Postcards to send from Canada (and where to buy them in Toronto)

I was visiting family in Toronto recently and wanted to send my friends some postcards.

Having grown up seeing cards of the city skyline in every discount or corner store, I wasn’t going to be purchasing any of those.

Luckily, there are folks out there making postcards that are a little bit more interesting.

Canadian Culture Thing

Next time someone asks me to describe Canadian culture, I may point them to Canadian Culture Thing instead of trying to think of an answer.

CCT pulls mainly from the past: vintage large letter greetings, old photographs of people and places, kitschy covers of books and magazines. Their postcards are the right mix of humour, nostalgia, and Canadiana.

Where to Buy

• Online at ccthing.com
• In person at Valhalla Cards and Gifts, 791 Queen St. West Update (2024-05-23): The store appears to have permanently closed.

The Button Machine

The Button Machine’s postcards, like their other products, are quite Toronto-centric. Their photos aren’t the most appealing, but the landmarks they capture (e.g. Galleria Mall, The Crossways) hit close to home, especially if you are familiar with Toronto’s west end.

Where to Buy

• Online at thebuttonmachine.com
• In person at various locations; I found my cards at Sonic Boom, 215 Spadina Ave.

Art Gallery of Ontario

I remember browsing postcards for hours at the Art Gallery of Ontario gift shop when I was younger. Nowadays their selection has been drastically reduced, but shopAGO is still the place to find postcards of paintings by Canadian artists like Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson, and Emily Carr.

Where to Buy

• In person at shopAGO, 317 Dundas St. West