Best of MTL

Best of MTL 2019: Goods and Services

by Cult MTL

The top hair salons, record shops, bike shops, yoga studios, ISPs, movie theatres, tattoo artists and more!

The Best Clothing Store category is as representative as ever of the diversity of our audience, repping, shall we say, remarkably basic, mainstream tastes (the Gap) to more refined local designer shops (Lustre Boutique). We were truly impressed by the amount of votes for different bookstores and record shops across those four categories — Amazon is fine (see #5 Best Electronics Store, haha), but brick and mortar is better. Speaking of Best Electronics Store, we hope Moog Audio appreciate their inclusion there (#4) as well as in Best Musical Instrument Store (#2) — a little confusion around “electronic music,” I think. And we also had a few laughs over the Best Drug Paraphernalia Store category, which had loads of votes for pharmacy chains (we removed those) and the SQDC (which we left in) — we wish the SQDC was savvy enough to sell paraphernalia, or offer a shopping experience that isn’t so eerily sterile.

Best Clothing Store (New)

  1. Simons
  2. The Gap
  3. Frank & Oak
  4. Jeans Jeans Jeans
  5. Lustre Boutique
  6. H&M
  7. Winners
  8. Kitsch N Swell
  9. Off the Hook
  10. Zara

Best Vintage Clothing Store

  1. Eva B
  2. Fripe-Prix Renaissance
  3. Citizen Vintage
  4. Village des Valeurs
  5. Empire Exchange
  6. Swing
  7. Annex Vintage
  8. Ruse
  9. Salvation Army
  10. Exo Voto

Best Hair Salon

  1. Salon Helmet
  2. Two Horses
  3. Queen of the World
  4. Salon Freyja
  5. Danny’s Coiffure Unisex
  6. Unlistd
  7. Funky Toque
  8. Salon Identité
  9. Bizarde (fka Coupe Bizzarre)
  10. Garçons Sculpteurs

Best Hair Stylist

  1. Mike Chacko (Freyja)
  2. David Devico (Queen of the World)
  3. Will Duny (Helmet)
  4. Guillaume Cheny (Salon Helmet)
  5. Marco Di Biasio (Salon Helmet)
  6. Maral Poladian (Danny’s Coiffure Unisex)
  7. Julie Matson (Salon Identité)
  8. Elodie Biancel (O Salon)
  9. Ewelina Wnek (Salon Freyja)
  10. Jason Krejberg (Salon Helmet)

Best Barber

  1. Mike Chacko (Salon Freyja)
  2. Guillaume Cheny (Salon Helmet)
  3. Dave Devico (Queen of the World)
  4. Marco Di Biasio (Salon Helmet)
  5. Dan Marin (Blue Dog)
  6. Will Duny (Salon Helmet)
  7. Marie Doroftei (Garçons Sculpteurs)
  8. Ziggy (Queen of the World)
  9. Will Phaneuf (Savvy Barbershop)

Best Beauty Salon

  1. Queen of the World
  2. Salon Helmet
  3. Candy Bar Nail Salon
  4. Au Premier Coiffure et Spa
  5. Danny’s Coiffure Unisex
  6. Barbarella Spa
  7. Two Horses
  8. Dee’s Beauty
  9. O Coiffure & Spa
  10. Spa Diva

Best Tattoo Parlour

  1. DFA
  2. Two Horses
  3. Tattoo Box
  4. Artease
  5. Adrenaline
  6. Bait and Schlang
  7. Minuit Dix
  8. Psych Ward
  9. Slick Styled Steel
  10. Imago

Best Tattoo Artist

  1. Janice Beattie (DFA)
  2. Aimée (Morning Gory)
  3. Angus Byers (DFA)
  4. Rian (Studio Artease)
  5. Charline Bataille (Minuit Dix)
  6. Kevin Ward (The Psych Ward)
  7. Sam Robert Goodfriend (Slick Styled Steel)
  8. Nick Oaks (Bait and Schlang Tattoo)
  9. Arno Schultz (MTL Tattoo)
  10. Graham Crowston (Tattoo Box)

Best Bookstore (New)

  1. Drawn & Quarterly
  2. Chapters/Indigo/Coles
  3. Paragraphe
  4. Argo
  5. Livre & Let Die
  6. Le James
  7. Renaud Bray
  8. Port de tête
  9. Librairie de Verdun
  10. Raffin

Best Bookstore (Used)

  1. The Word
  2. Encore
  3. Cheap Thrills
  4. Livre and Let Die
  5. S.W. Welch
  6. L’Échange
  7. Fripe-prix Renaissance
  8. Port de Tête
  9. Librairie Racine 2.0
  10. Le Bon Débarras

Best Comics Store

  1. Drawn & Quarterly
  2. 1 000 000 Comix
  3. Crossover Comics
  4. Millenium Comics
  5. Comic Hunter
  6. Planète BD
  7. Capitaine Québec
  8. Cosmix
Employees from Drawn & Quarterly (Best Bookstore #1, Best Comics Store #1) and Phonopolis (Best New CD/Vinyl Store #2, Best Used CD/Vinyl Store #5). Photo by Cindy Lopez

Best CD/Vinyl Store (New)

  1. Aux 33 Tours
  2. Phonopolis
  3. Cheap Thrills
  4. Beatnick
  5. Le Vacarme
  6. L’Oblique
  7. Sunrise Records
  8. Atom Heart
  9. Sound Central
  10. La Rama

Best CD/Vinyl Store (Used)

  1. Cheap Thrills
  2. Aux 33 Tours
  3. Beatnick
  4. Death of Vinyl
  5. Phonopolis
  6. Encore
  7. Sound Central
  8. L’Échange
  9. Vacarme
  10. Bons Débarras

