Bellingham is known for its variety of shopping!  Just over an hour from Vancouver and Seattle, all your favorite American stores are awaiting your purchasing power.

As many know, shopping is always better elsewhere. Bellingham is a perfect place to experience the Macy's Department store, Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria Secret, Ross, Target, Bath and Body Works, Hollister, and so forth.  If you are an American reading this, you may not find this as interesting as some Canadians would.  These stores are hard to come by without having to fly to a US city.

The main mall is Bellis Fair.  Arriving to the parking lot, you will notice that probably 50% of the cars are all from British Columbia.  A good few hours can be spent at this mall.  Another way to rack up the savings is to take advantage of the out of country discount cards which can mostly be found in the customer service area near the food court. If you look online at the stores you are intersted in going to for coupons, you may find some added deals you can print off the web and present at the stores.

Bellingham makes for a great day of shopping from the Greater Vancouver area and with the dollar being so good in Canada right now, it is even a bit cheaper to be spending your cash over the border. It's just getting back through customs that you need to be careful. Technically, bringing anything back over the border under twenty-four hours is not permitted. I wouldn't want to encourage anyone to break this rule.

Besides the mall, there are a number of unique shopping areas in and around Bellingham.The historic district of Fairhaven (I-5 Exit 250) is all locally owned and grown. Here you will find a variety of local merchants and craftsman, plus it's also the restaurant district for Bellingham, and the Village Green has a number of events going on durig the summer, including outdoor cinemas on the weekends.

Dowtown Bellingham presents a variety of quality merchants, antiique stores and unique shops. It is the cultural center of the community with the Mt. Baker Theatre, Whatcom Museum of History & Art and the American Museum of Radio and Electricity (most of these have gift shops).

Just 15 miles North of town is the Dutch community of Lynden. An agricultural community, it features a variety of shops that offer country and Dutch related goods, plus the Pioneer Museum.

Happy Shopping!