Shopping in St. Catharines

The dedicated framers at Ferrante Picture Framing draw on more than 40 years of experience as they outfit works by Ontario artists James Lumbers, Trisha Romance, and George Upper as well as personal photographs and mementos with frames of all shapes and styles. Wood, metal, and matting accent the edges of posters and paintings in picture sandwiches protected by glass; display cases can commemorate a retired licence plate or a toddler's dinner plate scraped clean of its vegetables. Staffers can also create pop art pieces that transform ordinary photos into masterpieces more Warholian than Marilyn Monroe in a tub of Campbell’s tomato soup.

A child’s ability to learn grows exponentially. That's why the team at Smarty Pants Educational helps foster that development early on with educational toys for kids 0–12. In the shop’s building and construction area, they encourage tykes to flaunt their creativity by stacking straws into skyscrapers or assembling cars with connectors. They also arrange play stations for kids to build railroads or master toy instruments, and they direct parents to therapy toys that nourish social, logic, and motor skills. The completely interactive store even hosts birthday parties jam-packed with craft projects, as well as art and music workshops that spark imaginations and extinguish childish dreams of growing up to be an auditor.

Pulp Comics traces its origins to a heroic act of kindness.

In 2009, Paul Tappay donated part of his liver to his father, saving his dad's life and leaving him plenty of time to read comic books while convalescing in the hospital. Hungry for a new adventure, Paul drew up a business plan built around his love of comics, games, and pop culture. Months after the Tappay family's life-altering and lifesaving surgery, Pulp Comics began welcoming visitors not to a crowded, dimly lit lair, but to a sunny, roomy space full of new and vintage publications and droves of like-minded hobbyists.

A sense of positive, fun-loving nerddom pervades Pulp Comics' main room, where you'll find collectibles, racks of comic books, and a life-sized replica of Harrison Ford's character from Witness frozen in carbonite. Guests read gripping graphic novels in the front room's comfy leather sofas or retreat to the Back Cave, filled with more than 10,000 vintage back issues, old-school arcade games, and free WiFi.

The trained staff at Eyewear Studio enhances vision and aesthetic appeal by combining quality lenses from Nikon and Essilor with frames by top brands such as Ray-Ban, Vogue, and Columbia. The on-staff optician measures and fits single-vision, bifocal, and progressive lenses to wearers’ specific requirements and perform free adjustments for any eyewear purchased at the shop. Specialty options, such as polarized and antiglare lenses, sharpen vision while keeping eyes protected from the sunlight and wayward pencils.