WANT Passport
WANT Passport has recently opened at Billy Bishop airport. If it has one mission, it's to keep its customers in the mile high club, or at least help them get there. It's probably Toronto's sexiest travel store and is doing what it can to keep those lofty, free-wheeling 60s and 70s ideals alive.
The brainchild of Montreal's WANT Les Essentiels De La Vie (Dexter and Byron Peart, Mark Wiltzer and Jacqueline Gelber), the shop has a footprint spread over one main store and two kiosks in the departure lounge that fold out like the LV travel steamers of luxury travel yore. They stock so many brands it's hard to really list them all, or even fit them all into a carry on, but I'll do my best to highlight what caught my eye.
As a weary traveller knows, freshening up after a long flight with a good tooth brushing in the airport washroom is truly an essential, so it's no surprise that the toiletry section is one of the shop's strong points. WANT Passport features real badger hair toothbrushes from Koh-i-noor ($22) (synthetic available too, $18) as well as industrially-design Yumaki toothbrushes from Japan ($12).
And because the post-flight tidying up process can only keep one comfy for so long, WANT Passport also stocks Sweden's White Briefs sleepwear , a luxurious line of simple pima cotton pajama tops and bottoms for men and women, housed in minimalist Swedish packaging (~ $100-$200).
As one of the partners in the venture, Japanese-inspired French music and clothing label Maison Kitsune their full catalog of 14 taste-making electro artist compilations available here in both cd ($25) and vinyl ($15), as well as the small but powerful expandable accordion-like X-Mini portable bluetooth speaker ($120).
Since dancing in the aisles is probably going to annoy other passengers, amost of us probably aren't going to get much use out of this speaker in-flight. But it still packs a punch and is a great little travel gadget to have on the road.
WANT Passport is very much an accessories store which gives way to the inherent extravagances of accoutrements like cashmere eye masks ($100) and ear muffs ($170) from Flouzen and primary-coloured wellies SWIMS. And of course there are the many practical Italian leather calfskin and canvas bags, satchels, purses ($195-$1,595) and slippers ($175) that WANT made its name with.
High brow reading material like Monocle (who also have their own Toronto store and are also collaborators with WANT on other projects), is also for sale as well as minimalist yet complex CubeBots by Areaware ($28), wood block transformer type toys that should keep kids busy on their not-so-long flights out of the Toronto port.
While taking the ferry out to Billy Bishop airport might not be in the average person's daily routine, the shop is worth a browse for those looking to pick up some of WANT Passport's exclusive items without making the trek to Montreal or New York.