Toronto is getting its first standalone Vivobarefoot store. Coming Soon signage has appeared at 666 Queen Street West, where a freshly leased unit in the former Oak + Fort space, sitting between Gabo on Queen and World of Posters, displays the UK-based barefoot footwear brand’s logo. A newly launched Instagram account, @vivobarefoot.to, confirms the store is targeting a June 20 opening date.
Billed as “Toronto’s 1st Vivobarefoot store,” the account outlines plans for in-store fittings, community runs, and events, pointing to an experiential retail model that goes well beyond selling shoes.
For a brand built around movement and natural health, Queen Street West is a fitting home. Active, design-conscious, and fiercely independent in character, the corridor around Trinity Bellwoods Park draws exactly the kind of health-oriented Torontonians Vivobarefoot has always targeted. The park sits just steps from the front door, and the brand will find itself across the street from KITS Eyecare, the Vancouver-based optical retailer that’s planning its Toronto flagship on Queen Street West later this year. Two Vancouver-born brands, finding each other on the same stretch of Queen West within months of each other.
The lease was brokered by Julie Seo of Re/Max Ultimate Julie Seo Realty, Brokerage.
Opening in Toronto would mark Vivobarefoot’s second Canadian concept store. Its Canadian debut came in June 2023 with a location in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood, another market known for its active, outdoors-forward residents, with Toronto having been identified as a future target market at the time of that launch. It has taken nearly three years to get here, but the brand has arrived on its own terms, with a community-first retail model and a neighbourhood that suits it well.
Founded in 2012 by cousins Galahad and Asher Clark, both descendants of the Clark family shoemaking dynasty, Vivobarefoot posted just over $125 million USD in global sales in its most recent fiscal year and sold more than 1.5 million pairs of shoes. Barefoot and minimalist footwear as a category is now estimated at $550 to $600 million USD globally, with Vivobarefoot holding roughly 20 percent market share. Wide, thin, and flexible by design, its shoes aim to replicate the natural movement of bare feet, with prices ranging from roughly $260 to $430.
6ixRetail has reached out to Vivobarefoot for more information and will update this story as additional details become available.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.