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Shopping

Shopping easily qualifies as its own attraction in Montréal. What with original French-Canadian designs, brand-name fashions that arrive here before just about anywhere else in North America (save New York), and lower retail prices than you're likely to find back home, you're bound to come home with something no one else has (yet) – and for a lesser price to boot. So grab your wallet and get ready for some retail therapy.

Serious shoppers should start downtown where every kind of shop, from chain store to small boutique, can be found along the stretch of rue Ste-Catherine between Bishop and Union streets. For upscale name-brands and old-fashioned service, head to opulent Ogilvy's (1307 rue Ste-Catherine O; www.ogilvycanada.com), where the air of tradition, curving staircases and a grand chandelier transport you to another era, one in which a bagpiper might march through the store – which he does, in fact, everyday between noon and 1pm. Cours Mont-Royal (1455 rue Peel) is a small but stellar shopping center focused on cutting-edge fashion and the hottest designer names. To pick up the latest in trendy outfits at reasonable prices, stop by Québec's most popular department store, La Maison Simon's (977 rue Ste-Catherine O; www.simons.ca). For high-end Canadian labels, head north to rue Sherbrooke to find Canada's finest department store, Holt Renfrew (1300 rue Sherbrooke O; www.holtrenfrew.com); its exceptional collections of cosmetics, accessories, fragrances, and designer fashions for men and women are both high-end and highly civilized – in short, a fashionista's utopia.

For quirky designs and smaller boutiques, The Plateau is ground zero, especially so rue St-Denis and boulevard St-Laurent, between Sherbrooke and Mount-Royal streets. "Take a new look at objects from the past" is the slogan at Couleurs (3901 rue St-Denis; www.couleurs.qc.ca), a wonderful little shop filled to the brim with furniture and items from the 1940s to 1970s. Dubuc (4451 rue St-Denis, www.dubucstyle.com), the flagship store for Montréal designer Philippe Dubuc, is the go-to spot for simple, sophisticated lines for men and women. Shopping at Lola and Emily (3475 boul St-Laurent; www.lolaandemily.com) is akin to rooting through a chic friend's closet full of up-and-coming designer clothes, accessories, and knickknacks. The striking original designs make for almost too much eye candy at Freitag Concept (3762 boul St-Laurent; 514/845-1788), a jewelry boutique devoted almost entirely to sterling-silver items. Further north, in the Mile End, hotshot local designer Denis Gagnon is turning heads with his stark and dramatic garments; take some home from his studio-boutique, Espace Denis Gagnon (5392A boul St-Laurent; www.denisgagnon.ca).

With its tacky souvenir shops, Old Montréal can be quite a tourist trap unless you head to treasure troves like Betty's Bazaar (218 rue St-Paul O; 514/285-2212), one of our favorite local gems for clothing and everything pretty; Rooney (395 rue Notre-Dame O; www.rooneyshop.com), which sells cool t-shirts, great jeans, sneakers, and even the art on the walls; and sleek Boutique Reborn (231 rue St-Paul O; www.reborn.ws), which mingles vintage and ready-to-wear clothing from local and international designers in its minimalist shop.

An array of shops known as Antique Alley lines rue Notre-Dame between Atwater and Guy streets, with more than 50 shops retailing everything from fancy, stuffy and expensive pieces, to junky, chaotic and cheap tschotchkes; Deuxièmement (1880 rue Notre-Dame O; 514/933-8560) is the kookiest of the bunch, with a wild assortment of memorabilia from days gone by.

See Montreal Travel Guide