Good Rebel

It's so good to have an all-vegan store back in Toronto. I mourned the closing of the vegan store on Bloor (don't remember the name) and the vegan store on St-Laurent in Montreal, so it seems like a tricky business mode to pull off long-term. I hope Good Rebel can go the distance!

First, the good: I walked in here and literally found no fewer than THREE products that I'd been looking for at various health food stores across the city (and beyond) for MONTHS. If there's a vegan thing that you can't find elsewhere, they might just have it here. (For the record, the things I was looking for were Field Roast Fieldburgers—the best veggie burgers around—Silk Hazelnut Almond Creamer, and the new Go Max Go bar, 2fer (based on Twix). You better believe I walked out of there with a smile on my face and my backpack full of fulfilled vegan dreams.

I really like the Good Rebel merch that they have had made: the hats with their "chick" logo are really nice, and the "TOFU VS EVERYBODY" (a take on the "TORONTO VS EVERYBODY" shirts you see everyone wearing around the city) are clever and awesome. I wasn't expecting "exclusives" of this variety when I walked in, so it was a cool surprise! I wouldn't mind seeing more vegan shirts (BEET X BEET, Compassion Co, Herbivore) in the future.

The downside, which you might expect, is that prices are going to run a bit higher than you might encounter at a health food store in Kensington. You probably aren't going to grab your staples here, but just those items you can't get elsewhere. That said, Dandies marshmallows were actually priced lower than I'd EVER seen them anywhere else ($3.15 a bag, including the pumpkin-flavoured ones!). The shelves are also not bursting with stuff just yet, but it's new and I'm more than willing to give them time!

I don't often get to this part of town—Dundas West, between Landsdowne and Ossington—but whenever I do, I'll stop in Good Rebel every time from now on.