VERDICT: WE GAVE 4 OUT OF 5 TICKETS AND HERE’S WHY!
Downtown Chilliwack and District 1881
If you’re looking for a fantastic girls’ day out –
I would highly suggest Downtown Chilliwack and District 1881, but first make reservations at Fortitude Wine Bar for 2pm (you’ll see why, keep reading)
Start out with an early 9am breakfast at Cultivate Cafe at Minter Country Gardens. Enjoy a leisurely, scrumptious meal made by the talented Chef Cam & served by his adorable wife, Peggy. They’ve even got delicious baked goods or frozen soups to take home with you. I’ll always recommend the Eggs Benny – the best – but they have yummy breakfast hash & other items too.
Make a quick right out the door of the cafe into Minters & see all the lovely plants, flowers & gift items. Minters is known all over the world for their brilliant advice + care for each & every customer.
Next, shop in all of the wonderful stores in the area such as Circa Vintage on Main Street (we could wander among the vintage antiques & chat with Darby all day!), the Button Box (the girls here are fun & their carefully curated baby items, decor & clothing pieces are so good), also Fraser & Co. Modern Vintage (this is an adorable store with gently used & new fashions), and Marion’s Dressing Room (vintage clothing to swoon over) on Mill Street, Picturesque Clothing Co. (fashion forward & designer pieces + Matt & Nat purses & other accessories) on Wellington Avenue, also Creekside Chilliwack (beautiful country chic decor), The Bookman (the best selection of new & used books, even some collectibles), Mary’s on Wellington (luxury lingerie, underwear & pjs), Payton & Buckle (shoes, shoes, shoes & purses). There’s Pink n Blue Kidz on Yale Road (directly across from District 1881 with new & gently used kids’ clothing).
Their neighbours are Anello Jewellers (quality, custom pieces), Imaginarium Studios (photography studio for family, pet, business, or boudoir photoshoots + studio rental for photographers). If you’re looking for premium hair products & services, then stop in at Michael’s the studio, they’re an award winning salon & spa, 76 years in business. They carry Milkshake, L’anza, AG hair products + T3 luxury hair tools.
There’s Emerson Park Resale & Emerson Park & Rec (luxury brand resale stores with clothing, purses, shoes, accessories), Pick Eco (it smells divine & they’re always at the ready with ways we can all become more ecologically conscious), Magnolia & Oak (fashionable women’s wear, shoes & accessories + some menswear).
The Local Space (some fun & saucy gift items, clothing, skincare, accessories, all locally, Canadian-made), Hunni’s (lovely women’s wear, including hats & accessories), Spruce Collective (clothing, puzzles, art, cards, candles, kitchenware & more) all in District 1881 on Yale Road.
The best cafe is right across the crosswalk at Smoking Gun Coffee, again on Yale Road. They’ve got their own roasted blends for you to take home & treats to go with it.
If you’re into thrifting, there’s some great little stops on Kipp Street (MCC), and on Wellington Avenue (Unique Thrifting) that are fun to wander around in & make it easy to upcycle clothing or home goods at a fair price, each of these locations give back to their community in big ways.
Now that you’ve shopped till you dropped, you’ll be glad you reserved at Fortitude Wine Bar to end the afternoon on a relaxing, delicious high note.
The atmosphere is classy yet comfortable. The walls are a chic, matte navy blue with hints of green velvet on the banquets & gold accents in the lighting.
The wine or bubbles flights are served on wooden boards as is the charcuterie, that gives that rustic texture.
The appetizers were fresh & delicious from the escargot, to the chef’s board, from the Caprese salad, and the meatballs to the Bruschetta or the blue cheese stuffed dates.
Two of us enjoyed a crisp, delicious Prosecco while the others tried wine flights with some they loved and one not so much. But the excellent servers were helpful in finding another wine to try instead & that one was a hit.
The service was excellent, the pricing was fair & the total atmosphere of wandering along from Main Street and down Yale Road to our destination was just right.
It was easy to sit, visit & carry on conversations while overlooking the new additions to the neighbourhood. Downtown Chilliwack has been working hard to revitalize the businesses, from touching up or refurbishing the historic buildings, being conscientious of our yesteryear when building new ones, also improving the walkability (including parking), and for your viewing pleasure – notice the gorgeous murals found on many walls & most nooks & crannies. Each with a plaque to explain their origin & the artist that created them.
With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.
