Westmount’s hot shopping strip a gift-hunter’s paradise

Multimags (5018 Sherbrooke St., 514-487-8388) isn’t just ideal for magazines and books, but has some fun, campy gifts, too. Take the Andy Warhol figure, sitting deep in thought, for just $22.95. They’ve got statues of comic book heroes and villains – Batman is $80 and the Heath Ledger-inspired Joker is $85 – plus lots of inexpensive Betty Boop memorabilia. For the none-too-discriminating, they’ve even got a solitary, now highly-collectible, Tiger Woods action figure... by action I mean golf, of course!

Right next door is Zone (5014 Sherbrooke St., 514-489-8901), which has tons of useful gifts ranging from $10 - $80... wine accessories, books, glass and other kitchenwear, fun pillows, artsy picture frames and clocks included. My pick? An Oliver desk gear clock, at just $42.

A few feet farther is one of my favourite stores, Flore (5008 Sherbrooke St.., 514-488-3555), a flower shop with many gorgeous home accessories. On the less expensive side, you can buy candleholders in the $50 range, or treat yourself to stunning reproductions of animal skulls with horns Georgia O’Keeffe would be proud of, at $275. If you want to splurge, a unique almost life-sized horse statue is $2,500, while large dogs made of solid lead are “just” $6,000 apiece.

Now, if you cross Sherbrooke to the north side, many wonders await. Wilfrid & Adrienne (4919B Sherbrooke St., 514-481-5850), which carries anything germaine to the kitchen and tabletop, is a store I’d never been to and it was a real eye-opener. Here, from $10.95 - $1,500, you can buy it all, including items under the Fauchon line (one of only several places in the city to carry it), Dean & Deluca spices (the only vendor in the city) and the imported-from-Italy Arte Italica line of fine pewter and porcelain.

Farther along, at 4875A Sherbrooke St. (514-488-0444), Woven Gardens — named after a 15th century Persian poem — has become my new favourite store. They carry lovely Iranian and Turkish carpets, but they also have furniture and handcrafted art from India, Burma, Laos and Thailand. Owners Kornelia and Peter Brown met while travelling 40 years ago and still travel to bring you, as King Tut archaeologist Howard Carter said, “wonderful things”. Check out Kornelia’s specialty, antique silver jewellery, mostly Indian, that’s around 80 – 100 years old. The .925 sterling bracelets, rings and necklaces here are all striking and reasonably priced.

Hogg Hardware (4833 Sherbrooke St., 514-934-4644, to move to the current SAQ location after Dec. 24) is likely the LAST place you’d look for gifts, but here they are. From the inexpensive “fine plastic” Andy Warhol collection of tableware, to funky, colourful, durable high-quality socks, scarves, gloves, designer pillows, bags, soaps, creams, candles and unique, artistic cards... the items here will astound and amaze. They also carry tools, kitchen gadgets and appliances, of course.

Finally, I wrote them up late last year, but the excellent second-hand emporium Le Pays d’Oz is still worth a visit because it will save you so much money on high quality, almost-like-new children’s and adult clothing, as well as things like children’s toys, books and games... venture off the beaten path to 342 Victoria Ave. (514-485-9610) and tell 'em Bram sent you.