I decided to take a walk tonight after the client site visit, to see if I could pick up some Olympic swag. The concierge at the hotel directed me The Bay department store which was the ‘official’ supplier of the gear for the Olympics. The Bay is located on the Grasnville street mall only 5 blocks from my hotel so I figured I would just take a walk and see what was available. The mall is just a five or six block length of street that is closed to car traffic so that people can mill around a bit. Although Granville itself is closed, the cross streets are open so you must still stop for traffic lights and you can’t walk the whole length without stopping.
There was still a huge roped off section of the store that housed all the Olympic gear flanked by the giant VISA advertising banners. I found it interesting that all the USA merchandise was outside the roped of section all by itself. I would like to think they were making it easier for all the visiting Yankees to find the merchandise or perhaps they just did not like all the ugly Polo clothes mixing with the otherwise attractive items.
I had little luck finding anything as all the sizes were huge. The average size was XXL with the occasional XL item mixed in. I settle for a few items for my brothers kids, the red mittens with the maple leaf on the palm and a nice mascot cap with some cute designs and buttons on them. I will probably see more items at the airport but not at the 50-60% discount that these items were going for.
On the walk back to the hotel I noticed the long lines outside all the Irish bars in downtown Vancouver. It was a
strange contrast to the streets I had seen the days before when all the bar patrons were inside the bars. In front of one of the bars I also saw two of the biggest limos I have ever seen.
If you are familiar with truck limos, they are big enough to stand up in and can hold up to 30 people at a time. Both the limos were full of partiers who were well on their way to enjoying the holiday. If your going to get loaded, that is the way to do it, with an armored designated driver.
Looking forward to getting home tomorrow.