Main Street Mania

Call us creatures of habit. We discover ‘our’ coffee shop, clothing store and kids’ shop, and pretty soon we’re in a retail rut. Ladies, it’s time to break out of the box.
Helping you get off that beaten track is Vancouver’s Modern Urban Guide, which points you to the funkiest local stores around—all independently owned and one-of-a-kind. You’ll find free, hard-copy urban guides in participating shops, or you can map your route online.

You’ve got your pick of a variety of destination neighbourhoods, but SavvyMom decided to head to Main Street—a central locale that’s definitely increased its ‘funk factor’ over the past few years.

One of our fave finds was Lazy Susan’s at 3647 Main St. (which, actually, wasn’t in the guide, but should be). This is a place for the whole family—you can buy everything from dainty, little-girl hankies to Ninja-themed band-aids to Sex Pistols lunch boxes to lingerie. You’ll find Tinkertoys for the kids and shower gifts for your girlfriends. We loved My First Phone Book, a little person’s sweet ‘organizer’ that allows the owner to post a friend’s photo and phone number on each page.

Close by is twigg&hottie at 3671 Main St., a great source of eco-clothing for big and small. Each item is tagged to let the consumer know if it is sustainable, produced locally, Canadian-designed, etc.