Shopping in Calgary

Shopping in Calgary is mostly done at major shopping malls. The city itself is a vast, urban-sprawl that's mostly suburban, residential communities. The major indoor malls tend to out shine the various shopping areas, of which there are a few, such as Westhills and 130th Ave SE, in large part due to our winter weather. The thing with a lot of these malls is that they all have the same stores as each other. Once you hit up one of them, you have almost no reason to check out the others.

Chinook Centre has been a main shopping center for decades. When it was built, it was on the very southern most edge of town, but now it's actually quite central. After a recent, massive addition to the mall, it now has over 250 shops. Many of the new stores are high end, such as Anthropologie and Pandora. These are new to Calgary. The underground parking here accommodates lots of cars.

CrossIron Mills made a splash last year by becoming Canada's largest indoor mall. After a lot of years without a mall being built, this one came on the scene in a big way. It brought a lot of 'outlet' stores to the Calgary area, too, which is something most Canadians only find in the USA.

Kensington Village is a district just north of downtown. It has some of the most unique stores in Calgary, as well as some independent coffee shops, etc. It's one of Calgary's best street-traffic areas. But, in winter, it can be freezing.

Downtown the CORE is the major shopping center. It has all the same stores as the other big malls. Banker's Hall is also a shopping area, and it ties in more with Stephen Avenue. Eau Claire Market on the north side of downtown is a great area, especially in summer, but the market itself leaves something to be desired.

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