Shopping in Canada
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ByWard Market
The ByWard Market, at the corner of George St and ByWard St, is the best place in town for one-stop shopping. Vendors cluster around the old maroon-brick market building, erected in the 1840s. Outdoor merchants operate booths from 6am to 6pm year-round (although the winter weather drastically reduces the number of businesses). In summer, over 175 stalls fill the streets, selling fresh produce from local farms, flowers, seafood, cheese, baked goods and kitschy souvenirs. Dalhousie St, a block east of the market, has been rising in popularity with a smattering of hipster boutiques and fashion houses.
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Ja Moisan Épicier
Established in 1871, this is considered the oldest grocery store in North America. The store is beautifully set up and fun just to browse – ever seen black-and-white, zebra-striped bow pasta? The products do generally fall on the ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ side of expensive but there will be products here you’ve never seen before along with heaps of local goods.
reviewed
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Boutique Kettö
Illustrator Julie St-Onge-Drouin started up Kettö after her illustrative designs kept finding their way onto ceramic surfaces. Now at this big, bright and beautifully set-up boutique, they’re on everything from plates and mugs to ceramic jewelry and necklaces. Great gifts, her designs are sold in small boutiques throughout Québec, but here you’ll find the best selection.
reviewed
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Ten Thousand Villages
A fair-trade boutique where purchases support the work of artisans in low- income countries around the world, you'll find stationery from Bangladesh, baskets from Vietnam and a plethora of hammocks, drums, clothing and unusual handicrafts. Pick up a far more worthwhile Vancouver souvenir than those maple-syrup cookies and confuse everyone back home.
reviewed
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Starfish Glassworks
The perfect place to pick up that glass ray-gun you've always wanted, Starfish is a gallery of colorful glass artworks ranging in price from a few dollars right up to remortgage-the-house level. If you time your visit right (afternoon is usually best), you can also watch the mesmerizing glass-blowers at work.
reviewed
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Simons
This Québec City chain is a phenomenon of which everyone, no matter their age or style, seems a fan. The selection runs from $15 T-shirts to $5000 designer coats, with the former (cheap, fashionable creations and basics with which you can’t go wrong) a hit with basically everyone.
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Halifax Farmers' Brewery Market
North America's oldest farmers' market, in the 1820s Keith's Brewery Building, is the ultimate shopping experience. Head here to people-watch and buy organic produce, locally crafted jewelry, clothes and more. In fact, the market has become so popular it's going to be expanded in 2011 to the newly built Seaport Market, a second location near Pier 21 – it will be a daily event with more vendors and cafes and more parking.
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Mountain Equipment Co-op
MEC is the place to get your outdoor kit sorted before heading into the hills. It has a huge selection of outdoor equipment, travel gear, active clothing and books.
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Newfoundland Emporium
Step over Flossie, the owner's massive Newfoundland dog, to get at the local crafts, music, antiques and books found here.
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West Edmonton Mall
It's hard to know whether to laugh or cringe at the West Edmonton Mall, which may as well be a different planet orbiting the city. Not content to simply be a shopping mall, it has the world's largest waterslides, an equipped indoor wave pool, a full-sized amusement park, a skating rink, two, yes, two minigolf courses, a fake reef with real seals swimming around, a petting zoo, a hotel and 800 stores thrown in as a bonus. It truly is a sight to see.
The kids will love it and no visit to Edmonton is complete without seeing it - love it or hate it, there's nothing else like West Ed. So go for a stroll through Chinatown, grab a meal on the delightfully unauthentic Bourbon St,…
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Summer Night Market
Much bigger than Vancouver’s Chinatown version, Richmond’s Summer Night Market has around 300 vendors and offers a multisensory glimpse of what Hong Kong–style bazaars are all about. Don’t eat anything before arriving and you can taste-trip among the 60 or so steamy food stalls. The highlight of an evening out here, they offer savory treats such as fish balls, shrimp dumplings, duck wraps, twirled potatoes, vegetarian gyoza (fried Japanese dumplings) and grilled squid. Most dishes cost from $3 to $6. Highlight vendors are the comparatively gourmet Roaming Dragon (go for its Korean short-rib tacos) and Sumo Bites (the sukiyaki beef rice burgers are recommended).
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Adrenaline
Many of the city’s tattoo and piercing places are in the ‘seedier’ or more alternative parts of town like Blvd St-Laurent or Rue Ste-Catherine Est. But oddly enough Adrenaline chose to set up right next to upper-crust Westmount in the shadow of a university and a hospital. It’s considered one of the best tattoo and piercing places in town. For those who aren’t ready to make a lifetime commitment to body art, Adrenaline offers red henna ‘tattoos, ’ lasting anywhere from two to eight weeks. Other options include temporary ‘airbrushed’ tattoos, lasting three to five days, and body glitter designs that can last up to two weeks.
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Chabanel Warehouses
Bargain-sniffers from far and wide flock to the Chabanel, an eight-block expanse of old factory buildings in northern Montréal west of Blvd St-Laurent. Inside are hundreds of ‘suites’ or warehouse storage rooms stuffed with locally made and imported items. From Buffalo jeans to Monte Calvo coats to Indian skirts, the choice is so huge it’s almost paralyzing. Just start on a top floor (the buildings have up to nine floors) and work your way down. Bring cash and be prepared to bargain. The shops open their doors on Saturday morning only, when something of a funfair atmosphere prevails. A few buildings are open normal hours during the week.
reviewed
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Metropolis at Metrotown
The ever-expanding 470-store homage to materialism, the ginormous Metropolis at Metrotown is the only shopping center you’ll need to visit on this trip. Savvy shoppers arrive early in the morning to beat the crowds then rest their weary feet at the sprawling food court – Indian, Japanese and Chinese cuisines are recommended here. All the regular chain-store suspects are on site, as well as bookshops, cinemas, department stores and a large number of intriguing Chinese businesses clustered around the excellent Asian T&T supermarket. The mall is a 20-minute SkyTrain ride from downtown Vancouver – it’s big enough to warrant its own station.
