The best malls in Montreal for shopping sprees

The Eaton Centre is a name in and of itself when it comes to Montreal malls. Centrally located, it houses the cream of the crop for shopping in the Underground City—the umbrella term for the interlinked netwoek of Les Cours, Place Montreal Trust and Eaton Centre combined. Thanks to the Eaton Centre’s range of necessities and favorites, many who frequent the shopping malls of Downtown Montreal end up spending most of their time here. Pro tip: Treat yourself to a visit to Time Out Market Montréal for breakfast, lunch or dinner and skip eating the same old stuff out of paper bags in food courts. You’ll thank us later.

If Carrefour Laval and Las Vegas had a baby, Royalmount would be it. Montreal’s newest luxury shopping, dining and entertainment destination, features 170 boutiques—including 60 restaurants and cafés—in a sleek, contemporary space.

You’ll want to book a full day to visit Dix30. As opposed to a single structure housing all of its tenants, Dix30 is more of an expansive village sectioned by different purposes. On the apparel side, it’s got a great collection of stores along with welcome local concepts such as Editorial and Frank & Oak. As for convenience, it’s got everything from opticians and a spa to an entire Adonis grocery store. The only thing better than their full-to-burst selection of eateries like Les Glaceurs, Juliette et Chocolat, Pizzeria NO.900, Mr. Puffs and a Brasserie T! spot are entertainments like a laser tag, a VR game room and a surf pool.

Even if it’s currently renovating, this mall is normally associated with being the cheaper place to go shop with features like a Renaissance outlet and a $5 movie theatre. But that’s not the only reason you come here. It’s a mall unlike any other in the city: It caters to a far more diverse range of shoppers with its Indian and Islamic fashions, Chinese herbal remedies, pan-Asian groceries, a solid Lebanese restaurant, one of the best Chinese restaurants in Montreal and an awesomely named internet café ‘Trans World II’. We love it, honestly—here’s hoping the upcoming facelift doesn’t change it too drastically.

Alexis Nihon serves its purpose as one of Montreal’s most practical malls, and not just because of its being built on top of the Atwater metro stop. Offering everything you might need for apparel and beauty products, Alexis Nihon also sports interesting spots like a VR simulation room, an awesome pet store and an unbeatable MiniSo location. Seeing as the mall caters to its surrounding apartment buildings, you’ll also find convenience in the form of an IGA, Pharmaprix, Winners, Canadian Tire and Marshall’s as well. The food court here’s not our favourite, but it’s hard to say no to the Hong Kong-style bakery Harmonie on the metro level for desserts.

Staking its claim as the best mall north of the island, this shopping center’s visually impressive features like fountains, skylights and gardens also has every store you could need. Carrefour Laval is huge, with enough room for all the usual brand names in addition to some boutiques that you’ll find missing elsewhere like Matt and Nat and Frank & Oak. Plus, the food court has a variety of choices that will please everybody.

In the Underground City’s chain-link of shopping malls, folks regularly pass through one of this mall’s levels to either get to the next metro station or to pinpoint the store they’ve been looking for. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself lingering here: The city’s flagship two-storey Zara location gives you a lot of option to choose from, while its huge Indigo and café (with a baby grand piano folks are prone to noodle on) provides ample space for browsing. Down below on the metro level, this mall offers so many great boutique stores you never would’ve discovered without making the trek. Our favorite thing about it? Winners, a location that can’t be beat in layout, stock and most importantly, brisk lines at the cash (Christmas in Montreal notwithstanding).

Why would anyone who lives in the West Island need to leave when they’ve got the Fairview? This place has done a great job with providing all the necessary establishments every other shopping center in Montreal offers. A trip here can easily fill a day—if you’re into that—when considering how you can start it off browsing in Renaud Brey before buying that last minute outfit before a dinner date at The Keg. Some say there’s a great divide between West Islanders and Montrealers, and this is likely one of the reasons why. See for yourself.

Located by the Mirabel airport, this place packs in a lot of retail favourites that range from basic to the high-end with brands like Pajar, Moose Knuckles, The North Face and Kate Spade. As the name implies, you’ll be getting all your favorites at a great deal; the offerings at the Mirabel Outlets are where you go to grab the discounted goods. To finish it off, have a Beaver Tail at Queues de Castor, but we can’t guarantee they’ll be at outlet prices.

If you’re looking for something special to wear to an event, then Les Cours is your best bet. Not only does it house high-end apparel boutiques like DKNY and Harry Rosen, but there’s local boutiques specializing in haute couture in the mix as well. It’s a great place to prep all round with its spas and beauty facilities available, including hair removal specialists, pedicures and manicures, hair salons and more. Among all of these, a visit to Spa Diva’s a must, an urban spa specializing in all services you need to give you that day of pampering you deserve—its central location comes in handy when you’re looking to come down from a stressful day at the office.

One of the most family-friendly malls on this list, this shopping centre at the western end of the Green Line makes a point out of catering a lot to parents and their little ones. Even if you’re not interested in features like stroller rentals and breastfeeding rooms, you’ll be finding your most essential needs met in terms of clothing, shoes, sports equipment, home furnishings, vinyl, video games—heck, you can even fill your car’s tank at this mall. Given its distance from Downtown Montreal, you’ll likely find that the line-ups here are a bit more manageable than the big name spots that see the most foot traffic.

It’s big in every way: from the giant Guzzo Megaplex cinema (which has its own onsite arcade) to the sheer geographical footprint of this outdoor mall plopped between Parc Ex and Ahuntsic, there’s nothing subtle about it, and it’s wonderful. It’s got everything from homewares to running shoe stores, by way of a hardware store and a Costco so used there’s never space in the parking lot—and the Walmart here has among the biggest rooftop greenhouses in the city, packed with produce you can buy on Lufa Farms. 

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This easternmost entry point of the Underground City downtown has some really fun standalone shops in addition to the usual suspects (and a particularly good grocery store). The giant open atrium at the centre makes the feng shui in here particularly good, with its shopping halls spanning out from it in a star formation, and truly comes alive during the Holidays when Santa’s Village takes over and kids abound an a little train choo-choos its way between all the decorated installations.

It’s a glittering set of tunnels at the lowest level of among the city’s greatest landmarks, not least because the famous Ring installation is right outside—tourist selfie spot numero uno. The stores here are fancier than some other downtown malls, including luxury footwear brands and top-notch eyewear. The coolest things about this mall are 1) that it houses the temporarily relocated Musée d’art contemporain, and 2) the Cathcart food court.

This luxury medium-sized mall in Town of Mount Royal is a surefire good time with the family, especially since they opened a place that rents out mobile scooters shaped like animals that kids can zoom around on with impunity on the shiny stone floors. The food court is flooded in light and full of plants—no wonder it’s become a makeshift community centre for chatty locals. From designer clothing stores to The Bay to ice cream shops (plural), it’s got something for everyone.

It's not a mall, but situated near the Marché Jean-Talon on the border between Little Italy and Villeray, Plaza Saint Hubert offers a wide variety of international cuisines and boutiques alongside locally loved franchises and curio shops. Whether you’re looking for a specialty haircare store, a wedding dress or an Aldo outlet, you’ll find it in this shopping strip that spans seven city blocks. It stretches out for blocks and includes stores stocking goods from all over the world.