Shopping in Toronto

Toronto prides itself on having some of the finest shopping in North America. Indeed, most of the world's name boutiques have branches here, especially in the Yorkville area, where you can find such designer labels as Hermès, Gucci, and Cartier.

For those a little leaner of wallet, join in one of Torontonians' favorite pastimes: bargain hunting. Locals wear discount threads like badges of honor and stretch their dollar at Winner's—where overstocked and liquidated designer pieces and last-season fashions are slashed to a fraction of their original retail prices. A favorable exchange rate means that if you're from out of the country, you land what amounts to an immediate discount. Toronto has a large arts-and-crafts community, with numerous art galleries, custom jewelers, clothing designers, and artisans. Objets d'art like sophisticated glass sculpture and Inuit art are ideal as gifts or for your own home.

Music stores all over Toronto stack shelves with international hits as well as homegrown talent like Alanis Morissette, Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, and a host of lesser-known pop, rap, hip-hop, folk, opera, and country artists. Bookstores such as Indigo have lounge areas where you can sip a coffee from the in-store café while perusing books by Canadian authors such as Barbara Gowdy, Ann-Marie McDonald, and Rohinton Mistry.

When it comes to department stores, all roads lead to Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street West, the epicenter of Toronto's designer mecca. A mere block east is the more mid-price department store the Bay. A second Bay can be found across from Eaton Centre, a sprawling shopping complex with multilevel parking in the heart of the city.

Most stores accept credit cards. U.S. currency generally is accepted, though not always at the most favorable rate of exchange. On Thursday and Friday most stores downtown stay open until 9 PM; on Sunday stores open at noon.

The biggest sale day of the year is Boxing Day, the first business day after Christmas, when nearly everything in the city is half price. In fact, clothing prices tend to drop even further as winter fades. Summer sales start in late June and continue through August.

Bear in mind that the national 6% Goods and Services Tax (GST) is added to the cost of your purchases at the cash register, in addition to the 8% Ontario sales tax.

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