Welcome to the Kensington Market Tour!

The Kensington Market's Local Businesses Tour explores the vibrant and multicultural marketplace that is Kensington market. Comprised of small and locally owned businesses, this tour is designed for participants looking to spend an entire day learning and supporting this small and diverse district.

Kensington market is the size of a neighbourhood and can be extremely intimidating to navigate. It is, however, a neighbourhood overflowing with culture that can be experienced in different ways. From food shops to vintage stores to art galleries, there are a lot of places that can be easily missed due to the sheer size of the neighbourhood. The best part about Kensington is how everything is within walking distance, so you're never too far from your next stop! This tour will take you through the neighbourhood and introduce people to local businesses they can support.

The Sites we will be Visiting on this Tour!

On this tour, we will visit the following sites (click on the the coloured text to read some more information on each location!):

What will you get out of it?

This tour will guide people through Kensington market and showcase various local small businesses. This guide will have places to eat and explore but there will also be an educational twist. For each location you visit, there will be general information about that specific shop such as the year it was founded. The guide will also contain bits of information regarding the history of that specific area such as how that area became the way it is and who started it all. This neighbourhood is largely found by immigrants which is how it became the great cultural site it is today.

The benefits of supporting local businesses, such as the venues chosen for the tour, encourage the well being of a community in terms of building a strong sense of togetherness. It promotes entrepreneurship, family businesses, helps keep money in our local economy and is overall better for environmental sustainability. The venues on this tour are independent and some stores are even secondhand, which is good for the environment because it reduces pollution and waste.

Large corporations and companies are continually creating monopolies, which means the rich keep getting richer. Locally owned businesses keep and create more jobs. Having a multitude of these small businesses shows and supports community diversity.