Make at Granville Island

This store is a staple stop every time I go to Granville Island. The staff are incredibly friendly and I like the atmosphere, the music choice really adds to the fun environment. I recommend this store if you’re at Granville and looking for a fun place to shop!

I’m a big fan of Make. I like to create, or at least part create, gifts for friends and family, and you can have a lot of your gift ideas realized here.
Think Vista Print but far more imaginative, artistic, and without the strict guidelines.
I’ve had clothing, pin-​butons, and embroidery pieces made there, and all came out great (especially the embroidery).
The store itself is just great fun to be in — it’s bustling with busy people creating items in their departments. It’s like a Vancouver Santa’s workshop!
The only note of caution is the cost — It can get very pricey, but saying that you save on the shipping of doing these things online, or the exchange rate of having them done in the US.

The Embroidery shop embroidered a vintage pillow case I had bought for a baby gift and the results were spectacular! I am so pleased with their work and their prices. Now I want to monogram EVERYTHING!

This is such a neat little store. Offering a variety of unique items that you can customize to your own liking. While it is a little pricey it gives customers the opportunity to find, make or create the perfect the gift for that special someone (or maybe themselves)! They will even ship out for out if towners if you decide to email them something at a later date which is great if you’re in holidays and don’t want to take the time to actually make your creation right then and there. My son loves cats and they had lots of boy appropriate cat merchandise for him which I appreciated! And my daughters into tacos so we found a taco shirt for her! Odd but true! Just which it was a little more affordable. Even the socks were $ 20 so it’s certainly a special occasion place only.

Awesome service. My shirt was printed wrong, and the staff responded quickly that they would redo it for me, and in a smaller size because I hadn’t seen the size of the shirt. My only issue is that the design program they have on their computer is very difficult to use and buggy, so it was hard to design my shirt.

For fun and unique gifts, this is really the only store on Granville Island you should visit! I can’t rave enough about Make! They sell a large amount of novelty items for every type of person. If you really want to impress someone, stop by this store and create a personalized tee shirt.
The staff is really nice! The store is nicely organized, and my only complaint about this store is that it didn’t not have air conditioning or good ventilation so it was a bit stuffy while shopping.
Highly recommended!

Every time I visit the Island, I have to make a dedicated visit to Make! It’s got a great assortment of random knick knacks and gifts that you would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. They were one of the first places that I knew of that sold Beverage mugs in the shape of an SLR camera lens! Apparently they also do a good engraving and custom t-​shirt/​hat business.

One of the first stores we went to on Granville Island was this one. It looked funky from the outside so we wanted to check it out. It’s a store that has lots of cool items that you might find online but it’s the coolness and novelty of buying it on the spot, that you don’t mind paying more in store for.
There’s a selection of bacon items for that fan who needs bacon candy, soap, balm, and bandages! I saw a cool PacMan ghost lamp that changes colour, loved it. They have candy tins for fans of Star Wars, PacMan, and more. In the back there’s clothing including t-​shirts and sweatshirts.
I would come here for an unique gift including houseware items. But also fun to browse the cool items they have.

I’d never known this stretch at Granville Island to have anything of interest to me except Ecomarine, so when I tripped upon Make, I felt like I was entering the «wardrobe» in a CS Lewis book.
This place is huge, active, and not just a store of stuff to buy, but kind of also interactive (and certainly fun). There is a large selection of well curated hand made gifts but also some just awesome art, and all sorts of stations to do custom t-​shirts or other projects within.
I’m not really sure what the extent is of all the things you can do there, but I’m hooked and will be back to explore it more. To me this looks like a great place to find an original gift. I also didn’t think the prices were bad considering it does have a bit of that hipster «everything in here is precious» vibe,. this is just less pretentious and the stuff is better.

I went into Make 15 minutes before closing time at the end of July to get some T-​shirts printed. The clerk manning the T-​shirt desk was amazing. She re-​did my design on her computer because my graphic did not have high enough resolution and then stayed past clothing to print the shirts for me. I cannot compliment her enough. I wish more places around town had that sort of customer service. Adn the shirts looked awesome!

