Over the years, Adelaide Street West near Strachan Avenue has gone from being a primarily residential community scattered with industrial buildings to a neighbourhood packed with tech startups and creative agencies. By 2014, Lorne Gertner, along with his son Alan, started to establish a concept shop that would add their unique touch to the area by transforming a small, un-used shipping container into a Japanese-inspired café design shop.
Lorne and Alan decided that the shop would bring together three lifestyle components of a modern urbanite: clothing, coffee and cannabis culture. And in May 2015, Tokyo Smoke Found opened its door to an eager downtown demographic who were excited by the hybrid business concept and specialty stock.