Vancouver's Robson Street
Robson Street is Vancouver's most famous shopping street and not without reason.
In a three block stretch, between Hornby and Bute Street, you'll find dozens of
shoe stores, clothing stores, restaurants, gift shops, lingerie shops, hair salons,
candy stores, along with the usual tourist places: souvenir shops, currency exchanges,
cheap eats and luggage stores.
Some big international name brands are here: Ferragamo, Armani, Club Monaco, Guess,
BeBe, Zara, Laura Ashley, Banana Republic, Swatch, Nike, Levi's, Body Shop, Gap,
Starbucks, and Virgin Records.
If you want to shop Canadian, then definitely check out Roots, M.A.C., Boys Co, Lush
and Aritzia.
Getting There: Robson Street is parallel to Georgia Street, Vancouver's main
downtown street, and two blocks south. You can take the SkyTrain to the Burrard
Street station then walk to Robson Street.
You can also drive. If you drive, park in the Eton's parkade just south of the corner
of Georgia and Howe or in the parkade on Alberni between Bute and Thurlow.
The most interesting part of Robson Street starts at the corner of Robson and Hornby,
just one block west of the Eaton parkade. If you start your tour at the corner of
Hornby and Robson, here is what you'll find
M.A.C. is a phenomenally popular cosmetic store right on the corner of Robson
and Hornby. If you want to look up-to-the-minute, this is the place to start. If
you think of your face as a canvas on which to paint a beautiful woman, you'll find
everything you need here: makeup, tools and accessories, beauty products and nailpolish.
La Casa Del Habano is the next interesting shop going west. This place looks
like an exclusive men's club, and it might as well be because it sells top of the
line cigars in a top of the line environment. It's a great place for cigar gifts
and, for that matter, for cigars.
For upscale clothing, try Ferragamo, Armani Exchange, Zara, BoysCo, Club Monaco
and BCBG Maxazria. Tourist shops, many apparently catering to young Japanese
travelers, interject themselves among the high end clothing and accessory stores
along Robson.
With younger shoppers, Aritzia is probably the most popular store on Robson;
younger shoppers are also fond of Buffalo, Level and Below The Belt. With
professional women, Jacob at 1142 Robson is the most popular; in fact, it
was recently voted Vancouver's best women's clothing store.
Just beyond Jacob is Toni and Guy at 1148 Robson. It's a great place to get
a hair cut. The place caters to the high end crowd and is reputed to give the best
hair cut in town.
Moose Magnets at the corner of Bute and Robson is a very
popular place. It has perfect, inexpensive gifts and toys, and it's just a fun place
to hang out and play with the toys.
If you want coffee or a treat, there are the ubiquitous Starbucks, two of
which face each other on the corner of Robson and Thurlow.
For real food, the two best nearby restaurants are Zin and Cin Cin Ristorante.
One of the city's favorite bargain restaurants, located on Robson is Hon's Wun Tun
House.
For hotels, you'll find, between Bute and Jervis on Robson, two excellent hotels:
Blue Horizon and Pacific Palisades.
You can wander down Robson all the way to Denman if you want. You will be rewarded
with shops, restaurants and surprises. Enjoy your trip.