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255 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto
416.642.0630
Mon – Fri 10 am – 9:30 pm, Sat 10 am – 6 pm, Sun 11 am – 6 pm

Surrounded by condos and pressed up against the CN Tower and Rogers’ Centre, Leon’s new flagship store in Toronto’s historic Roundhouse should go a long way to spucing up the chain’s suburban image. Now your “no money miracle” comes with exposed brick, rustic beams and polished concrete floors. The soaring ceiling and arching, double-height windows are nothing if not impressive.

As for the furniture offerings, about 25 per cent of the stock is “exclusive” to Leon’s Roundhouse, which doesn’t mean that it’s exclusive, just that it’s not available at other Leon’s stores. We recognized lots of the featured items from our last visit to the CGTA Gift Show and that’s about as mass market as you can get.

Still, it’s clear from the stylish, contemporary vignettes that Leon’s is stretching its wings, particularly with its “urban living collection” geared toward smaller spaces. The green Drop Stools from California’s Zuo are a great example of Leon’s new downtown direction.

Black and white is a strong recurring theme right across the 40,000 square foot showroom, and we noticed a fair number of designer knock-offs from Eames Management chairs to Le Corbusier Loungers. As if to underscore Leon’s commitment to a rockin’ new attitude, alternative radio station 102.1 The Edge was doing a live remote from the centre of the store on Saturday afternoon.

Leon’s Roundhouse is featuring sale prices during its opening month but the deals aren’t much better or worse than what you’ll find at any number of contemporary furnishing shops like Pavilion or The Most!. But I suspect that this location, right in the heart of Concord’s monolithic CityPlace, will bring Leon’s more than enough foot traffic. And those buyers won’t have far to carry their new tables and chairs if they don’t want to wait for delivery.