NEW From the Office of a Retail Therapist

What's more theraputic than shopping? I simply can not think of a better way to release stress and renew your spirit (as well as wardrobe!). Check in often as I share my "prescriptions" - tips on fashion and shopping in the city that are sure to improve your mood, appearance and outlook on all things stylish.

Yours Truly,
~Your "Retail Therapist" Barbara ;)

The 3 Keys To (Not So) Last minute Shopping For Your Valentine

Since I am not the person to talk to for "last-minute" shopping, I thought I'd post a few of my tips well in advance of Valentine's Day, February 14th. Why don't I believe in last minute shopping? I think it often leads to costly expenditures and often misunderstandings. Our money is so precious these days, and last-minute usually means we haven't taken the time and effort needed to really find the right fit. After all, we give gifts to make someone happy. And I want to get away from the one-click solves all ideas. One good quality well-thought-out item is more appreciated and more value for your money long term. That, I guess, like all other worthwhile things, takes takes time, effort, and money.My thoughts can be summed up with the following three easy to remember letters: "R.S.P." And I'm not talking anything financial here, thank God...

"R" - for "research". Ask ask your loved one what they like. It's that simple. Like in sales, ask for the order. If you don't ask, you won't learn what a person likes, and more importantly - dislikes. Ask what their best or worst gift ever was. Try to get inside their head. It's about them, not you. Understand their lifestyle, preferences and needs. If this is a really special occasion (engagement, anniversary, birthday...) make sure give yourself enough time to look around in shops too, great sales still on. For tighter budgets, if you know someone dreams of, for example, breakfast in bed, or an hour-long foot massage, you can present this with humour and create a bonding experience with a low-cost, caring gift. Bath and Body Works sells scrumptious massage oils and anti-stress products. Know someone with the I hate winter blues?  We all do! A ski, or snowshoe weekend is caring, thoughtful, and bonding. Add a spa treatment a deux afterwards and you're her hero. Guys, go shopping with her for an hour, it won't kill you! and you'll learn more about her - for example something as simple as what colors she likes or dislikes. For that special occasion, chances are you've already shopped with her/him, so you have some clues. People tell us a lot about themselves if we're prepared to put ourselves totally aside and listen to them. Did your grandmother also keep telling you why we have 2 ears and 1 mouth, so we can listen twice as much as we speak! Ugg, but true. Guys, if you have deep pockets these days, I've never heard yet of a female returning a pair of diamond studs. (Maybe to get a bigger size!).  Fortunately, there are all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, and price ranges.  And have we women ever  heard of a man refusing a great gourmet home-cooked meal for him and his buddies, and perhaps a back massage for him. I'm still getting mileage out of that TLC I gave my husband last Christmas!

"S" is for "Surprise".This can make a Valentine's Day gift really memorable. Surprise and humour go a long way. For someone who has everything, humour can totally re-package the expected. I will always remember, (not that I'd want someone to do this for me, though!), a female friend of mine who had everything, and had just moved to Holland, was proposed to on Valentine's Day. Her successful fiance took her out to a super resto. She was full of anticipation. He gave her a nicely wrapped gift during the soup course. She opened it and found a book entitled "Dutch Cooking". She tried to smile, but needless to say was thinking of  tossing the soup. A few minutes later, her spoon hit a giant sparkly object at the bottom of the bowl...yes you guessed it. This idea is not for everyone, but it makes a good story. And shows humour can make an event memorable, that's what you're striving for. Tailor your humour to his or her tastes, though, that's where research comes in. If humour is taking advantage of someone's weaknesses, it's not funny.

"P" is for personalize. If he says he wants a drill set for the garage or something totally mundane, we should take that as a buying signal. That's what he wants. But present it in a personalized way just for him, either through wrapping (in paper made of photos of his favourite moments), or in small and large multiple packages, or present it at a favourite restaurant. Key is to listen to what he says. If it's one of those gifts for a sister, or mother in law, six months of flowers she can select herself at her local florist is about as personalized and memorable and unexpected as one can get. 

Need more original ideas? What about a personalized shopping excursion for him/her with a friend to Toronto's "insider" shopping locations, including limo and chauffeur... or a walking tour of vintage shops, all starting at $200 for 2 hours. Great mother-in-law gift too. (Gift certificates available by contacting Barbara Captijn, Director, Insider Shopping Toronto Ltd, at bcaptijn@gmail.com.)

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" : Coverage in Apire Magazine post November 2009 Tour with Tourism Toronto Journalist Mike MacEacheran

Barbara Captijn is one of Toronto’s best kept secrets. Like a cross between Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall and a more sophisticated, leather-trouser wrapped Martha Stewart, she holds the key to an unrivalled insider’s view of Toronto that even long term residents fail to glimpse. Not only is Barbara the city’s premiere personal shopper, she effortlessly mixes her Chanels and Chloés with home-grown Canadian born brands, but she knows the backstreets of the downtown historic Yorkville area better than anyone with a new credit card. “This is the chic area to live and to shop,” she purrs. “I wouldn’t shop anywhere else, darling.” On our winter morning stroll of Yorkville, the gentrified Haight-Ashbury district of Canada if there ever was one, Barbara introduces me to a cast of designers, sales associates and red beret-wearing lovies, who have more style in their pinkie fingers than I could manage to muster from my entire wardrobe.

