeccable craftsmanship) which usually retail for upwards of six hundred dollars, for $59!!!