Visitors will encounter one of Prince Edward Island’s premier shopping destinations as soon as they enter the province from the Confederation Bridge. Designed to resemble a 19th century street, Borden-Carleton’s Gateway Village is a sprawling shopping complex filled with souvenir shops, restaurants, travel information, and even an interactive museum.
Charlottetown’s Peakes Quay, Summerside’s Spinnakers Landing, and Cavendish Boardwalk offer similar arrays of souvenir shops, restaurants, handmade crafts, and frequent live musical performances. LM Montgomery fans will feel most at home at the Anne of Green Gables Store, which sells nothing but Montgomery-related merchandise and which has two locations in downtown Charlottetown and Cavendish’s Avonlea Village.
In addition to Prince Edward Island flags, postcards, and Anne of Green Gables paraphernalia, visitors can also bring home live lobsters. Those who find it too expensive to have the real thing shipped back have no shortage of stuffed, plastic or candy lobsters to choose from. Many shops even sell lobster-flavored potato chips and fizzy raspberry cordials whose labels prominently display Anne of Green Gables’ face. The Original PEI Dirt Shirt Company, which has outlets throughout the province, sells nothing but t-shirts in the color of the island’s famous red soil.