If you are spending a day in Vancouver before leaving for an Alaska cruise, there are two places you need to go. Try the Pourhouse for great beer with lunch or dinner, but make sure to stop in at Hill’s. Both are across the street from the other in the Gastown section, just a few yards from the steamclock, and within sight of the cruise terminal. Hill’s has a great selection of art, prints, carvings and sculptures. Really nice one of a kind stuff that honestly you won’t find on your ship, or at any of the touristy type places at your ports of call. I found myself wishing I had bought a carving, they were fantastic and shipped it to my home when I got in touch after my trip. Do yourself a favor and give them a try. And enjoy your cruise!
Hendrick S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 San Francisco, CA
Extremely unfriendly store keepers for the price of things they are selling, most of which start at $ 300 and go up to thousands.
Rich B.
Rating des Ortes: 1 New Westminster, Canada
These vultures circle around and take advantage of extremely vulnerable artists. When you shop here, you are unwittingly supporting the continued oppression of First Nations people. Also, when you buy any piece of jewelry or ceremonial object you have to take extreme caution when considering how it was made and how it is sold. A better ethical option would be the First Nations-owned shop at the friendship centre on Hastings at Commercial.
Linda L.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Bellevue, WA
Overall: A well-stocked and very reasonable collection of native art As they boast, they do in fact have a huge selection of native art. The pieces of artwork are spread over three floors, along with a lot of dust. Even though I wanted to linger a lot longer than we did, the dust was getting into my lungs and I couldn’t breathe… I forgot my asthma inhaler too! Everything is pretty affordable here, if you’re looking into that kind of art.
BB H.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Burnaby, Canada
The store itself is like an art gallery but the reason I would never give it 4 or 5 stars is the prices. They are seriously insane. I get the idea that we should support cool Native art but I found it’s easier just to go to the reservation and buy directly off an artist.
Lorrie M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 San Jose, CA
This place caught my eye because it was so colorful and happening on the inside and there are so many displays that are extremely unique in nature that I would have never thought existed on Water St. as I am usually expecting some cheap souvenir shop with lots of trinklets. I didn’t know this was also a gallery but now that I think about it, definitely makes sense, but some of the art work was on the pricier side and without much ability to bring things back home I didn’t venture on purchasing anything here. However, it’s a really nice stroll through when you are walking down the street with a hot cup of latte in hand.
Roanna Z.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
This is both gallery and store. The pieces are outstanding. Even if you cannot afford to buy anything, you must stop in and be inspired by the array of local native artwork in it’s many forms. We were fortunate on our last visit to sit in on the carving of one of the many fabulous and intriguing totem poles on the premises. The customer service is both informative and helpful and also very soft sell. Visit here if you are in the Gastown area and bring your guests for a real Canadian cultural experience(and maybe some souvenirs as well.)
Tony G.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Seattle, WA
I really ate this place up. I fell in love with some of the art work in here and ended up buying four pieces. One of them I am giving to my mom, but I hope she doesn’t like and I get to keep it. Totem poles, masks, art, jewelry, they even have some pretty awesome chairs but they were not for sale. I was lucky to find this place in good old Gastown. Zipzap Zubidy Bop!
Victoria R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 BC, Canada
Floors and floors of breathtaking native art, sculptures and other gems. It’s from the Northwest Coast peoples so the style artists such as Sean Hinton, Lawrence Scow, Frances Horne Jr. and others make up the stock. What is unique and different about this store is that each of the symbols is explained, for example the bear is known as the protector of the group, so it’s a powerful and respected symbol you might get an elder.(It’s good to know these things.) I really like the Bentwood Boxes here, those colourful boxes with symbols on them.
Noa G.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Vancouver, Canada
This is an amazing gallery/store in Gastown, featuring Vancouver’s largest collection of Northwest Coast and Inuit arts and crafts by both emerging and internationally renowned artists. The space covers three floors, which showcase a huge range of totem poles, ceremonial masks, carvings, prints, paintings, jewellery(I love the carved silver rings), knits, moccasins, and soapstone carvings.