Canadians Love to Shop in New York City
With miles of retail stores, a world-renowned fashion week, and blockbuster films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Devil Wears Prada, it’s no secret that New York City is a shoppers paradise. In 2014 alone, it’s estimated that over 12 million international tourists made the pilgrimage to this retail holy land spending over $40 billion in the process. But of all the countries these foreign shoppers come from, America’s next door neighbor, Canada, is among the top producers for NYC’s tourist.
Toronto native, Monique Miller told me what it’s like to grow up as one of the millions of Canadians, who make yearly shopping trips to New York. Miller began by telling how she and her friends would shop at fast-fashion retailers like Forever21 and H&M years before they opened in locations Canada. But later, Miller explained how her shopping caravan would venture beyond these big name vendors.
“Canadians love New York for its underground shopping scene as well,” she said later that are “things like flea markets and street purchases.”
“It had been a ritual when I was in high school to come down to the US and find cheap bags that looked nice and to practice my bartering skills with a variety of vendors that find themselves on the streets,” said Miller.
When comparing the price difference between shopping in Toronto and New York, Miller found that it was slightly cheaper in NYC on average, but she emphasized that shoppers still had to know where to find good deals.
For Miller, the price seemed to be less important than the overall experience of shopping in New York City. “It generally just feels a bit like a novelty. Probably, just because it’s different — a whole new experience.”
Madina Tabesh, a Canadian, who grew up in Vancouver echoed Miller’s sentiments about New York’s shopping ecosystem. “With the breadth of stores. New York is a powerhouse city. It is one of the best cities in the world, and I don’t think that you can have a better shopping experience.”
Tabesh is working temporarily in the city as development & marketing manager at a local nonprofit. Since she has been in New York, her shopping routine has consisted of looking for things that she wouldn’t be able to get back home.
For Tabesh, that means finding brick and mortar make-up stores and furniture retailers. “Even if you were able to find these things online [back home], the shopping experience is different when it is tangible, and you can feel, and touch, and have a reaction to it,” Tabesh said.
“I lived in Vancouver for 20 years, so in terms of consumer culture it overlaps a lot with the United States,” Tabesh told me. “But, when it comes to shopping in New York, it’s still different.”
