Written by Courtney Watkins, owner and CEO of Mine & Yours, a Vancouver-based luxury resale boutique.
In 2013, I opened a 300-square-foot resale store in Vancouver. If you had told me then that Mine & Yours would become one of Canada’s leading luxury resale businesses, I probably would have said I had a good feeling about it. It started as a passion project while I was running my family’s sawmill business, but I always believed it had the potential to become something much bigger.
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At the time, there were only two of us, a small collection of designer inventory and a big belief that Canadians were ready for a different way to shop luxury. No investors. No roadmap for what a luxury resale business in Canada should look like. Just a vision to create an elevated destination where people could buy and sell luxury fashion in a way that felt aspirational, trusted and exciting.
Before launching Mine & Yours, I had spent years working in fashion from the age of 17, styling and trend forecasting. During that time, I saw firsthand how established luxury resale had become in U.S. markets. These weren’t dusty consignment stores tucked away in the corner of a strip mall. They were curated destinations. People shopped them with the same excitement they brought to traditional luxury retail.
When I returned to Vancouver, I realized there wasn’t a destination for luxury resale that felt elevated, fashion-forward, and aspirational. I knew that if I was looking for that experience, other people would be too.
In 2013, Mine & Yours was born. The square footage was small. The vision was anything but. Building that trust took time. We weren’t simply selling products. We were introducing consumers to a new way of thinking about luxury ownership. Today, resale has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in fashion. Back then, it required a lot of education. We spent years showing customers that buying pre-loved didn’t mean compromising on quality, authenticity, or experience.
Slowly, the market caught up. As demand grew, so did Mine & Yours. What started as a small Vancouver concept expanded into flagship locations in downtown Vancouver and Kitsilano. We continued investing in the customer experience, creating stores that felt more like luxury boutiques than traditional consignment shops. That distinction mattered. We weren’t trying to be the cheapest option. We were creating a destination.
Over time, our footprint grew from 300 square feet to nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space across Canada. One of the moments that felt particularly significant was opening in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood, directly across the street from some of the world’s leading luxury brands.
Years earlier, the idea that a resale company would sit shoulder to shoulder with traditional luxury retailers might have seemed unlikely. Today, it feels inevitable. Consumer behaviour has changed. People are thinking differently about value, sustainability, and ownership. Luxury customers no longer see resale as an alternative. Increasingly, they see it as part of their shopping journey.
The numbers support that shift. This past May, our business grew 54 percent over the same period the year before, making it one of the strongest sales months in our company’s history. What makes that particularly interesting is that it wasn’t driven by a traditional retail moment like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or the holiday season.
For me, that was a powerful signal. Consumers aren’t just experimenting with resale anymore. They’re actively embracing it as part of how they shop. The resale industry isn’t emerging anymore. It’s arrived.
Another major milestone came through our partnership with Holt Renfrew in Calgary, that first started in 2025. As someone who spent years admiring iconic luxury retailers, partnering with a company like Holt Renfrew was incredibly meaningful. Being invited back for a second collaboration in 2026 was even more meaningful because it validated something we’ve believed for years: resale and traditional luxury retail don’t compete with one another. They complement one another.
For me personally, this was one of those full-circle moments. Holt Renfrew has long been one of Canada’s most iconic luxury retailers. I dreamed about one day working alongside a company like that. To now have Holt Renfrew asking Mine & Yours to return is a powerful validation of how far resale has come and the value it brings to the luxury ecosystem. When one of Canada’s most respected luxury retailers embraces resale, it’s a clear sign that consumer behaviour has shifted.
The future of fashion is resale. I’ve believed that since we opened our doors in 2013. The rest of the industry is finally starting to catch up.
What makes me most proud, however, isn’t the square footage, the sales numbers, or even the store count. It’s the community. Mine & Yours has always been built on relationships. Our suppliers trust us with pieces that often hold significant financial and emotional value. Our customers return because they know they’ll discover something special. Many of the people who first walked through our doors as clients have become friends, collaborators, and long-term supporters of the business.
Whether it’s a store anniversary, a seasonal collection launch, or one of our signature personalized Sip & Shop events, the goal has always been the same: bring interesting like-minded people into the same room. Fashion might be the reason people show up, but it’s rarely the reason they stay. The relationships are.
Over the years, I’ve watched customers meet at Mine & Yours events and become lifelong friends. I’ve seen business partnerships form. I’ve watched people connect across industries, generations, and cities because they happened to be standing next to each other at one of our events. In many ways, that’s become one of the most rewarding parts of building this company.
More than a decade after opening that first 300-square-foot store, we’re now operating five locations across Canada, employing more than 80 people, and welcoming clients through nearly 10,000 square feet of retail space. What was once considered a niche concept has become one of the most important shifts happening in retail, and we’re proud to have helped lead that conversation in Canada.
And if the growth of the industry over the past decade has taught me anything, it’s that we’re still just getting started.