Best Musical Instrument Store

  1. Steve’s Music Store
  2. Moog Audio
  3. Archambault
  4. Jimi’s Music Store
  5. Twigg
  6. Diplomate
  7. Long and McWade
  8. Broken Headstock
  9. Kitt’s
  10. Nantel

Best Movie Theatre

  1. Cinéma du Parc
  2. Cineplex Forum
  3. Cineplex Banque Scotia
  4. Cinéma Moderne
  5. Cinéma Beaubien
  6. Dollar Cinema
  7. Cinéma Guzzo
  8. CinéStarz Côte-des-Neiges
  9. Cineplex Kirkland Colisseum

Best Drug Paraphernalia Store

  1. Prohibition (fka High Times)
  2. Utopia
  3. SQDC
  4. Psychonaut

Best App

  1. Instagram
  2. Transit
  3. Tinder
  4. Uber
  5. P$ service mobile
  6. Facebook
  7. Info Neige
  8. Grindr
  9. Uber Eats
  10. Waze

Best Internet Service Provider

  1. Bell
  2. Vidéotron
  3. TekSavvy
  4. Ebox/Electronic Box
  5. Virgin

Best Electronics Store

  1. Addison
  2. Best Buy
  3. Apple/Apple Store
  4. Moog
  5. Amazon

Best Bicycle Shop

  1. C&L Cycles
  2. Bikurius
  3. J.R. Bicycletterie
  4. Recycle Cycle
  5. ABC
  6. Cicycle
  7. McWhinnies
  8. 514-BMX
  9. Ma Bicyclette
  10. Cycles Eddy

Best Sports Store

  1. Sports Experts
  2. MEC
  3. Play It Again Sports
  4. Empire
  5. Evangelista Sport
  6. Top Nutrition and Fitness
  7. Sport-au-Gus
  8. Sportium
  9. Reebok
  10. Décathlon

Best Skate/Snowboard Shop

  1. Empire
  2. Skull Central
  3. Rollin
  4. Underground

Best Fitness Club/Gym

  1. YMCA
  2. Econo Fitness
  3. Machina
  4. B52 Fitness
  5. World Gym
  6. ELMNT
  7. World Gym
  8. Fit for Life
  9. Buzzfit
  10. Pro Gym

Best Massage Therapist

  1. Eric Digras (Temple Mile End)
  2. Jade Selter (The Open Centre)
  3. Tanja Gabriel (Tan Jai Massage)
  4. Lisa Mah (Centre de Santé Taiyo)
  5. Allison Ryan

Best Massage Spot

  1. Studio Bliss
  2. Bota Bota
  3. Ovarium
  4. Espace Nomad
  5. Tan Jai
  6. Spa Vert
  7. Ikra Spa
  8. Temple Mile End
  9. Spa Diva
  10. Lanna Thai

Best Spa

  1. Bota Bota
  2. Strøm Spa Nordique
  3. Scandinave Spa Vieux-Montréal
  4. Spa Finlandais
  5. Spa Diva
  6. Ovarium
  7. Balnea Spa
  8. Polar Bear’s Club
  9. Studio Bliss
  10. Spa Escale Santé

Best Yoga Instructor

  1. Tanya Dawe (Yoga Vieux Montréal)
  2. Elizabeth Emberly (Naada)
  3. Kimiko Fujimoto (Studio Breathe)
  4. Erina Pompetti (Yoga Shak)
  5. Alyson Wish (various studios & online)
  6. Jade Salter (Viveka Yoga)
  7. Andrew Bathory (Element Yoga Montreal)
  8. Jeanne Mudie (Ashtanga Yoga Montreal)
  9. Mara Chercover (Studio Stable)
  10. Donna Read (United Yoga Montreal)

Best Yoga Studio

  1. Modo Yoga (formerly Moksha)
  2. Naada
  3. Yoga Vieux-Montreal
  4. Ashtanga Yoga Montreal
  5. Studio Bliss
  6. Enso
  7. ELMNT
  8. Wanderlust Mile End
  9. Yoga Club

Best Health Food Store

  1. Rachelle Béry
  2. Les Marchés Tau
  3. Branche d’olivier
  4. PA Nature
  5. Bioterre
  6. Top Nutrition and Fitness
  7. Chez Robin
  8. Segal’s
  9. Frenco
  10. LOCO

Best Home Décor Store

  1. Zone
  2. Ikea
  3. Homesense
  4. Rona
  5. V de V
  6. West Elm
  7. Home Depot
  8. Jack Lux
  9. Winners
  10. Structube

Best Kitsch/Antique Store

  1. Kitsch à l’os
  2. Kitsch’n Swell
  3. Marché aux Puces St-Michel
  4. Marché Underground
  5. Village des Valeurs
  6. Monastiraki
  7. Fripe-prix Renaissance
  8. ARTÉ
  9. Eco Depot
  10. Harold

Best Florist

  1. Dragon Flowers
  2. Westmount Flowers
  3. Venus
  4. Pourquoi Pas
  5. Zen
  6. Fleuriste Florateria
  7. Binette & Filles
  8. La Floret Fleuriste
  9. Le Jardin de Mathilde
  10. Marc Sardi

See the rest of the Best of MTL here:

* PEOPLE & PLACES
* MEDIA
* NIGHTLIFE
* MUSIC
* FILM & ARTS
* FOOD & DRINK

Posted in Best of MTL
Cult MTL 2020 logo

by Cult MTL

Contributor
Cult MTL is a daily news website and monthly magazine focusing on Montreal culture, music, arts, news, politics and city life. Along with interviewing local and visiting artists, promoters and entrepreneurs, we feature analysis and criticism, curate a daily To-Do List and run the annual Best of MTL readers poll.