Toronto’s Queen Street West is one of the trendiest areas of the city, which makes it a perfect fit for ZANE, a hip shop that specializes in accessories, bags, jewellery and luggage. Owner Zane Aburaneh got his start in the most fashionable way possible: he sold his wares at a variety of pop-ups in the city, networking with other fashion-minded merchants. It was in 2010 that ZANE officially came into existence, and not long after that when Zane procured his Queen West location, quickly establishing his store as the top spot in the city to get a one-of-a-kind bag or accessory.
“After doing a few pop-ups and getting a good response,” he explains, “we found a temp location. We were at a temp location on Queen Street and we opened our other (permanent) store in 2011.” The pride in his voice comes across clearly when Zane discusses the store he knew would one day exist, no matter what the struggles of the early days were like.