A kitsch store on the Granville Island that has a cool print shop in the back for custom shirts, kitsch things and loads of cool items for those who are obsessed with bacon… like yours truly. Prices were amazing and the customer service was friendly. I fell in love with a Tetris lamp.

This was a cool store. They had really interested screen printed items, like pillows, aprons, and t-​shirts. They also had a wide selection of hats and some interesting knick knacks and gadgety type things. They also had a creative area set up, so kids can draw…
I’d stop in again

I needed custom embroidery in a small quantity (just 1) and none of the places I called up did single orders. Until I called Justin Stitches (which is what «Make» used to be called). They were friendly, fast, and I even saw a familiar face working there.
I don’t remember the price, but it was done within a half hour (since another order was already on the small-​sized embroidery machine). The store seemed well-​stocked with a variety of items to create and customize. I should go back and look around more thoroughly.

This is one of the coolest stores on Granville Island, and Granville Island is chock full of kitschy — cool places. This store is Front & Company meets Paper –Ya meets an arts and crafts class. It houses a wide array of wacky, zany and cutesy novelty items as well as several household items you can personalize or engrave. They even have a table in the middle for kids and families to create their own buttons. I saw things like Bacon gum, chopsticks that look like drum sticks, funky iphone cases, you name it, they seem to have it.
I have a bizarre obsession for things that don’t look like what they are, so naturally I ended up buying a couple of pens — one that looked like a wooden pencil and another that looked like a tube of paint. It’s such a rad place, I totally recommend checking it out.

I’d never have stepped foot in here if I weren’t on a hunt for the perfect wedding gift for some very dear friends. Not that there’s anything *wrong* with Make, it just never really appealed to me for any reason. Besides, I think I had it in my head that Make was still Justin Stiches (a terrible, just awful, name. Thank gad they decided to move on from that mistake).
That said, Make still suffers from a bit of an identity crises. This is great for schizophrenic gift-​givers, but not so much for those seeking a curated gift shopping experience. Carrying everything from beautiful leather-​bound notebooks, to tacky seatbelt purses (yes, those), to out of place pseudo-​athletic wear that comes in the form of dresses (you know, those ones that women wear with socks and big rubber hiking sandals), to the largest selection of Pendleton blankets in Vancouver (at $ 255 a pop), this massive store *should* be where one (me, specifically) would find the perfect gift… but alas, I did not.
Also, Make is still a place to «make» things, apparently. Have your blanket embroidered, or shirt printed on, or that special wooden block engraved — this, I think, is where the «Make“ers really shine. That said, I’ll probably be back… and probably to «make» myself buy that Pendleton blanket.

Justin Stitches has now been renamed: Make at Granville Island
Although i’ve been to granville island a million times before, had never stopped in the store as i never really get a chance to walk around all the shops. I’m usually just in the food court, public market, kids market, playground, etc (guess you can figure i’m a parent).
I’ve browsed through some of the shops here and there, but had never really browsed in the area where Make is situated.
Their main thing is customizable t-​shirts, etc and they’ve got lots of nicknacks and cool things. Laughed at some of the T-​shirts they had.
for those with kids who are looking for something different, they offer birthday parties… i guess you could do this for a bunch of adults too. For about $ 18/​person before taxes (min 8 people) participants make a customized t-​shirt and button. You’re only allowed to bring cake and drinks as they are a retail store after all and don’t want merchandise to be ruined. Might try this for daughter’s birthday.
Their new website is

Justin Stitches sells a lot of jackets that are perfect for rainy Vancouver. They also have a bunch of 2010 Olympics stuff including doggies raincoats. But what makes Justin Stitches really unique is that they embroider items in shop. You can choose from a variety of designs or create your own. You can get hats, aprons, and tee shirts embroidered, or bring in your own items. They offer discounts for bulk orders.