It’s not easy to pigeonhole the upstairs Mini-Mall (762 Robson Street, Downtown) — suffice it to say that it’s decidedly youth-oriented, certainly hip, and full of T-shirts and vintage that I might categorize, in the best possible sense, as rags. This “mall” is really the second story of a century-old office and workshop building, each latter-day business ensconced in a room or two that may once have housed the likes of an insurance broker or shipping agent.
A guy who works at the mall’s Beat Street Records (604-683-3344, exclusively vinyl recordings) points out that this is one ofthose semi-despised wood-frame buildings that developers love to tear down and replace with sterile monstrosities like the Sears department store across the street.
Other mini-mall businesses include the den-like Temple of the Modern Girl (604-484-4475), with both vintage and new clothes; Concrete Streetwear (604-669-9910); and the business that gener¬ates most of the foot traffic, Puff Pipes (604-684-PuFF), subtitled “exotic pipes and far-out lights.” Puff sells mainly blown-glass pipes for as much as $600 and twenty-five varieties of rolling paper (there’s a second outlet at 3255 Main Street, East Vancouver, 604-708-9804). Interspersed with these stores are a traditional Asian tailor and a jewelry workshop, where several craftsmen are hard at work, backs bent over their benches. Added up, the atmosphere is cool and enticing. Although modern Yaletown has evolved from a struggling fashion district into something of an interior-design mecca, some clothing stores remain, aimed at the young or the ultra-hip. They include Global Atomic Designs (ioo6 Mainland Street, Yaletown, 604-806-6223), which sells funky labels from Japan, the us, and the UK; and Atomic Model (1036 Mainland Street, Yaletown, 604-688-9989), with very different sources.
Lululemon Athletica (2113 West 4th Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-732-61111) outfits the young-ish and trim with the latest in workout and sportswear. The Block (350 West Cordova Street, Downtown, 604-685-8885), nicely ensconced in an old inner-city building, sells interesting clothes for younger strutters.
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