Shopping
Montreal has excellent shopping facilities, from large department stores to small street markets, specialist fashion boutiques and discount retail outlets. Specialities include furs, Native American crafts, haute couture and antiques. The Canadian Guild of Crafts – Qubec, 1460 rue Sherbrooke West (tel: (514) 849 6091; website: www.canadianguild.com), is a non-profit organisation that has a gallery of Inuit and Amerindian art and also sells works by member artisans. Other fine-art galleries can be found along the same street, in the vicinity of the Museum of Fine Arts.
One of the best concentrations of shops in Old Montreal is at the March Bonsecours, 350 rue St-Paul East (tel: (514) 872 7730; website: www.marchebonsecours.qc.ca), but there are all sorts of small shops on rue St-Paul and tucked away in the side streets. Downtown shopping is along the stretch of rue Ste-Catherine, between rue Guy and rue St-Urbain, and is a good place for cheap music and electronics, as well as fashions at all price ranges. Upmarket department stores include Ogilvy, 1307 rue Ste-Catherine West, and Holt Renfrew, 1300 rue Sherbrooke West, while The Bay, 585 rue Ste-Catherine West, is aimed at the average consumer. Les Ailes de la Mode, adjacent to the Eaton Centre, fits somewhere in between. Other shopping malls lining rue Ste-Catherine West and connected to the Underground City are Complexe Desjardins, Promenades Cathdrale, Place Montral Trust, Place Ville Marie and Cours Mont-Royal.
Beyond Downtown, boulevard St-Laurent (the ‘Main’) is a good place for ethnic and alternative shopping, while rue St-Denis and avenue Laurier are filled with chic boutiques and Qubcois designers. The city’s better-off anglophones shop along avenue Greene in Westmount, to the west of Downtown. One highlight here is The Double Hook, 1235a avenue Greene (website: www.doublehook.com), a bookstore specialising in Canadian literature and Canadiana.
The city’s two largest public markets (website: www.marchespublics-mtl.com) are a bit further from Downtown. March Atwater is near the Lachine Canal, at 138 avenue Atwater, while March Jean-Talon is to the north, in the heart of Little Italy at 7075 avenue Casgrain. Both have wonderful produce, as well as butchers, bakers and speciality foods. The former opens at 0800, the latter at 0700; closing times are 1800 Monday to Wednesday, 2000 Thursday, 2100 Friday and 1700/1800 Saturday and Sunday.
Shops are generally open Monday to Wednesday 1000-1800, Thursday and Friday 1000-2100, Saturday 1000-1700 and Sunday 1200-1700. The 7% federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) and 7.5% provincial Quebec Sales Tax (QST) are levied on most products and services. Non-residents can apply for a rebate of the GST portion on goods for use outside of Canada, as well as on short-term accommodation; the total pre-tax value must exceed C$200, with a C$50 minimum for each individual invoice. The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (tel: (902) 432 5608 or 800 668 4748; website: www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/visitors) should be contacted for further information and forms; private firms charge a hefty fee for the same service. Instant refunds are available at duty-free shops at border crossings; allow extra time at airports as receipts must be stamped by Customs on departure.
|
Shopping