I meet Richard Hitelman of Harry Rosen, home to the President’s Club, the most exclusive place to buy a suit in the whole of Canada; Eleanore Rosenstein of Hugo Nicholson, a smorgasbord boutique of prom queen versus bridezilla gowns, party dresses and toe-curlingly expensive threads; Orly Weinberg of über-hip fashion store Milli; and Linda Corbo of George C, a glamorous Australian designer who looks like she’s walked straight from a chapter of The Devil Wears Prada. It is high-end fashion that one does not normally associate with red and black checked lumberjack shirts, goose-down jackets and dinky pots of sugar-sweet maple syrup. “Toronto is changing,” says style-aficionado Linda. “I’ve lived and worked in Australia and Europe but have never experienced anything like the creativity on offer here – it’s so different from what people expect of Canada. There are fashion shows happening all the time; it’s such an energetic scene.”

With a relatively weak Canadian dollar, Toronto’s boutiques are literally dripping with dresses, bag and heels that shoppers won’t find anywhere else outside North America. It’s also rich pickings for those seeking to unearth new designers before they become mass market.

Davids, attached to the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, showcases a rich vein of luxurious Italian leather throughout its shoe racks, and Avec Plaisir, offering the city’s only personalised lingerie service, is enough to make steam come out of any man’s ears.

Perhaps as a reaction to the flamboyancy of its southerly New York State neighbour, Torontonians have decided to do things their own way. Unlike Saks Fifth Avenue or Harrods, there is no fanfare – it is subtle, discrete and only for those in the know. Yet the Hazelton Lanes area off Bloor Street West – undoubtedly worthy of any Fifth Avenue store or Rodeo Drive star cachet – is enough to give any serious shopaholic nightmares. Barbara, for one, has already decided on the next two dresses she’s going to buy and I definitely feel the need to buy a hat to protect against the winter chill. “Us Torontonians, feel the need to be stylish,” concludes Barbara with a flourish. “Life’s too short not to be.” As for me, I wonder what I’d look like in a red beret?

By Mike MacEacheran - Tourism Toronto - www.tourismtoronto.com

Barbara takes Sylvie St-Jacques of La Presse on a tour of THE ROOM

Sylvie St-Jacques La Presse

Trop cher, New York. Trop loin, Chicago. Et si on s'offrait un week-end à Toronto? À cinq heures de train du centre-ville de Montréal, la Ville reine recèle plein de charmes et de trésors insoupçonnés. Le temps d'un court séjour à Toronto, nous avons repéré quelques bonnes adresses pour bien profiter d'un week-end dans cette capitale du shopping.

The Room

C'est le chic du chic. La réponse des mondaines Torontoises aux mauvaises langues qui osent encore prétendre que la Ville reine manque de glamour. Logé au cinquième étage de la succursale du centre-ville de The Bay (176, rue Yonge), The Room est un hommage à la première boutique de luxe au Canada: The Room at Simpson's, née dans les années 30.

Doté d'un design futuriste ou rétro (tout dépend du point de vue), cet antre de la mode haut de gamme héberge entre ses murs gris et lavande une soixantaine de griffes prestigieuses, dont Ferré, Galliano, Alaia, Balmain, Erdem, Comrags, Antik Batik... Les escaliers roulants de La Baie nous mènent au paradis des amoureuses de fringues de luxe!

Un service de concierge ainsi qu'un vaste «boudoir» avec musique, sofas et télé ont été instaurés pour mieux accueillir les clientes «platine», celles qui ont beaucoup d'argent plastique à dépenser. «C'est un concept unique au Canada», assure Barbara Captijn, directrice d'Insider Shopping Toronto. Peut-être que des célébrités de passage en ville pour le Festival de cinéma y trouveront leur bonheur. Les simples mortels iront fouiner dans The Room pour se rincer l'oeil. Et céderont peut-être à la tentation de repartir avec un soyeux pashmina à moins de 300$...Click here to read the full article on www.cyberpresse.ca

Interview with Barbara on CTV.ca: Gift ideas for guys shopping for the women in their lives

Sheri Block, CTV.ca

Date: Wed. Dec. 2 2009 3:20 PM ET

Lindsay remembers feeling absolutely delighted when she opened a Christmas gift from her boyfriend to find a beautiful bra.

But her delight soon turned to disbelief when she realized it was two cup sizes too big.

"It was very flattering in that he thought I was much more endowed than I actually was but it was a little bit awkward," says the 29-year-old from Toronto, ON, of the incident that happened a few years ago. "As soon as I saw the tag, I just couldn't stop laughing."

