Streetwear Places in Vancouver

[Jared]

It looks like I'm going to have some time to go shopping in Vancouver this weekend. My girlfriend is looking for (wet) jeans, so we'll hit Dutil - is there anywhere else she should go? Probably hit Zara too, because it's the closest thing to H&M or Uniqlo around here. I'd like to try on some Clarks Desert Boots, is there anywhere I should call besides the usual Ingledews, Freedman's, Ronsons? (Gravity Pope is too far from downtown.) I'll obviously go to CYC although there's no way we'll be there early enough to get anything. There's nothing specific I really need so can you guys recommend places that might be worth just checking out? Boys' Co and Obakki have been mentioned here before.

 

[cmrocks]

Hit up Global Atomic Design in Yaletown. It's not too far of a walk if you're already on Robson. While you're there, just walk around Hamilton and Mainland (Yaletown) because there are a few other places close to Global Atomic worth seeing including a shoe store.

While you're in Gastown at Dutil, go check out Block. I can't remember the exact street it's on but its close by. There is a really good place for tshirts in Gastown as well but I can't remember the name of the place. It's all in the same area though.

Between Yaletown, Gastown, Pacific Central Mall and Robson street, you should be able to find quite a bit. If you do have enough time, west 4th and Broadway are definately worth checking out. Metrotown mall is okay but there isn't anything there you can't find elsewhere. I like going there if its pouring rain though.

 

[Tiranis]

Boys' Co is CRAP. It's getting worse and worse, they're mostly stocking the most cheesy mainstream brands. The only thing worth checking out in that store is SuperDry, other than that nothing notable. For mainstream check out Holt Renfrew instead, and they have a sale on. If you have a lot of cash to spend, check out Leone—the only store that carries Dior Homme around here, though it's ridiculously overpriced. Obakki is moving to a different location in Gastown, so they're still closed. Other than that, there's loads of places in Gastown—Richard Kidd (Water St, hard to miss), Komakino (http://www.komakino.ca/, gmap - it's hard to spot, but it's basically underground; everything from previous collections is 50% off; probably one of the best stores around here), and plenty of stores with sneakers, T-s, etc. A lot of them are in the basements, or on the side streets. Basically check out Abott St (off Water St), Carrall St (off Water St), and Powell St (1st block after Water St). (gmap) I would definitely recommend going to Gravity Pope for shoes, the other stores here are really bad. And even Gravity Pope's male selection isn't anything praise-worthy. It's not that far either, imo—and if you're going to CYC, I can't see how Gravity Pope can be too far.

 

[masqueofhastur]

I don't know what the raving about gravity pope is, it's staffed by the standard high school ditz type who knows sweet **** all about shoes.

 

[Tiranis]

Originally Posted by masqueofhastur

I don't know what the raving about gravity pope is, it's staffed by the standard high school ditz type who knows sweet **** all about shoes.

Who cares about that? No matter what store I go to, I'm going to know more than the person who works there (at least in Vancouver). The point is"”their selection is clearly the best in Vancouver. The only other half-decent store is B2. That's it.

 

[masqueofhastur]

Their selection didn't seem particularly noteworthy. Freedmans has better selection from my point of view.

 

[Ott]

komakino, richard kidd, and eugene choo were my favorite stores when I was there last summer.

 

[Jared]

Thanks guys! Here's how it went: Dutil is a really awesome store, great selection and knowledgeable staff (although the owner seemed annoyed that I had purchased my APCs in Seattle). Unfortunately there's the standard cross-border markup.

(APCs for CA$218 + tax ~= US$214) The Block has so little menswear, but then I'm more of a Threadless kind of guy when it comes to t-shirts, so maybe I missed the point. I'm not used to high-end shopping, so Richard Kidd with its racks of only black didn't entice me enough to give it a thorough once-over. Maybe I was too distracted by the Barker Black skull&bone medallions? (CA$1200

) Komakino is indeed difficult to find! We walked right past their sign, which is a list of designers in Ransom Note: I didn't keep reading to the ones I would have recognised because it was such a pain to read.

We ended up spending a bunch of time wandering around where their address was supposed to be until we walked into a restaurant that pointed us to "some weird clothes store at the other end of the block". The store itself is very trippy, I won't spoil the surprise, but again the racks of all-black and display of frankenboots just don't get my attention.

Alas, the pair of Joe's my girlfriend got at Dutil had a defect, so by the time we went back to exchange them (without a hitch), we didn't have time to make it to CYC!

Do they have a regular stock of W+H besides the samples (perhaps at the Scotia St location that comes up in gmap?) or is this a temporary factory outlet?

 

[Tiranis]

Originally Posted by Jared

Alas, the pair of Joe's my girlfriend got at Dutil had a defect, so by the time we went back to exchange them (without a hitch), we didn't have time to make it to CYC!

Do they have a regular stock of W+H besides the samples (perhaps at the Scotia St location that comes up in gmap?) or is this a temporary factory outlet?

Nope it's just the sample sale stuff. It's impossible to get any other W&H, W+H, or Spruce in this town.