horatio

Just have an afternoon for shopping in each of both..recommended places for fashion, i.e., totally avoid the malls? Also for artisan type work...thanks

zootsi

I'm not really a shopaholic, but I do know that Rue St. Denis in Montreal is possibly THE prime area for Shopping - lots of small botiques, shoe stores, book stores, antiques, cd's, and lots and lots of outdoor cafes. St Laurent is another interesting street, especially for housewares, ethnic foods and such. Of course St. Catherine is the major shopping/commercial district with lots of big department stores and smaller shops, and the huge underground malls.
As for Quebec City, there is a pretty good selection of stores inside the upper part of the old city, and a more urban, blue collar shopping district downtown (no tourists here!) - but nothing close to Montreal.

bettyo70

Not sure what your style of clothing is, but if you like edgy, unique fashion, you have to check out the DUBUC boutique in Montreal. (I forget if it is on St. Denis or St. Catherine...ask someone.) Beautifully tailored clothes by a local Montreal designer -- for men and women. David Bowie is a fan. (This is for those who are trying to avoid "mall fashion." Also, CABAN (or is it "CABANA"?) has unique modern furniture and home accessories at fair prices. They are also on a main shopping street. Enjoy!

Scarlett

Hello, my name is Scarlett and I AM a shop-o-holic! LOL
We usually go to Montreal in August or November. I find August to be great for summer sales, and November perfect for Christmas shopping, as well as a few treats for myself.
Here is a small list of stores I always visit and also that I can remember
Downtown, St Catherine St:
Les Ailes
Simons
Ogilvies
rue Sherbrook-amny great boutiques that are on the expensive side, but still fun to browse.
Ralph Lauren
Holt Renfrew-my favorite
rue StDenis- reminds me of Haight Ashbury San Francisco..every kind of store, Lush (soaps & bath products) and used clothes and books,
The Plateau has some good shopping, I have these on my list,
Revenge, Coulers, and Carton..
The only part of the city that I do not shop is Old Montreal .
On Notre Dame Ouest- Antiques, lots of them!
I cannot remember shopping in Quebec, but it is small and very crowded with tourists, so I imagine that the goods will be geared toward the tourist.
Happy Shopping!

horatio

Thanks for your help..we are off tomorrow and I have written them all down!

jamierin

Going to Montreal and of course, I am most interested in this shopping thread.

Would someone be kind enough to give me the parameters of the Plateau area, in terms of street names.

Also, is the shopping on St. Denis better north or south of Blvd. de Maisonneuve?

In addition, I know that there are a lot of great restaurants in Montreal, but can someone receommend some recent favs?

Thanks.

jamierin

TTT

mitchdesj

North is definitely the direction to head to on St. Denis; wear good walking shoes.......

jamierin

ttt

mitchdesj

Caban is on Ste. Catherine st., corner of Mcgill. There is good underground shopping at les Cours Mt Royal, entrance on Peel street, close to de Maisonneuve, north of ste. catherine st. Vasco de Gamas café is right across the street, a few doors from Ferreira.

Les Ailes has downsized and looks like it might close but it's still worth a look.

The Ralph Lauren on Sherbrooke st. has closed down.

jamierin

I heard the bad news about Les Ailes. Too bad as I heard that it was quite amazing when it was the whole building - heard they have only a couple floors left of merchandise.

I think that I will spend my time at the boutique tyoe places lining St. Denis and St. Laurent. Are there any side streets within the area that I should not miss?

Also, where's the best place for an early Sunday am breakfast?

mitchdesj

Jamie, St. Denis has a wider variety of shops; sunday morning can be pretty quiet in mtl since the shops only open at noon-
but there will be plenty of places to have breakfast, where are you staying ?

jamierin

Hotel Vogue most likely - end of October.

AlexA

one minor note--stores in downtown montreal close at 5PM on Saturdays.

You'd think some savvy businesspeople would catch on to the fact that it is not good to close stores at a time when literally thousands of people are trying to go in and spend money (unless it is some local regulation that stores must close at a certain hour?)
Caban was open till 6, and you should see how packed it was on a recent summer Saturday

mitchdesj

In the downtown core, stores and malls around ste catherine street have begun to stay open late monday to wednesday till 9 p.m.;
previously it was thursday and friday only till 9 p.m.

They should stay open till 7 on saturday, it would make more sense.

elle

And most stores are not open on Sunday, is that correct?

Thanks.

mitchdesj

Most stores are open from 12 to 5 on sunday; the exception would be individual private boutiques who may open or not as they please.

christellefv

Les Ailes in Montreal might have downsized, but the one in Quebec city hasn't.. They are located in Place Sainte-Foy.

Also, for Quebec city shopping, go on Rue Saint Jean. But don't start from the Porte St Jean (near Capitole) like everyone does, but start near D'Aiguillon... A lot of nice boutiques, typical shops, old grocery store (Moisan)/boucher, etc... Also, Cartier street has a few nice stores/restaurants.

victorious

Montreal is great for shopping. I love how there are neighborhoods where you can just be outside on the street shopping. My mom tells me people here in Columbus,GA used to do that back in the day go downtown go from shop to shop. but now you have to go to the mall because here in my town and I"m sure in lots of American towns the only good stores are found in malls. If there is a store outside of a mall or strip shopping center it's only one store but in Montreal particularly on St. Denis you're like in outdoors mall. Store after store of actually good merchandise. But in my St Denis is expensive at best with only a handful of affordable stores. I saw this t-shirt that said "young angry and poor" on it. It was $90 Canadian! I was shocked at best. Well if I paid $90 for some of that stuff I'd be angry too. But walk about 7 or 8 blocks over to St Laurent and the stores are cheaper.

Now one store I loved that was still a bit more than I"m used but definately felt worth it was Le Chateau I absolutely loved that store! Bedo is a good store. But I didn't buy anything there because they didn't have my size for what I wanted that was like on sale for $20 or $30.

But Montreal does have good malls I like the underground city good for a rainy day. The Underground city is linked through tunnels and there's like mall after mall linked together. Even if you hate malls they're good for lunch becuase you can go to the food court and everyone can get what they want instead of just going to one restaurant. But is it me or does Canada have a lot of malls? Last year I saw big malls and lots of little itty bitty malls. I think I heard somewhere that it's becuase of the cold weather. But that was my observation.

Little Italy also has a couple store selling expensive Italian clothes and a store that sells Italian soccer shops it's further up St Laurent. The Jean Talon market is in the neighborhood and it's good for a quick healthy snack for a shopping break.

Now I had heard that the textile factories have outlets on Saturdays on Rue Chabanel but I was rather disapointed a lot of stores were closed when I went in August. but there are some stores selling cheap stuff but with any place selling good at cheap prices it can be hit or miss.

Another store I liked was Mexx. The Bay is good department store but I found my favorite shirts Kenneth Cole to be a little more expensive in Canada than in U.S even with the exchange rate. Not everything is cheaper in Canada Levis aren't and some books aren't but most books are cheaper up there. Chapters is like a Borders or Barnes and Noble if you just have something to read. There are also magazine stores with plenty of American favorites.

If you need basic stuff like tolitries, want a store more familiar to home or you forgot to pack something there are plenty of Jean Cortus that's the durgstore up there. They're all over MOntreal and Zellers is like kmart. They have Walmarts up there but none close to the city. They have them in Quebec City too in the suburbs I stopped at one when I needed a disposable camera. It's just like any walmart in America just in French.

eliztravels2

This thread is 12 years old, Karenshoes. You wouldn’t be reviving it to promote your own business, would you?