View Full Version : Ottawa Citizen: 5 best shopping streets


malek
January 3rd, 2006, 09:20 PM
5 best shopping streets in Montreal


Montreal is only two hours away from Ottawa, and it's a great place to shop. Here are five great shopping streets -- other than Ste-Catherine Street downtown.

1. Avenue Laurier

This short strip (about eight blocks) in posh Outremont is the place to go for upscale shopping. There's a Tilley Endurables store here, for example, and some wonderful boutiques where your credit card can really work up a sweat. Hungry after your expeditions? Avenue Laurier is home to one of the city's top restaurants, Lemeac. The active section of Laurier is near the intersection with Avenue du Parc; it's also a not-too-distant walk from the Laurier metro station.

2. Avenue du Mont-Royal

If Avenue Laurier is upscale-trendy, Avenue du Mont-Royal, an east-west artery a few blocks further south, is funky-trendy. Think small, think Bohemian, think unique: stylish clothes, for example, or edgy tchotchkes for your home. Get off at the Mont-Royal metro stop and explore both east and west. Oh, and don't forget to check out St-Denis, which crosses Mont-Royal and runs north-south.

3. Boulevard St-Laurent

This street, the dividing line between east and west in Montreal, is the multicultural heart of the city. After having looked a bit frayed around the edges for years, it's come into its own as a fascinating street to walk and a great place to shop. From Sherbrooke Street, all the (very long) way north to Autoroute 40, the street Montrealers affectionately call La Main is full of things to see and buy. Most stores are small and unique -- restaurants, clothing stores, furniture and design, antiques. This street has got it all, in easily digestible bits.

4. Jean-Talon Market

This is not really a street, but if you're interested in good eating, this market is well worth a visit. Way north of downtown, a bit west of the Jean-Talon metro stop near the corner of Jean-Talon and St-Denis, the market offers a massive sensory experience where you will find fruits and vegetables (some of which you'll never see in Ottawa) as well as cheeses and fish and meat, all manner of unusual spices, and special cooking implements. Where else can you shop to buy a tagine, and take your pick among a half-dozen stores offering them for sale?

5. Boulevard Le Corbusier

OK, technically it's not in Montreal -- it's in the suburb of Laval, just north of the city. Le Corbusier runs north-south, parallel to Autoroute 15, and is easily accessible. It offers some of the easiest and best one-stop shopping for furniture you'll find. Many of Montreal's best furniture stores have outlets on or near Le Corbusier. Parking is generally easy and stores are literally a two-minute drive from each other.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005

marek bielski
January 4th, 2006, 06:07 AM
Pretty fair assessment, but Le Corbusier does not ring a bell ... I would put Tashereau too on the list if Greater Mtl is considered ;) It is an eyesore but it has shopping ... for better or for worse ;)

habsfan
January 4th, 2006, 05:47 PM
Yeah baby! Boulevard Taschereau...As much as it does suck(you need a car to go on Taschereau) it does have shitloads of shopping available!

rt_0891
January 6th, 2006, 06:33 AM
Tashereau is big-box heaven, not a shopping street. I've lived in Brossard for a short-while, and the shopping at Rive Sud sucks big time.

habsfan
January 6th, 2006, 05:22 PM
Tashereau is big-box heaven, not a shopping street. I've lived in Brossard for a short-while, and the shopping at Rive Sud sucks big time.

Of course it does, It's a Suburb! Where do you go to shop in the burbs? The mall. Trust me, there are plenty of them on the South Shore!

rt_0891
January 7th, 2006, 07:07 PM
Trust me, there are plenty of them on the South Shore!

I think it's pretty obvious ;) Trust me though, there are a lot of people living at Rive Sud that actually have good taste, and regularly scramble across Pont Victoria/Champlain to fulfill their shopping needs. ~

The malls on the South Shore are so much crappier than the ones on West Island/Laval.

rise_against
January 8th, 2006, 05:38 AM
Next time i visit ill make sure to visit some of those streets!

habsfan
January 9th, 2006, 04:12 PM
"The malls on the South Shore are so much crappier than the ones on West Island/Laval."

That's a question of opinion...THE Champlain Mall and Promenades St-Bruno are no worse than Farview Pointe Claire or Place Laval.

rt_0891
January 10th, 2006, 12:40 AM
IMO, Le Carrefour Laval beats all of them though. Only mall I'm willing to step foot in.