After Twenty Years, Morba Says Goodbye to Queen West

Legendary design store Morba is closing its bricks-and-mortar location at 665 Queen Street West after two decades in business, to focus on online sales. Every corner of the 279-square-metre shop is crammed with mid-century vintage furniture, affordable reproductions of Scandinavian classics, taxidermy (yes, you read that right) and every other type of bauble you can imagine. Decorative plate? Check. Vintage typewriter? Yup. Mounted deer head? You know the answer.

The unconventional mix of lighting, furniture and accessories at every price point has attracted something of a cult following. “The store was liked by all types of people from rich to poor, young to old, and from near and far” say the Morba owners. Whatever their country of origin, visitors to the eclectic shop would often say to them: “I’ve never seen a store like this.”

At Morba, one can never have enough of a good thing. On the ceiling, dozens of pendant lights in timeless and whimsical shapes and sizes create a starry vault overhead. This is the only store in Toronto where you’ll find handcrafted pendant lights from Danish brand Le Klint (pictured above). “There are no commonplace fixtures here; nothing that you might find in a Home Depot,” say the team. Likewise, they say, there aren’t any sparkly (read: tacky) luminaires in sight.

Maybe it’s Morba’s mid-century streak that keeps the overflowing collection on point. Morba’s owners count Ray and Charles Eames, Finn Juhl, Le Klint, Eero Saarinen, Hans Wegner and George Nelson among her favourite designers. To be sure, you might find a few of their original designs from the 50s and 60s here. But the furniture store‘s calling card is affordable modern reproductions.

One of their bestsellers is the reproduction Eames plastic shell chairs, offered in a rainbow of colours at an unbeatable price (pictured above). And then there’s the Case Study Lounger and Ottoman – a dead ringer for the iconic Eames Lounge chair that won’t require you to re-mortgage your home to purchase.

Now is a great time to visit the shop – not only to take in the sights one last time, but because everything inside Morba is on sale. “We will be making the switch to online sales only in the new year,” they say. “We will also be continuing the ‘Now or Never’ clearance sale after November 30 in our warehouse.” Customers are encouraged to follow the company on Instagram for more updates on continuing deals and the next chapter for this local gem.