73171 SHOPS, 5 DEPARTMENT STORES

BELLINGHAM has never been much of a shopper’s para-
dise. For one thing, no one can ever find the stores. If a
visitor is lucky, he might locate downtown Bellingham, a
maze of one-way streets (all heading the opposite direction

from the way he wants to go).

There are a number of small
shopping malls, cleverly hidden,
containing the odd _ interesting
shop.

I’ve always suspected that Bell-
ingharn resisted allowing a central
mail to protect the merchants in
the downtown core — a losing
proposition when you have a close
look at what’s there.

Imagine our surprise last fall
when we passed the corner of
Guide Meridian, just east of the
1-5 overpass, and saw signs that a

travel
wise
Barbara McCreadie

900,000 (and that’s no misprint)
square foot mall was to be con-
structed,

To give you some idea how large
that space is, consider that Park
Royal, both sides, is approximately
500,000 square feet.

They've actually done it! Beilis
Fair Mall is open with about half
of the stores doing business. The
rest will be opening between now
and October. There are 13! regu-
lar-sized locations plus five enor-
mous department stores — J.C.
Penney, Sears, Target, Mervyn’s
and the Bon Marche.

One wing includes ‘‘Cafe

Court’’, a collection of 19 food
outlets and a central eating area —
an upscaled version of the eating
area in Capilano Mall. Adjacent to
the eating area are the Cineplex-
Odeon Cinemas, scheduled to open
in December.

The way the mall is laid out, it
appears that the food and theatre
areas will be operated in conjunc-
tion with each other, even when
the rest of the mall is closed.

It was estimated that seven out
of 10 shoppers at Bellis Fair are
Canadians. That wouldn’t surprise
me — I started checking the licence
plates in the parking lot, and B.C.
was well represented.

Speaking of parking lots, we
cruised for {5 minutes before fin-
ding a slot. This is not the place to
be on a sunny Saturday in August
— picture the P.N.E, on opening
day and you’! get the idea.

Despite some remarkable sales
and stunning merchandise, we
don’t intend to visit again until the
novelty wears off and the rest of
the shops open. The mob scene is
just too much to handle and the
clerks are having a tough time cop-
ing. By October, things should be
settled down.

I don’t envy our guardians at
Canada Customs. The first thing
they’il probably have to do is
enlarge their premises —— just cop-
ing with the honest folks who
march inside and declare will be a
feat. Housing all the illicit mer-
chandise seized from the optimists
who try to run with it will likely
require 3 two-storey warehouse.

Expect longer waits at the
border, especially as Christmas
shopping time nears. Personally, I
plan to do a majority of my shop-
ping right on the North Shore,
avoiding ail that stress.

For North Shore tourists, the
easiest and fastest way to visit
Bellis Fair Mall is to head out on
Highway #1, and exit at the
Aldergrove turn-off (#264 —
where you turn off for the Van-
couver Game Farm). This takes
you over the border at Lynden,
Washington and onto Guide Meri-
dian. In about 15 minutes you'll
see the overpass for I-5 and Bellis
Fair is on your right, just before
you duck under the highway.

wee

Back to the Cafe Court. Bell-
ingham is remarkable in that it has
more lousy restaurants than any
city I’ve ever visited. I'll not say
it’s impossible to get a decent meal

HOLLYBURN COUNTRY CLUB
Summer Hockey School/1988

August 22 to August 26 and
August 29 to September 2

9:30am12:90pm

~~ 40:30am-1:45pm

2:20 pm-5:00pm

Each day will consist of two ice sessions and one off-

ice activity

$100 for the two week session

Registration forms available at the club. For more
information call 922-0161

— how about, ‘“‘highly unlikely’’?

I could write an entire column
entitled, ‘‘Where NOT to eat’’ but
would be hard pressed to lead
anyone to a fine meal, especially
lunch.

Thus, the visitor is wise to
choose Cafe Court — sure, it’s on-
ly ‘fast food’? but from what J
saw, and what we tasted, it’s your
best bet. Being a natural snoop, I
took a close look at prices and ser-
ving sizes and didn’t hesitate to ask
several people, ‘‘How's your
lunch?”

