» Starbucks – Front & Frederick: wi-fi works well most of the time; seats sometimes available

» Starbucks – Church & Adelaide: wi-fi is sketchy; seats are hard to come by

» Second Cup – Church & Jarvis: wi-fi works almost always; seats can be had most times

» Second Cup – Front & Church: wi-fi always works; seats can be had most times

» Starbucks – Front near Jarvis: wi-fi usually works; seats can be hard to come by

» Starbucks – Bremner & York (near Air Canada Centre): wi-fi works well; great large shared tables to work at

» Starbucks – Church & Shuter: wi-fi usually works; notorious for people with laptops

» Second Cup – King & Bay (Scotia Plaza): worked the one time I’ve been; seats available when I was there

» Starbucks – Queen & Logan: worked the one time I’ve been; seats very scarce

Where else? There are a bunch of Toronto pubs with free wi-fi as well. Below is a list of those that I’ve personally tested out.

» Betty’s – King & Sherbourne: wi-fi works most of the time

» C’est What – Front & Church: wi-fi works most of the time; password required

» St. Louis Bar & Grill – King & Church: wi-fi worked 2 times out of 2! password required

» Beer Bistro – King & Yonge: seriously sketchy wi-fi the one time I tried it there

» The Churchmouse and Firkin – Church & Maitland: wi-worked well the one time I was there; password required

» Fox & Fiddle – Wellesley & Yonge: wi-fi works super well the couple times I’ve been; no password required

» Ciros – Bloor & Lansdowne: wi-fi worked well the one time I was there; password required

» The Only Cafe – Danforth & Donlands: wi-fi worked well the one time I was there; password required

» Foggy Dew – King near Bathurst: wi-fi worked well the one time I was there; password required

» Tequila Bookworm – Queen & Bathurst: worked extremely well the one time I’ve been; password required

» The Abbot Pub – Yonge, North of Lawrence: worked extremely well the one time I’ve been; no password required

I’ll update this list as time goes on. Hope it helped!

Sherbourne Common North

Sherbourne Common South

Sherbourne Common sits on the north and south side of Queens Quay, at Lower Sherbourne – part of the exciting Toronto waterfront development.

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For nice stuff (i.e. not The Brick, Chesterfield Shop, etc…) for your condo I found two sections of Toronto to be quite helpful. Stick to them and you’ll likely find a lot of pieces that work for your place. Basically these stores sell nice furniture that is also (mostly) ‘condo size’. The two strips of town are:

• King Street East – between Jarvis and Parliament
• Queen Street West – from around Bathurst and west until around Niagara Street

Specifically, on King Street East, try the following furniture stores:

• EQ3 – on the lower end of the price scale for this neighbourhood, but some nice accessory pieces such as ottomans
• Visitor Parking – probably my favourite of all the Toronto furniture stores I went to; check out their great selection of bar stools!
• InDesign Furnishings – a good selection of couches, chairs and more; great staff

… and many more. King and Sherbourne walking east is the heart of this furniture district. Closer to Parliament the stores become more expensive. Pretty much every store was on the north side of King.

For Queen West around Bathurst, try these furniture stores:

• BLVD Interiors – staff isn’t the most friendly and the selection isn’t huge, but it’s worth a try for coffee tables and the like
• Kube Home Decor – not huge but a good selection of wall coverings and the place I finally scored a really nice condo-size TV stand after looking everywhere!
• Urban Barn – not a huge selection but a wide range of items; really helpful staff
• Pavilion – another shop with nice stuff

… and many more. Take a stroll from Queen and Bathurst till just before Trinity Bellwoods Park and you will find many furniture stores selling condo size items. Most stores are on the south side of Queen.

Other places around Toronto:

• DeBoer’s at College Park (Yonge and College) – super helpful staff; huge store
• Royal Lighting on Avenue Road at Lawrence – very helpful with a huge selection of lamps
• Umbra right near Queen and John – for smaller items to round out your condo
• Leon’s Roundhouse on Bremner by the Rogers Centre – Yes, really. It’s on the low end of this list of furniture shops, but it worth a look for condo-size items; Can pick up items yourself ‘up north’ at another store if you want to get them ASAP
• Canadian Tire (Bay & Dundas, or Yonge & Davenport) – No, really. For things like plants, pots, clocks, etc. you don’t have to spend a mint!