Our 3 Favourite Things About Gastown’s ShopHop

Gastown’s ShopHop is a biannual event that takes place in Vancouver’s historic Gastown neighbourhood. Last week’s event involved 44 retailers and 10 restaurants (see Gastown.org's ShopHop for more info). Our team had the opportunity to attend, and we thought we would highlight some of our favourite aspects of the evening:

1. The Community.

The overall experience was wonderfully crafted and organized by Gastown.org and the participating retailers. Since we ourselves are based out of Gastown, it was an incredibly enriching experience to see just how much our neighbourhood has to offer: great food, interesting home decor, the latest styles, beauty products, funky tees, and much more. Part of our company culture has always been to support community building, and attending this event provided us with the added inspiration of finding new ways to support Gastown.org and our fellow businesses.

2. The Individuals.

We were fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with vendors from all sorts of interesting and varied backgrounds, and the staff members that our team met throughout the evening all transmitted the kinds of values that enhance success: passion, dedication, and genuine openness. Our team at The Jibe strives to embody these same values within our own company culture, and it’s always refreshing to see them reflected back in other professionals.

3. The Merchandise.

Last, but certainly not least, is all the amazing merchandise that we discovered throughout the evening. Seriously, what’s not to love about Dutil’s denim paradise, Litchfield’s handcrafted axes, and Tait Boutique’s cheetah necklace? For a sample of the awesome pieces that we came across and a complete list of shops that we visited, see our photo gallery below or on Pinterest.

Final Thoughts: Gastown’s ShopHop is a great community-building experience that we look forward to actively supporting. As an eCommerce agency, some of the greatest values that we can contribute to the community are the partnerships that we have built with leading international eCommerce organizations, such as Shopify and Commerce Guys, which ensures that best-of-class eCommerce solutions are readily available to the shops in our neighbourhood. With Shopify’s rising success, it’s no surprise that a majority of the Gastown ShopHop stores that had an eCommerce solution were using Shopify’s platform. Shopify’s newly announced POS system and fees structure should further enable shops to have a simple and unified system to manage their online and in-store sales in the most cost-effective way (see Shopify’s POS page, TechCrunch and FastCompany articles for more details).

Thanks again to Gastown.org for organizing ShopHop, and to each of the shops we visited for being so welcoming and accommodating as we captured this experience. We look forward to seeing everyone again this fall!