Vancouver Shopping

When it comes to souvenir shopping in Vancouver, the most original gifts are Pacific Northwest and Inuit arts and crafts - soapstone sculptures, carved masks, totem poles, pottery, jewellery and prints.

Shopping centres
Indoor shopping Downtown includes the Pacific Centre, Royal Centre and Sinclair Centre, while Metropolis at Metrotown is a large suburban mall (with 450 shops) connected to the SkyTrain station of the same name. Aberdeen Centre, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, is a massive Asian mall in Richmond.

Key areas
Chic Robson Street offers fashion boutiques, souvenir and speciality shops and a fair number of Cuban cigar emporia. Yaletown is the shopping ground of Vancouver's young and aspirational, with designer fashions, art galleries and trendy home décor shops. Other popular areas include Gastown, Chinatown and Granville Island, with its wonderful public market.

For outdoors enthusiasts, the stretch of Broadway between Ontario Street and Cambie Street is a must - Mountain Equipment Co-op, 130 West Broadway, is the best known of the clutch of sporting goods stores here.

Further afield, South Main is fast becoming one of the hottest places to shop. Twigg & Hottie, 3671 Main Street, showcases Canadian designers as well as selling reworked vintage clothing.

Opening hours
Shops are generally open Monday to Saturday 0930/1000-1800 (until 2100 Thursday and Friday) and Sunday 1200-1700.

Tax-free
There is a non-refundable provincial sales tax (PST) of 7% in addition to the 5% federal Goods & Services Tax (GST). Foreign visitors can no longer claim back the GST portion.