Mile End has long served as one of Montreal’s unofficial capitals of secondhand and independent fashion, and LE NINETY’s second storefront, at 5460 boulevard Saint-Laurent, sits squarely within that neighborhood tradition, offering its own curated slice of the brand’s true vintage and 1990s focused inventory apart from the original Saint-Denis location. Where the flagship store built its identity around a founder’s personal collecting habit turned business, this Saint-Laurent address represents the brand’s expansion phase, opening as LE NINETY grew from a single storefront concept into a two location Montreal retailer with distinct selections at each address rather than a single duplicated inventory shipped to both.
The company’s roots trace back to 2017, when Steven, then still in high school, began gathering 1990s clothing for himself before turning that habit into Ven Vintage, a side venture selling curated pieces to friends. By 2019 he had abandoned an earlier plan to launch a contemporary clothing line in favor of committing fully to vintage, and Jeremy came aboard as an official partner in June 2020. The team grew through 2021, and in spring 2022 the founders made the decision to rebrand as LE NINETY and move from an online only model into physical retail, opening their first storefront on rue Saint-Denis that June after roughly three months of planning work with marketing consultant Cedric. The Mile End location on boulevard Saint-Laurent extends that same brand into a second Montreal neighborhood, giving the company a footprint on two of the city’s most walkable, fashion forward corridors.
What sets LE NINETY apart from many secondhand sellers operating nearby is its sourcing model. Rather than pulling primarily from local thrift stores, the way a large share of vintage resellers do, the company sources much of its inventory from sorting warehouses, framing the approach as a more ethical and environmentally conscious alternative within a fashion industry facing increasing scrutiny over waste and overproduction. Alongside curated vintage pieces, the Saint-Laurent store carries work from local designers, giving Montreal based creators shelf space next to decades old finds and letting shoppers pair a genuine 1990s piece with something made just down the street. The brand has also built a multidisciplinary rental component into its retail spaces, opening the storefronts up for events beyond straightforward shopping hours.
For Mile End shoppers, this location offers a chance to browse a curated selection distinct from the Saint-Denis flagship’s stock, with the same underlying brand values around true vintage curation, local designer support and ethical sourcing but a different specific mix of what is actually on the racks at any given time. That store to store variation is part of the appeal for regular customers who make a habit of checking both LE NINETY addresses rather than treating them as interchangeable. LE NINETY’s boulevard Saint-Laurent shop in Mile End is, in short, the second half of a two location Montreal vintage clothing brand built from a single collector’s 1990s obsession into a broader retail concept centered on true vintage pieces, local design collaborations and ethically sourced secondhand fashion.
