Month by Month - Vancouver - page 64

and locally designed togs for that perfect Vancouver look. Get off the beaten path to
Main St and Commercial Dr for quirky vintage and artsy fashions. Or peruse the main
drags and side streets of Gastown, South Granville and Kitsilano's 4th Ave for one-of-
a-kind boutique gems. Keep your eyes peeled for pop-up shops and check the pages of
Vancouver magazine and the Georgia Straight for retail happenings such as Gastown's
'shop hops' - seasonal evenings of late-opening shops with a party-like vibe. Before
you arrive, peruse www.vitamindaily.com/vancouver for more retail therapy tips.
Arts & Crafts
The city's arts scene dovetails invitingly with its retail sector. There are dozens of in-
triguing private galleries, showcasing everything from contemporary Canadian art to
authentic First Nations carvings and jewelry. Check out the Flats emerging gallery dis-
trict just off Main St and peruse the older gallery row on South Granville. There are
also opportunities to buy art from indie galleries on Main St and from the many artisan
studios on Granville Island. In addition, there are dozens of arts and crafts fairs here
throughout the year and they're a great way to meet local producers and creative Van-
couverites. Check local listings publications or www.gotcraft.com for upcoming events.
Souvenirs
For decades, visitors to Vancouver have been returning home with suitcases full of
maple-sugar cookies and vacuum-packed smoked salmon in wooden boxes. You can
still pick up these items, typically in the large souvenir stores lining the north side of
Gastown's Water St. But it doesn't have to be this way. Consider consigning your
Gastown-clock fridge magnet to the garbage and aiming for authentic First Nations art
or silver jewelry; a book on Vancouver's eye-popping history ( Vancouver Noir by Di-
ane Purvey and John Belshaw, for example); some locally made pottery from Granville
Island; or a Vancouver-designed T-shirt from the fashion stores on Main St.
Museum Goodies
The city's museums and galleries offer some unexpected buying opportunities. You
don't have to see an exhibition to visit these shops, and keep in mind that you're help-
ing to fund the institutions you're buying from. Perhaps the best of all the city's mu-
seum stores, the Museum of Anthropology ( Click here ) shop has a fantastic array of
First Nations and international indigenous artworks, ranging from elegant silver jewelry
to fascinating masks. Back downtown, the Vancouver Art Gallery ( Click here ) gift shop