The two had been dating for two years (they've since broken up) and she couldn't believe he had no idea what size she was. She later found out he had gone into the local lingerie store and tried to figure it out by holding up his hands to illustrate and judging from the chest sizes of the sales clerks.

"Anytime you're in the first year or two of a relationship and buying stuff like that, I've always found it pretty damn hard to have any idea what the numbers are," admits the ex-boyfriend.

"I guess I felt a little stupid (when she opened it) but at the same time, how the hell am I supposed to know? I'm sure that happens a lot."

He has definitely learned something from the mishap - he now writes the bra and underwear size of the girl he's dating on a business card, just in case he needs to get them a present.

But many guys are still in the dark when it comes to buying a gift for the lady in their life and find themselves awkwardly staring up at the vast wall of bras wondering what they got themselves in to.

Barbara Captijn, director of Insider Shopping Toronto Ltd., says women need to give their man a little guidance or they can't be disappointed if the gift is off the mark.

"Like everything else in life, I think we have to show men, 'This is what I like and this is what I want,'" says Captijn with a laugh. "Because they are not brought up with that kind of training and I think particularly modern guys must be confused (about) what we want."

Captijn, who started up her personal shopping service business in Toronto two and a half years ago after working in Europe for 20 years, says guys are more sensitive than women might think and they actually try really hard to get a gift their girlfriend or wife will love.

"I really think that's important and they put down some money for it as well so they want to make sure they get it right and I think they get a bit nervous about that."

Captijn recently took a male client shopping to a lingerie store in Toronto's upscale Yorkville neighbourhood and "opened his eyes" to a world of possibilities - everything from elegant sleepwear to crystal-adorned underwear - and since the staff was made up of trained lingerie fitters, he learned a lot.

"It's not just about buying bras. It's like, 'Would we go shopping to buy a jock strap?' There's far more to it than that." .... Click here to read the full interview on ctv.ca

Queen Street West Shopping

Queen Street West Shopping

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Interview with Barbara - U.S. Television show highlighting "shopping gems"

Barbara recently hosted a group of visitors from U.S. television in Toronto and showed them in just one short walking tour hour how to find unique gifts, fabulous avant-garde fashions, and some amazing deals. Watch this short interview with her. If you've only got a short time to discover the city, why not ask a local for the insider scoop - Insider Shopping Toronto. www.insidershoppingtoronto.com

Film crew from Beijing - China Television

Film crew from China TV - Beijing visiting Toronto with Barbara:

Here in Toronto to film what's special about this city for viewers of Chinese travel channel, 350 million of them! As guests of Tourism Toronto they were here to discover Toronto's shopping gems. Now there are so many direct flights from Beijing to Toronto, we were asked to show what we have to offer vsitors. But in China one can find almost everything, right? Well, we impressed them too. Canadian art, glass and ceramics by local artists, top quality shopping areas, Canadian designer clothing, and to their delight - efficient, un-crowded shopping areas, not to mention the choice of 7,000 restaurants. Our city wowed them too.

Who's smiling now?

Who's smiling now?

These local Toronto business people on a chauffeur-driven excursion in November. "How do you find these places, Barbara? We really thought we knew the city, but you've wow-ed us. Great value, style and all insider tips. "Why spend on costly cosmetic surgery when you can feel 10 years younger by up-dating your clothing? And don't forget to ask me about a good (great) tailor for your previous season's treasures. My secret weapon. Shop your won closet and let's do something feel-good good for you, your wallet... and the environment!

What's.... Insider Shopping Toronto Ltd?

What's.... Insider Shopping Toronto Ltd.?
It's all about YOU!

-Specializing in small, fun, unique, shopping excursions - for visitors to Toronto, and locals who don't have time to explore their changing city. Since the fall of 2007, Barbara Captijn, your black-belt-in-shopping personal guide, has been putting smiles on shopper's faces. Insider Shopping Toronto customizes small shopping excursions for you. It really is all about YOU. Tastes, lifestyles, agendas, and especially budgets differ. Each excursion is custom-made for the client.

-Want to find that perfect workhorse suit for the season, or separates you can invest in and wear when all else fails, looking for a trendy up-date for casual items yo already have, or a way to beat the winter blues with a stylish wear-anywhere coat? Clothing is pre-selected for you at various shops, saves you time and energy, and you don't buy unless you absolutely love something. I don't work on commission. You tell me about your lifestyle and clothing needs, and I design a quick and efficient way to find what you're looking for. Or if you just want to look and relax over a lunch or tea, learn about the city and do a bit of sight-seeing in the comfort of a chauffeured limousine, fine, no obligation to buy anything, anywhere. Each guest of the shopping excursion gets a "diamond" key-ring on which to put the business card of all the shops (gems!) we visit. So for you lone wolves out there, you can always go back on your own and mull things over.