Must-see shopping in Canada

  • Glad Day

    Toronto

    It's the oldest still-running gay bookstore in the world, making Glad Day an LGBTIQ+ landmark. The store has transformed from a place to defy censorship…

  • Village Pottery

    Prince Edward Island

    PEI's longest-running pottery studio is a family affair and a labor of love – it's been operated by the same clan since opening in 1973. The colorful pots…

  • Craft Ontario Shop

    Toronto

    Craft Ontario has been promoting the work of artisans in its gallery boutique for over 40 years. Ceramics, jewelry, glasswork, prints and carvings make up…

  • The Hunky Dory

    Gros Morne National Park

    Besides the great punny name, this is a brilliant spot to pick up local folk arts and crafts, including stuff you genuinely can't find in other shops. The…

  • Rusty Raven

    Northwest Territories

    This sweet place sells some Dene beadwork, local art, books on local attractions, organic soap and other gifts. It also does decent fairtrade coffee from…

  • Book Shop

    Okanagan Valley

    The perfect rainy-day refuge, this used bookstore is one of Canada's largest and best.

  • Galerie d'Art Inuit Brousseau

    Québec City

    Devoted to Inuit soapstone, serpentine and basalt carvings and sculptures from artists all over Arctic Canada, this place is gorgeously set up and…

  • ByWard Market

    Ottawa

    The best place in town for one-stop shopping. Outdoor vendors cluster around the grand maroon-brick ByWard Market Square building, which dates from 1926…

  • Tea Trader

    Calgary

    This wonderful shop is up a set of stairs and very easy to miss, but it's worth searching out for its lovely aroma wafting around the room, cheery, happy…

  • Exterior of Urban Source craft store

    Urban Source

    Vancouver

    From used postcards and insect rubber stamps to ladybug stickers and map pages from old books, this brilliant store offers a highly eclectic, ever…

  • Exterior of John Fluevog Shoes

    John Fluevog Shoes

    Gastown & Chinatown

    Like an art gallery for shoes, this alluringly cavernous store showcases the famed footwear of local designer Fluevog, whose men's and women's boots and…

  • Search & Rescue Denim Company

    Vancouver

    You'll walk into this busy workshop thinking you don't need an apron. Then you'll fall in love. These handmade, sometimes punkish and always sturdily…

  • Marché du Vieux-Port

    Québec City

    At this heaving local food market, you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables as well as dozens of local specialties, from Île d’Orléans blackcurrant wine to…

  • Kitsilano Farmers Market

    Vancouver

    This seasonal farmers market is one of the city's most popular and is Kitsilano's best excuse to get out and hang with the locals. Arrive early for the…

  • Front & Company

    Vancouver

    You could easily spend a couple of hours perusing the new and vintage clothing in the main space of Front & Company, which colonizes a row of storefronts…

  • Smoking Lily

    Vancouver

    Art-school cool rules at this mostly womens wear boutique, with skirts, belts and halter-tops whimsically accented with prints of rabbits, narwhals and…

  • Paper-Ya

    Vancouver

    A magnet for slavering stationery fetishists (you know who you are), this store's treasure trove of trinkets ranges from natty pens to traditional washi…

  • Ainsworth Custom Design

    Vancouver

    Ostensibly a design studio working to commission, its two-story front-of-shop area showcases a kaleidoscopic array of quirky arts and crafts by mostly…

  • Sunday Antique Market

    Old Town, Corktown & Distillery District

    Located in a tent-style building at the southern end of the St Lawrence Market Complex, this weekly antique market brings more than 90 vendors to the…

  • Shipyards Night Market

    North Shore

    Muscling in on the region's summertime night-market scene, North Van's is a few steps east of Lonsdale Quay. It's a fun way to spend a balmy Friday…

  • Alberta Boot Co

    Calgary

    Visit the factory and store run by the province's only Western boot manufacturer and pick up a pair of your choice made of kangaroo, bullhide or boring…

  • Les Branchés Lunetterie

    Québec City

    Displaying a fanciful, wildly colorful mix of designer eyewear from Québec, France and Spain, this is a fun place to browse, even if you’re not…

  • Wilson Mountain Sports

    Lake Louise

    This friendly outdoors shop sells pretty much everything a camper or backcountry adventurer could need. It also rents a full range of bikes – mountain…

  • Regional Assembly of Text

    Victoria

    This branch of Vancouver's charming hipster stationery store is socked into a quirky space resembling a hotel lobby from 1968. You'll find the same clever…

  • Roland's Sea Vegetables

    New Brunswick

    Grand Manan is one of the few remaining producers of dulse, a type of seaweed that is used as a snack food or seasoning. Dulse gatherers wade among the…

  • Tamarack Outdoor Outfitters

    Southern Alberta

    Waterton's most comprehensive equipment store stocks everything from backpacks to bear spray. It offers guides for one-day and multiday treks and shuttle…

  • Vancouver Special

    Vancouver

    An irresistible, white-walled, double-sized store that appeals to design-minded individuals with its carefully chosen array of Tivoli radios, molded…

  • Artisans Canada

    Québec City

    One of our favorite stores to shop and browse, this emporium run by the same family for three generations stocks arts and crafts, clothing, jewelry and…

  • Gallery of the Midnight Sun

    Yellowknife

    Has an ample supply of Inuit and First Nations art, including ornately decorated Dene moccasins and jackets, marble and serpentine sculpture by Inuvialuit…

  • MEC

    Kensington Market & Chinatown

    MEC is your mecca if you have a fetish for outdoor and adventure equipment. Multiple brands of backpacking, camping, hiking and travel gear line the walls…

  • Smithbilt Hats

    Calgary

    Ever wondered how a cowboy hat is made? Here is your chance to find out. Smithbilt has been shaping hats in the traditional way since 1919 when you parked…

  • Tara Davis Studio Boutique

    Winnipeg

    Is it a studio? Is it a fashion boutique? Is it a gallery? Whatever it is, we love it. Here you can pick up unique gifts 'made with love' in Canada, from…

  • Fire & Flower

    Ottawa

    With extremely helpful and knowledgeable staff, this dispensary is a great resource for novices as well as experienced smokers. Anyone over the age of 19…

  • Zimmermann

    Québec City

    The father and son who own this jewelry shop, in the same location since 1963 and almost as much of a landmark as nearby Simons, make every piece of gold…

  • Les Trois Corbeaux

    Québec City

    This fabulous shop and studio stocks the most exquisite works of art in glass – bowls, candlesticks, paperweights, bric-a-brac – and they're all fired and…

  • Hoi Bo

    Old Town, Corktown & Distillery District

    Refined clothing and accessories, all handmade by an in-house crew and using natural materials such as organic wool, bamboo and Ontario beeswax. Items…

  • All in the Wild Gallery & Gifts

    Banff Town

    Pop in to see the work of the superb wildlife photographer Jason Leo Bantle, with images taken in some of Canada's most remote regions. Pick up a print, a…

  • Latulippe

    Québec City

    If you're in the market for sporting goods or outdoor gear and this enormous store in St-Sauveur doesn’t have it, it doesn't exist. Visit Latulippe for…

  • Moncton Market

    New Brunswick

    Touted as one of New Brunswick's largest farmers markets, this is the place to be on Saturday morning. Stalls are chocked with fresh vegetables and…

  • Dead Dog Records

    Toronto

    A small used-record store with a good, well-organized selection of vinyls, CDs and even cassette tapes. Check out the merch from long-past concerts and…

More destinations you need to see