For a great shopping experience, start out at the Bank Street Promenade , which has fifteen blocks of traditional shopping and entertainment outlets. There are hundreds of stores and restaurants along these streets, and nearby parking is free and widely available on weekends. The offered wares range from household linens to specialty gifts to sporting goods. Also, in June and in August, the area holds the city’s largest and longest outdoor sidewalk sale, with millions of dollars in eclectic merchandise.

Downtown Rideau is another great place to find hundreds of ways to spend some cash. The 23 blocks surrounding Rideau Street are packed with retail outlets like as The Bay and Sears department stores and LCBO Vintages. Sparks Street, also in downtown, has a great open-air pedestrian mall with many jewelry, fine clothing and novelty gifts stores.

For shopping with a more international flavor, try Preston Street, home of Ottawa’s Little Italy, or Chinatown in Somerset Heights. Somerset Village, with its quaint European atmosphere against the backdrop of Ottawa’s Centretown, offers many artisan studios and boutique shops housed in examples of excellent architectural craftsmanship.

The city’s oldest farmer’s market still in operation is the Byward Market , which also has many unique shops and eateries nearby. Over a hundred vendors hawk their fruits, vegetables, plants and hand-made crafts here. Many festivals, such as the Canadian Tulip Festival and Ottawa Bluesfest, are also held in the vicinity. Bayshore Shopping Centre is a large mall on the outskirts of the city.It has three department stores the Bay, Winners and Zellers and many stores including several women's clothing stores, shoes stores and so forth. They offer free wheelchairs, strollers and walkers.Also there is plenty of parking here or you can get there via OCTranspo. http://bayshore.shopping.ca/listcateg... http://www.octranspo.com/ Another excellent mall in Ottawa is The St.Laurent Centre. It has almost 200 stores and 4000 free parking spaces.There is a great selection of stores here including ladies fashion stores, cosmetic stores,hair salons and so much more. It is a beautiful mall, very clean, bright it's a wonderful way to spend a rainy day in Ottawa. http://www.stlaurent-centre.com/home.php If you are interested in antiquing in the Ottawa area, the following link gives quite a few locations to check out. http://www.ottawa.servpro.ca/listcomp... Alternately, there are some great furniture stores in the city worth checking out.