Today, I took the bus to the Mayflower Mall with a few friends from campus. This post will both recount my adventures and teach you about the Canadian equivalents of American stores.
Hudson's Bay Company, or "The Bay," is essentially J.C. Penney meets Macy's. The big department store of the Great White North, it boasts clothing and home goods in high quantities at high prices.
The shelves of red and white are all mittens. Canadian mittens, to be specific, with giant maple leaves embroidered onto them. I indulged and bought a pair, as did mah fellow Amurican, Becca. They are the warmest mittens I have ever worn: knitted and lined with fleece. These may be my fallback souvenir for friends!
Winners is the twin of TJ Maxx in every way. The set-up of the store, the slogans on the walls ("high designers. low prices. every day."), even the font on the price tags was the same!
This is Coles, which is like the Barnes and Noble/Borders of Canada. As ignorant Americans, Becca and I were confused as to why people were buying textbooks at Kohl's when we first heard about it.
This is a shot of the "local interest" books. One of them, Memoirs of a Cape Breton Doctor, looked very interesting. Pit Talk also had an appeal to it. It chronicles the lives of the miners from the island: think October Sky, Canadian style. I also found a few regional cookbooks that I will buy before I come home.
Last, but certainly not least, is Tim Hortons! Tim Hortons is the Starbucks/Caribou Coffee of Canada. I felt very authentic as I purchased my (delicious) hot chocolate... until I mixed up my Canadian money and metaphorically stamped AMERICAN on my forehead. At least my cashier got a giggle out of it.
Overall, it was quite a fantastic day of malling and Canada-ing. I leave you with this image of Becca and me with our new Canada mittens... keep reading!
Love,
Maggie
Red mittens! I got a pair of those for Christmas and they have been serving me very well in this disgusting spate of cold weather we are getting out west. (Every other person in Canada owns a pair of those, I'm pretty sure. HBC came out with them last year for the Olympics, although the design this year is a little different.)
ReplyDeleteAs for Timmy's, their coffee is addictive, so be forewarned. We also do have Starbucks here, but I don't think there is one in Sydney. It's kind of a toss-up as to whether you can find a Starbucks in regions with less than 1 million people - in Vancouver/Calgary/Toronto/etc. there's one on every street corner, but I don't think it's really infiltrated the Maritimes as much yet, so you'd only find them in Halifax. (I wouldn't survive.)
I adore your mittens. So very much. Also, we have Coles here, but it is a grocery store! Keep blogging love, I adore reading!
ReplyDeleteMaggie,
ReplyDeleteIt is so fun to read your blogs - was introducted to Nova Scotia in the forties by a family friend from our church - and later by her neice.
Glad you are enjoying it - love the mittens.
Love you, Gran
Those are the world's cutest mittens! And that looks like a good adventure. :) You write such great blog posts!
ReplyDelete