We liked the look of Sbarro and
weren’t disappointed. Brian had an
excellent slice of pizza — huge and
with about six toppings and I had
‘spinach calzone’’ — an enormous
spinach and cheese-filled roll top-
ped with a quality tomato sauce.
With two Pepsis, the bill came to
$6.40 U.S. Another bonus was that
they changed my Canadian $260 bill
and gave me $18 U.S. for it.

Three ladies at the next table
weren't having lunch — they were
having a chocolate pig-out. They
had purchased an assortment at

LAKES RESORT

B.C.'s Host Unique
High Couthuy Aduexture

For a lost weekend of a full vacation, the
magnificent scenic solitude of Cathedral
Lakes Resort is unbeatable. NO 1... - NO
TELEPHONES. Just pood food, fresh clean air
and mountain solitude. You should trv it!

Call Joan or Bill

CATHEDRAL LAKES RESORT
(604) 499-5848
or write:
R.R.#1, CAWSTON, B.C. VOX 1C0

27 - Sunday, August 14, 1988 ~ North Shore News

fr

the Pacific Fudge Chocolate Fac-
tory and were glassy-eyed with
delight.

Another diner had patronized
the Fortune Wok and was diving
into an enormous assortment of
appetizing Chinese food. The
vegetables were bright and crisp
and nothing was dyed fire-engine
red.

o
Ga

For ladies who have fitting pro-
blems, Bellis Fair Mail may have
the answer for you. Very tiny sizes
are availabie in at least two outlets
— Size 5-7-9 Shops and Just
Petites. Several shops, including
Lane Bryant, cater to full-figured
women. A perfect size-10 never has
a problem finding quality mer-
chandise, but others do.

Bellis Fair Mall appears to be
keeping to moderate/higher prices.

HASTGS TRAE

“SWISS EFFICIENCY”

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS - WORLDWIDE
FOR BUSINESS OR PLEASURE

744 W. HASTINGS
VANCOUVER, B.C.
V6C 1A5

THE MYSTERIES OF THE FAR EAST AWAIT
..AND YOUR TIME FOR DISCOVERY IS NOW.

THE GREAT CITIES OF ASIA CRUISE...
ABOARD THE OCEAN PEARL

DEPART VANCOUVER, NOV. 22/88.

RETURN, DEC. 12/88.

Your ship is Nordic’s Ocean Pearl, newly refurbished, beautiful.

: 8
an)
.
.
.
‘.

offering fiist-class accommodation and every tuxurious ¥

amenity of shipboard life.

Malacca *, MALAYSIA %

Together with a select complement of 480 guests, pampered 7

and pleasured, you'll cruisé the South China Sea, visiting
citres of ancient mystery strung like pearls on the necklace

Singapore»
gee Me

of the Orient - Canton. Manila, Brunei, Singapore, Malacca.
Land visits in the teeming bazaar city of Hong Kong and exotic

Bangkok add depth to your voyage of discovery.

INDONESIA

The sights, the sounds. the tastes, the mystelies...tor 21 days

you'll never forget: yours!

Pe) a
ANY SAVE
Accommadatien! Special Price

lnsele Doubles | $3895

OutsideDoudie® $4196
Sungte Catan y $3095

t sssus |
Detine Outside’ | $5595 |

tin Canadian Desire
atcy Port tan ot $

AN pies date er
“Based on doume

“rom $4965
10 $9370

“trom $5810

wS7bis
trom $7138
to $8935
trom $7620
_ to 810400

26% 10 40%

es te 5540

BCAA

°
Pd

Travel@p

West Vancouver 908 South Mail

Prompt — Personalized — Multilingual Service |

cat: 689-0461

VERENA FURRER
— Owner —

SAFARIS * KRUGER PARK

° BLUE TRAIN
¢ VICTORIA FALLS

XMAS FLIGHTS

For any group or
independent travel
please contact:

TRAVEL STUDIO
890-885 Dunsmuir St,
Vancouver. B.C

ver. B.C,
V6C 1N5
Phone 685-8213

“TAIWAN

.
“tne ® Manila
Pay
Pann

Kota Kinabalu

eo

9° @ Brunei

.
o*

BORNEO"

FOR THE ADVENTURE OF YOUR LIFE.

See Nordic’s 1988 Pearl Cruises brochure
for full terms and conditions.

CATHAY PACIFIC.

WY
AUS The quatity choice

Park Royal Shopping Centre 922-3361