Calgary’s 17th Avenue Retail and Entertainment District is a pedestrian-friendly area lined with an enticing jumble of shops, cafés, and restaurants. A good choice of designer boutiques promises a productive day spent browsing well-stocked rails for top brands, while a selection of trendy stores and galleries are ideal for kitting out your walls at home. You can also find a great many places selling glam vintage clothing that’s sure to liven up your wardrobe. There’s also a glittering array of distinct jewelry to consider.
Inglewood
Calgary’s longest standing neighborhood, Inglewood provides a truly original shopping experience. Refreshingly independent and arty, it’s bursting with charm and character. All sorts of masterfully recycled goods fill a quirky series of niche boutiques, where you can also bag anything from exotic produce to novelty ornaments. But the area is not confined to selling knick-knacks, food, and furniture: there are plenty of cutting-edge fashion items to check out, and a tour of a gallery or 3 might tempt you into a colorful purchase for the home.
Haskayne Mercantile Block
Heritage Park is home to a popular village-style museum that takes visitors back in time to 1860 through to 1950, looking at differing periods of life in Western Canada. Haskayne Mercantile Block does very much the same thing: you'll flitter through a neat succession stores that seem to have appeared straight out of yesteryear, stocking all sorts of tasty treats, vintage tin toys, and old school collectibles. You might well leave with bags bulging full of clothes, jewelry, kitchenware, and other household goods, not to mention homemade fudge, sauces, and jams.
Kensington Village
For a trendy, upscale dose of retail therapy, you could always have a nosy around Kensington Village, which runs north to south along 10th Street on the other side of the Bow River from Downtown. A true urban village, this alluring district is heavily peppered with great shops offering anything from rare vinyl, books, and comics to swish clothing and items for the home. Pedestrian walkways allow for a pleasant stroll, while a warm and friendly café culture is the perfect accompaniment to the cool shops and international fare. This district is magical at Christmas.
