Discover Vancouver

Shopping in Vancouver

Vancouver offers a wide variety of retail stores and services with many in the Downtown core catering to tourists.High-end clothing stores with notable designer labels are found along Vancouver’s Robson Street and along South Granville (just south of the Granville Street Bridge).Robson Street, a hub of activity with fashionable shops and services, also has numerous small tourist shops with T-shirts, hats, Native art and related items.More of these shops are found in Vancouver’s Historic Gastown which offers a popular stroll through the city’s oldest neighbourhood.

Greater Vancouver is also home to many very large retail shopping malls – most located in the suburbs of Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey and Richmond.These malls have more affordable items and cater to local residents.Pacific Centre is the largest retail mall in Downtown Vancouver, containing both high-end shops and services and some more modest retail outlets.Anchored by The Bay department store, Pacific Centre is located below street level at Georgia and Granville.

Remember, Canadian clothing sizes often differ from those in other countries.Don’t be shocked by such differences and remember to try out any clothing before buying.The metric system is used for measuring grocery items but Canadian restaurants and pubs still use ounces and pints (wine may be served by the litre – which is a little more than a regular sized wine bottle).

For those seeking an entirely different experience, the Vancouver suburb of Richmond (near the Vancouver International Airport) has several Asian shopping malls.Restaurants, food stores and clothing shops offer items indicative of the area’s Asian cultures.However, some of the retailers speak very little English.

Most Greater Vancouver merchants accept all major credit cards, traveller’s cheques and American money.While most stores post the exchange rate for American currency, those rates are not necessarily favourable.American shoppers are better off to exchange their money at a bank or private currency exchange before shopping.