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Punjabi Market
You won't find cows wandering the streets, or bicycle rickshaws weaving between the traffic, but some of the sounds, smells and colors of the subcontinent are condensed into this short Main St strip. This enclave of sari stores, Bangra music shops, jewelry emporiums and some of the region's best-value curry restaurants has seen better days - as in Chinatown, the younger people have dispersed around the region because they don't feel compelled to live in a neighborhood together - but it's still a good spot for a spicy all-you-can-eat lunch followed by a restorative walkabout.
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Army & Navy
When the Army & Navy department store’s annual 12-day shoe sale kicks-off, there’s always a long, excited queue of hundreds of local ladies ready to get in. Those who’ve waited in line for hours have the chance to hit – usually at maximum velocity – the shiny pyramids of deeply discounted designer footwear from the likes of Guess, Christian Dior and Jimmy Choo. As screams of delight emanate from those staggering around with armfuls of must-have shoes, a handful of sheepish husbands and boyfriends hang around in corners wondering how they can escape.
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Mountain Equipment Co-Op
Cavernous granddaddy of Vancouver outdoor stores, grown hikers have been known to weep here at the amazing selection of mostly own-brand clothing, kayaks, sleeping bags and clever camping gadgets: MEC has been turning campers into fully fledged outdoor enthusiasts for years. There's a good selection of regional and international maps and guidebooks, plus a climbing wall to test your new gear. You'll have to be a member to buy, but that's easy to arrange and only costs $5. Equipment – canoes, kayaks, camping gear etc – can also be rented here.
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Regional Assembly of Text
The epitome of South Main eccentricity, this ironic antidote to the digital age was founded by pen-and-paper-loving art school grads. Ink-stained fans flock here to stock up on Little Otsu journals, handmade pencil boxes and American Apparel T-shirts printed with typewriter motifs. Check out the tiny under-the-stairs reading room showcasing cool underground art, and don't miss the monthly letter-writing club (7pm, first Thursday of every month), where you can sip tea, scoff cookies and hammer away on those vintage typewriters.
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Purdy's Chocolates
Like a beacon to the weary, this purple-painted chocolate purveyor stands at the corner of Granville and W 11th Ave calling your name. It's a homegrown BC business with outlets dotted like candy sprinkles across the city, and it's hard not to pick up a few treats for the road here. Among the favorites are the chocolate hedgehogs, peanut-butter daisies and sweet Georgia browns – roasted pecans wrapped in caramel and chocolate. Check out the sales racks after Christmas and Valentine's Day for dramatic bargains.
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Dutch Girl Chocolates
This little creaky-floored shop is artfully draped with an Aladdin's cave of totally irresistible choc treats, many made in the kitchen you'll glimpse through the hatch out back. Pick up some milk, white or dark chocolate models of cars or tennis racquets, peruse the old-fashioned jars of liquorice sweeties or create a selection box of handmade truffles and bonbons from the cabinet by the counter. And if you're a visiting Netherlander pining for home, you can pick up all your fave branded Dutch confections right here.
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Wanderlust
Neatly divided between guidebooks, maps and travel literature and a large array of travel accessories, this store has been inspiring itchy feet among the locals for years. While the travel book selection is deeper than any other in town, it's the gadgets that are most intriguing. Peruse the luggage, money belts and mosquito nets, then wonder how you ever got by without quick-drying underwear. The staff of seasoned travelers is super- knowledgeable if you just want to talk up your next big adventure.
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Richmond Night Market
Much bigger than Vancouver’s Chinatown version, the summertime Richmond Night Market has 350 vendors, who together offer a glimpse of what clamorous Hong Kong–style bazaars are all about. Don’t eat anything before arriving and you can taste trip among the 65 food stalls, which offer steaming savory treats such as fish balls, shrimp dumplings, vegetarian gyoza (fried Japanese dumplings) and grilled squid. Most dishes cost from $2.50 to $4.
reviewed
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Honest Ed’s
A visit to a quirky Toronto institution, Honest Ed’s is always a laugh. Plastered across this gaudy, light-bulb-encrusted discount emporium are signs saying ‘Don’t just stand there, buy something!’ and, ‘Come this way you lucky people!’ It’s quite a spectacle, and the queues before opening time are insane. The recently deceased owner Ed Mirvish also earned kudos as Toronto’s most beloved theater impresario.
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Sports Junkies
If you're heading to this part of town to check out MEC, do what the locals do and drop in first to this nearby outdoor gear and sports equipment consignment store. Along with the shelves of used boots and shoes near the door, you'll find racks of end-of-range new togs (this is the place for $5 Olympic Games T-shirts). Upstairs is a cornucopia of new and used equipment, from skis to snowshoes. If you know your prices, you can save a bundle here.
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Konbiniya Japan Centre
At a point on Robson St where the generic chain stores dry up and the Asian businesses begin, this is the kind of colorful, chaotic, even tacky store frequently seen in Tokyo's clamorous suburbs. It's the best place in town for Pocky chocolate sticks, wasabi-flavored Kit Kats and Melty Kiss candies, hence the homesick language students shuffling around the aisles. If your accommodation is self-catering, this is a good place to pick up cheap noodles and curry mixes.
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