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| City Guide - Montreal - Shopping | ||
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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 - Québec, 2025 rue Peel, is a non-profit organisation that has a gallery of Inuit and Amerindian art, and also sells works by member artisans. Other art galleries can be found along rue Sherbrooke, in the vicinity of the Museum of Fine Arts. The best concentration of shops in Old Montreal is at the Marché Bonsecours, 350 rue St-Paul East (web site: 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. Connected to the Underground City are Complexe Desjardins, Promenades de la Cathédrale, Eaton Centre, place Montréal 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 Québécois designers. The city's better-off anglophiles shop along Greene Avenue in Westmount, to the west of downtown. One highlight here is The Double Hook, 1235a avenue Greene, a bookstore specialising in Canadiana and Canadian literature. The city's two largest public markets are a bit further from downtown. Marché Atwater is near the Lachine Canal, at 138 avenue Atwater, while Marché 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. Shops are generally open Monday to Wednesday 1000-1800, Thursday and Friday 1000-2100, and Saturday and Sunday 1000-1700. 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 full rebate 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; web site: www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/tax/nonresidents/visitors/index-e.html) should be contacted for further information and forms. Cash refunds can be obtained from Maple Leaf Tax Refunds on the fourth level of the Eaton Centre (tel: (514) 847 0982), however, they charge a fee of 18% (minimum C$9). |
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