I recently went to Montreal's newest shopping mall called ROYALMOUNT. The place wasn't all that busy that day but then again, it was a Monday. There had been a lot of hype when this mall first opened over a year and a half ago, so I was quite curious to see it. However, in the end, I actually found the atmosphere there oddly a bit bland and rather sterile for my taste.

The first floor had all the expensive designers like, Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, St Laurent, Jimmy Choo etc... , the second floor had the more affordable retailers like Uniqlo, H&M, Levis etc... I didn't buy anything there beyond lunch. We did go into Canada Goose to check out their inventory (Yikes! Merino beanie hats going for $250) but in general, it just felt too intimidating to go into some of the other designer stores. The staff often looked bored and were mostly on their phones, and at other shops, the sales staff looked ready to pounce the second you walked in the door. I felt the most comfortable browsing in the Uniqlo, although all the staff there kept greeting me with "bonjour" even when they had just greeted me a few minutes earlier in another aisle.

All and all, I guess this isn't the shopping mall for me. I prefer my local suburban mall, its much livelier even on a Monday, still has a great selection of stores, although maybe not the exceptionally high end ones.

Anyone else ever feel awkward or intimidated when shopping in certain places?