Canada - clothes shopping

[andyjo1982]

Hi

So my folks are off to Canada in late July, and I was hoping they could bring me back some reasonably priced clothing. Do they still sell the same brands in Canada as America and is as cheap as in the US? Levi's, Ralph Lauren etc?

[Fas1975]

If Toronto, I can recommend a number of outlet malls. You won't get any Ralph Lauren, they just don't do them in outlet malls in Canada, but pretty much every other brand from boss, gucci, armani etc. The best bargains are Tommy Hilfiger, Nike and other US centric brands. Sales tax is a flat 13% now.

If your parents are in Toronto and travel down to Niagara, it's a short hop over to Buffalo, there's a massive outlet mall where you'll get Coach / Ralph etc. but make sure your parents take passports and pre-fill in Esta.

If it is Toronto, I will list out the best malls for clothing, up until 4 weeks ago, I used to go every 3 months as my HQ was based out of there, I've since quit and won't be going back for a while.

[sawman]

depends where they are going, I think alberta has the lowest sales tax, but generally canadians go to the states for cheap shopping - bearing mind that 90% of the population live within 100 miles of the border its not too difficult.

[ViperDave]

Last time we were in Canada (2011) things were quite expensive, they always used to be a higher number on the price tag, but with a favourable exchange rate to the USD and GBP making them cheaper than here and about the same as USA, but as they are not in quite such deep doo doo financially, their currency is a lot stronger now yet the numbers on the price tags are still the same, making it all rather expensive compared to south of the boarder.

Ps ESTA isn't applicable to land boarders, you just get sent to secondary screening, fill in the old green form and pay your $6 entry fee

[5potTurbo]

All the malls list their stores online so you can easily check...

Ontario:
http://www.bestbuys.ca/ontariooutletmalls/ontarioo...
http://www.tangeroutlet.com/cookstown/directory


If you're going to Toronto, why not take the short drive to the malls around Buffalo, NY state.

http://www.fashionoutletsniagara.com/directory_alp...

[andyjo1982]

Thanks for the replies