Ottawa shopping

[shopgirl123]

just moved to ottawa and trying to find cute stores, as i loathe malls with my entire being. anyone know of any?

 

[midnight show x0]

umm...i don't live in Canada...but i did make a visit up to Ottawa back in November. Try Bayshore Centre...they had a lot of nice stores there. Def. check it out.

 

[thesiren]

i feel awful for you.

i have visited ottawa twice in the past few months (long story) and the shopping is TERRIBLE. the holt renfrew basically stocks everything that was popular in america a year ago. artizia was sort of a disaster (though i do like their sweatpants because no one has them here in the states).

i found a few cute shops downtown (not sure what street, but on the other side of the street opposite of the rideau centre), but i think all three were owned by the same people, because they pretty much stocked the same stuff and it was all boring. sevens, juicy, whatevz...nothing impressive.

i did love lush in byward market, and there is an AWESOME vintage shop called ragtime somewhere...but not downtown, or near holts. i'm sure you could google it and find it. they had amazing vintage fur stoles, a great selection of vintage jewelry and the prices weren't cheap, but not astronomical either.

 

[lanakau]

*bump*

... anyone else know of places to shop in Ottawa?? I'm terrified now! I'm moving there! How about accross the river in Hull??

 

[shopgirl123]

ottawa's not so bad actually, so don't get nervous. i've found a bunch of places, bank street has some pretty cute stores, as does elgin and for sure dalhousie. theres always the mall, but the stuff is pretty generic. a bunch of new places are opening soon, but i'm not going to lie, its not a fashion capital. however, there are really cheap buses that go to montreal all the time, which is only a two hour drive or so. you could easily go for a day of shopping. and theres always shopping online, though i personally think it takes the fun out of it.

 

[geestring]

i live in ottawa. its pretty bad. so i go to toronto to buy clothes usually...

btw are there any good salons? I know Saab, if you can call it good.
Dont have time to go to T.O to get it done at toniguy.

 

[CelineChic]

You're about a 2 hour drive from Montreal.
I'm sorry to sound so negative but Ottawa has very few great clothing stores.

 

[geestring]

ottawa has very few thing to do as well.

 

[thesiren]

shopping in ottawa can be summed up in the following:

-ragtime: located off bank, but not quite to the glebe, it's a fantastic vintage shop. very small, but very organized, and prices are moderate and higher...great owner.
-holt renfrew: obvious stuff...they have tons of new bags they're carrying (like balenciagas finally) and their shoe department will be totally revamped in february to carry shoes like any high end store SHOULD carry. holts really isn't that high end, imho...their buying is way off sometimes.
-milk, trust fund, and a few other random boutiques: all mostly located near the national gallery. boring stuff, but okay for browsing and buying if ottawa is your only option for shopping...they're all basically aritzia, only smaller and stock slightly different versions of the same things. splendid, t-bags, all of the lame-o trendy jeans, juicy, etc.

as for salons, i got my hair blown out twice on my last trip there simply because i was too lazy to do my own hair at a place called loft or the loft near the museum of natural science? i don't think that's what it's called, but it's the new science museum (which btw, if you're a nerd like me, is AMAZING!!!!!!!11). anyway, i went in and made an appointment both times and returned a few hours later. they use kerastase, which was really surprising, and the girl did my hair just like i told her too (i'm from texas...so my hair and the majority of canadian girls' hair is very different in how we like it styled). i forget her name...something french that started with a M...she was a real sweetheart. she really knew how to make blowouts last too...love that!

geestring- i just noticed you're male...one thing about that salon, is that almost everyone there (it isn't a large place at all) as far as clients were male! i thought this was odd, but every guy that came in had really great hair (mostly long) and were getting haircuts. i've never been in a nice place with that many male clients at all (and i guess being from texas, that's easy to believe!)!

 

[thesiren]

can anyone suggest a place for the following:

-blowout
-nails/pedi

i always go in the mall, which i feel is overpriced (at least compared to american prices for these same things), but i don't really want to try a small place without some sort of review...

 

[starz1]

There's 1 boutique on Sussex that's worth checking out (they carry R&R jeans), and oI've heard that Trustfund is worth the time checking out. And Holts.
other than that, thats it.
Now, u would think for it being the capital of Canada it'd have more, but I was surprised that there was not.

 

[nangnangnj]

i feel awful for you.

i have visited ottawa twice in the past few months (long story) and the shopping is TERRIBLE. the holt renfrew basically stocks everything that was popular in america a year ago. artizia was sort of a disaster (though i do like their sweatpants because no one has them here in the states).

.

Haha I love how you have to explain your travels to Ottawa with 'long story'. It's true though there's not much other than a few boutiques on Sussex and Holts.