There’s a new market in town! Meet the vintage expert breathing life into St. Lawrence with the buzzing Sunday Variety Market

Can shopping have a deeper meaning? That is a question vintage fashion seller Kealan Sullivan has been exploring ever since she opened her first shop, 69 Vintage, on Queen Street West in 2004.

Since then, Sullivan has brought the city a by-the-pound boutique, a highly curated vintage-slash-gallery concept and most recently Hippie Market, a travelling pop-up for fashion vendors that she established with her husband, Alistair Kyte, in 2017.

Sullivan’s latest venture, Sunday Variety Market, is bigger, broader and more ambitious. It takes place in a fixed location, under the big white tent at St. Lawrence Market, and replaces the beloved Sunday Antique Market, held at this location for 31 years until it closed permanently during the pandemic. The next market takes place Sunday, July 9, then July 23 (check upcoming market dates at sundayvariety.com).

Sundays, as Sullivan calls it, has a festive feel. A DJ plays retro pop, funk and disco — what she dubs “calypso meets Fleetwood Mac meets roller skating music.” There’s seating inside and outside for soaking up the vibe with an artisanal ice cream, gourmet Jamaican patty or a cup of South Indian coffee. You can pick up some locally grown flowers.

Of course, there is also plenty of great stuff to shop. Sullivan says some 900 applications flooded in when the new market was announced. Some of the original sellers from this spot are back; Sullivan estimates about a third are “experienced antique and collectibles vendors.” Then there are clothing dealers from the Hippie Market and a raft of new makers. You’ll find everything from skull-shaped candles, handmade rug art, books and art prints to jewellery and watches, retro kitchenware, textiles and vintage Gucci flats.

The common denominator? “A yearning for meaning in what we buy, and an experience found buying it,” unlike going to the mall, saus Sullivan. “It could be a new full-length crocheted robe that you realize was made by hand, link by link, or it could be a hundred-year-old mirror,” she says. “The vendors have stories and knowledge to share, the pieces have their own stories, and then the buyers have a new story about how they found the piece and how it resonates for them.”

Being part of a collective like Sundays gives makers and sellers exponentially greater reach. “Starting a clothing or antique or lighting or record shop in this city is prohibitive,” says Sullivan. “We are creating a new economy: circular, local and inclusive.”

It is also a way for generations to mix. “This is a social environment that is not a bar, not a gallery, has nothing to do with career,” Sullivan says. “You have younger and older people interacting and sharing knowledge, in both directions.”

Vintage collectors are passionate about their areas of expertise, and finding a kindred spirit who collects, say, pink glass or hand-painted cowboy boots sparks connection. “It is an important IRL antidote to our digital lives,” Sullivan says.

When you enter the market, you’ll see a large Sundays banner made of patchwork denim. It was commissioned from artist Micheline Wedderburn and made with fabric Sullivan collected from vintage shops that were cutting off jean legs to make shorts. The patchwork will gradually take over the market backdrop, growing and evolving as artists embroider and add to it over time, a fitting symbol for what is being created here.

Kealan Sullivan’s guide to the best of Sunday Variety Market

Norman Hart Hidden Treasures has royal memorabilia and vintage pop collectibles.

Bohemian Blooms Shop has beautiful vanity mirrors, a huge pink glass collection, and bohemian housewares and plants.

Love Not Fear offers great handmade rings; the gemstone rings run $75 to $120, brass rings from $35 to $45.

Phoenix Vintage Collection stocks rare antique silk and rayon slips and underpinnings, all in exquisite condition, $90 to $120.

Selector Records has a fabulously curated selection of rare vinyl, including an impeccable condition John Lennon / Yoko Ono Double Fantasy album ($20).

Fractal Flow designer Marigeli Mora made custom Sundays bracelets ($35 to $45) for the market’s launch.

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