SHOPPING WALKS: VANCOUVER
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Known for: Small boutiques stocking independent labels with a youthful edge, good restaurants and a few great contemporary furniture stores.
Overview: Gastown has experienced a retail renaissance within the last half-dozen years. You’ll still find a few shops selling T-shirts emblazoned with maple leaves and Canadian moose, but you’ll find far more sophisticated restaurants and hip boutiques, many of which carry the work of Vancouver designers. And if you’re a fan of contemporary furniture and home decor, there’s more than one can’t-miss outlet in the area.
Known for: Handmade clothing and accessories by local artisans, as well as an excellent indoor public market.
Overview: indoor farmer’s market. The market was a hit and over the next few decades, a wide variety of shops and restaurants grew up around the market, many in reclaimed industrial buildings. In addition to the shops, you’ll also find a number of stalls in the public market where you can buy everything from jewellery to artwork. Strict guidelines have kept the retail focus on high-quality, hand-crafted items, meaning that you’ll find things here you won’t find anywhere else in the city, so it’s well worth the trip. Many Vancouverites joke that Granville Island is the only thing the federal government ever got right.
App features include:
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-9 Walks complete with listings for over 1,000 shops (including fashion, jewellery, shoes, cosmetics, home decor, and also eating and drinking places that you will find along the way)
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-Recoup the cost of the app immediately with exclusive vendor offers for ChicWalkers only
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-In-App GPS mapping walks you to the door of shops
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-Save time and maximize your energy by being able to pinpoint where you want to go
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-Ms Chic will forward your Secret Wishes to a friend, spouse, family member or co-worker (wink)
Known For: Stylish, independent fashion stores, home decor including antiques, restaurants
Overview: A few antique dealers and other home-decor outlets remain, but for the most part, Main Street is the epicentre of Vancouver’s burgeoning independent fashion scene. Don’t come here looking for chain stores like The Gap or Old Navy — most retail outlets on this route are small boutiques carrying the work of indie designers from Vancouver and other parts of Canada, plus carefully chosen stock from further afield. Think young, fresh, original and unique and you’ve got the Main Street vibe.
Known for: Major chain stores, restaurants and bars.
Overview: It’s hard to leave Robson Street off your Vancouver shopping itinerary — it’s mentioned in every guidebook and locals know it as the place to see a lot of fashion in a few short blocks, as well as a whole lot of fashionistas on the hunt. This area has more street energy than almost any other strip — day and night, it’s buzzing with a young and fashionable crowd, tourists and locals.
Known For: Moderate to upscale fashion and home decor stores, restaurants and art galleries.
Overview: North of Broadway (which would be 9th Avenue, if it had a number rather than a name), Granville is often called Gallery Row, since it is home to a number of art galleries. More recently, it’s become something of a hub for furniture and home decor stores, most of which are clustered between West 5th and West 12th Avenues. While many independent stores flourish on the street, chain stores like Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma have taken up residence in recent years. Still, the area hasn’t lost its neighbourhood feel.
Known for: Upscale independent fashion stores, restaurants, bars and spas.
Overview: Yaletown’s proximity to the downtown core and inner harbour views has made it a popular choice for young professionals who revel in its urban sophistication. Small wonder, then, that it’s also become a magnet for trendy restaurants, bars and boutiques. The area is home to trendy, often pricey fashion stores, as well as a cluster of specialty stores and spas. It’s also a great place to head for lunch, dinner or a drink — whether you’re looking for an upscale Italian restaurant or a boisterous pub and burger joint, you’re guaranteed not to go hungry or thirsty.
Known for: Fashion stores, cafes and restaurants
Overview:
This shopping area encapsulates the essence of Vancouver’s laid-back lifestyle — which in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s was the closest thing Vancouver had to San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district. Today, the neighbourhood’s hippie-chic atmosphere has grown up and gone upscale. Instead of peasant blouses and pukka shells, yoga wear and designer labels now set the retail tone for the area, but you’ll find just about everything here. A few major chains have a toehold here, but locally owned boutiques occupy the lion’s share of the storefronts.
Known for: Upscale boutiques, galleries, hotels and restaurants
Overview: Whistler was already known as a world-class ski resort before it became one of the two venues, along with Vancouver, for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the community has been in overdrive since the games were announced. New hotels, shops and restaurants have moved in, making Whistler an even more popular destination to visitors and locals, year-round. The heart of the community is Whistler Village, a European-style enclave of pedestrian-only streets that house mostly upscale boutiques specializing in everything from ski and apres-ski wear to fashions for an evening out.
Vancouver is a city of neighbourhoods, each with a character all its own and framed by gorgeous mountains and the Pacific Ocean. So it’s a shame that when visitors to the city ask where they should shop, they’re often directed to one place, downtown’s Robson Street strip. While Robson Street is a great place to browse the racks or get a bite, it would be a shame if you didn’t venture beyond those few bustling blocks to check out some of Vancouver’s other great retail neighbourhoods.
Let the experts at Chicwalks.com and Nuit Blanche Tours take you on a fun orientation of the shopping hot spots in Vancouver and line up designer interviews for your stories. We give you a complete orientation of Vancouver’s fashion/shopping scene, provide lists of our walks and detail who the local designers are, take you to the back rooms of ateliers and line you up with boutique owners. We also have some fun shopping time at a variety of boutiques/stores that epitomize the Vancouver shopping experience. We’ll end our shopping extravaganza with a uniquely West Coast lunch.
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