Feb 15, 2009

Shops with heart cater to keeping consciences clearBy Rita ZekasTheStar.com

Because it’s Valentine’s Day, Store Gazing decided to go to the heart of the matter: Bravery Hearts and Heart On Your Sleeve, two shops that are destination points.

Bravery Hearts, at 242 Brooke Ave. between Lawrence Ave. and the 401, is quite a schlep (for car-less Store Gazing). Heart On Your Sleeve is tucked away on the fringe of Kensington Market at 61A Belleville Ave. at Nassau.

Bravery Hearts is heartwarming. Twenty per cent of all jewellery (including Bravery Hearts necklaces and bracelets) and 5 per cent of other items sold in the gift and accessories shop go to the Hospital for Sick Children.

Bravery Hearts items are sold across Canada in support of initiatives at children’s hospitals like The Bravery Beads program, whereby children with life-threatening illnesses are given a necklace with their name on it and, as they undergo difficult treatments, they receive special beads to commemorate their bravery.

The shop has been open for just over a year but Bravery Hearts has been in existence for six years. It started with a glass heart necklace created by Corinne Bloom, co-founder with her husband Darren Enkin in 2002.

They had heard about the bead-collecting program at Sick Kids and Bloom designed a necklace named Bravery Hearts, featuring a handmade glass heart pendant with multicoloured glass beads to be sold to raise funds for the program.

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