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| - Whenever I'm in Kensington Market and I get an attack of the sweats, I pop into Blue Banana. The space is highly air-conditioned and nobody minds that I'm loitering/faux browsing as I let the pit stains dry.
That doesn't mean the place isn't browse-worthy. The various stalls are rife with the kind of fun merch and gag gifts I used to trade with my BFF in junior high, Vivian Carlucci.
If I still kept in touch with Vivian today, I'd sooo buy her the corrugated cardboard bust of a moose that you put together like a 3-D puzzle. And she'd really get a kick out of the blue Banana Guard*; a plastic banana-shaped case to protect your banana from bruising.** And it's BLUE! Get it? A blue banana at Blue Banana Market!!
OTHER STUFF I WOULD LIKE TO BUY AT BBM
candy: Sugar Daddy, Charleston Chew, mints in cool tins
Canadiana: maple syrup, maple candy, smoked wild salmon
housewares: Umbra products (F-U Karim Rashid!), juice glasses made from Boylan soda bottles
decor: vintage Soviet propaganda posters (reproductions)
bath & beauty: pretty soaps that aren't too stinky, lip balm in a zebra-patterned ball
random: fake mustaches
On top of all this hypothetical purchasing, I've actually bought real stuff at Blue Banana:
- long, skinny birthday candles in orange
- a groovy stainless-steel chip 'n dip bowl with polka-dot cutouts
- Semikolon address book
- a really sarcastic birthday card because I reserve genuine emotion on stationery for Dear John letters
BOTTOM LINE: A literally and figuratively cool place for shopping (imaginary and real).
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* On second thought, I really need to go back and buy this so that my life will be complete.
** This is not a euphemism.
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