The Narwhal

Shocked to see some of these reviews. I've shopped at Narwhal for years. Love the staff, love the clothes, love the selection and variety. Absolutely nothing to criticize! Come on.

The main problem is that everything here is marked up like crazy compared to what you could get the pieces for online. I'd say about 30% mark-up. They take the worst exchange rate and add 30% (allegedly for customs and tax). Well curated selection. Like all others said, staff is just laughable, they are at best indifferent and uninterested unless you are a known torontonian of sorts.

I love shopping at The Narwhal. I've been a loyal customer for years. The staff are very attentive and the clothing is amazing. Best boutique ever!

I ordered for the Narwhal a few weeks ago and received my item yesterday. There was a small issue with the item and I emailed the store to let them know. They were really quick in responding to my email and addressed the issue in a satisfactory manner. Great customer service! Will definitely order from the store again. Thank you, A.

Love this boutique. They carry a well curated selection of some amazing brands, as far as I can tell they are the sole Canadian retailer for some of them (e.g. kondi). The owners are very friendly and helpful, some of the other salespeople are a little less warm but I have found them to always be very helpful and they never hover over you when you are browsing (which I prefer to overly enthusiastic salespeople). I love shopping in person but online experience with curbside pick-up and returns has been smooth and fast.

I am updating my earlier review from 3 to 4 stars as the staff has been warmer and more helpful recently! I hope this continues as it's a lovely shop and just makes the experience that much nicer. I love this shop as they carry a few of my favourite designers. I am only giving 3 stars however for a few reasons: 1) Some staff are lukewarm and unfriendly. 2) They don't reply to emails. 3) Biggest beef is that they consistently inflate the prices compared to other Canadian shops offering the same designers. Obviously the price will be higher in Canadian dollars than US, but they consistent mark up their prices compared to others. For example, a top selling at other Cdn boutiques for $350 will be $400 or $425 at the Narwhal. I've noticed this on multiple items across a few different boutiques.

I've found some great pieces here that I can't seem to find anywhere else, however, the other reviews are right, they have a HUGE markup. I don't know how it works with the price set by the supplier but they definitely charge more. For example, I priced the same pair of Xirena shorts here and at TNT. Narwhal is charging $225 ($279 with tax) vs TNT $199 ($224 with tax). And for a sweatshirt; it was $275 at Narwhal vs $230 at TNT. I would definitely shop around before you make a purchase but if you don't mind spending more for an item then I would definitely shop here.

I visited The Narwhal boutique yesterday in the late morning with my older mother and cannot overstate my disappointment and aversion to our experience at The Narwhal. No one greeted us or uttered one word to us the entire time we were at the store, despite there being two or three employees (and we literally spent time looking through every single rack). The employees were busy chatting at length with each other and other customers who they seemed to know social, and they totally ignored us, as if we weren’t even there. I stood at the jewelry case in the back for several minutes as I wanted to see a pair of gold hoops; despite making eye contact with me, the salesperson totally ignored me. There is absolutely no way I am going to try to convince a store to take my business, so I left without buying the earrings or anything else. The whole experience was pretty disgusting. I am a long-time instagram follower of this boutique, and this was my first time in the store. I will definitely not be back and will take my online business elsewhere as well. A neighbouring clothing store we visited at the same time was much more welcoming (clearly making an effort to respond to the prior google reviews that describe staff at that store as unfriendly). The Narwhal boutique clearly does a brisk business online/curbside, as the front entrance was totally lined with bags and parcels for pickup, but they obviously aren’t interested in expanding their customer base. If you’re looking for a new clothing boutique to check out, look elsewhere.