Toy Stores
Independent toy shop in the Hepworth Block in Steveston Village. Curated rather than crammed: wooden toys, Lego, Playmobil, puzzles, board games, kites and craft kits. The reliable answer to a last-minute birthday present in the south of Richmond.
Kites are the detail that gives the location away. Garry Point is a few minutes west, it is flat, it is open, and the wind coming off the Strait is reliable enough that kite flying is an actual pastime out there rather than a novelty. A shop stocking kites within walking distance of that field is reading its neighborhood correctly.
Splash sits in the Hepworth Block on Moncton Street in Steveston Village, and the rest of the stock follows the same logic: wooden toys, Lego, Playmobil, puzzles, board games and craft kits, chosen rather than piled. Independent toy shops have mostly been squeezed out of Metro Vancouver by big-box stores and online ordering, and the survivors tend to manage it on selection rather than on volume.
The practical case is the last-minute birthday present. If you live in the south of Richmond and have remembered at four in the afternoon that a party is tomorrow, the alternative is a drive up to Ironwood or across the bridge, and a shop on Moncton Street saves the trip entirely. The village is busy on summer weekends and quiet the rest of the year, so a weekday visit is the calm one. Go in knowing the age of the child and roughly what you want to spend. The range in a shop this size is deep rather than broad, which makes staff advice worth more than browsing.
In the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other toy stores and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
Long-running Richmond hobby shop near the airport, now in a larger unit on Russ Baker Way. Plastic model kits, miniatures and paints, board games, trading cards and comics, with tables for in-store gaming. A destination shop rather than a browse-by.
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A small wood-fired pizza shop that opened in Steveston in late 2023. Thin, blistered Neapolitan-style pies made to order plus a short list of sides. Mostly a takeout counter with limited seating, so call ahead on busy village evenings.
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A Steveston Village counter serving homemade ice cream by the scoop a couple of blocks from the water. It shares a building with another independent ice cream shop, which makes tasting your way between the two an easy afternoon detour.
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A Steveston counter frying gourmet mini donuts to order, with classic cinnamon sugar alongside a rotating list of seasonal flavours and filled versions. Mixed boxes let you try several, and they are best eaten walking down toward the boardwalk.
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A long-running Eastern and Central European grocer in Steveston, entered from the back of the building on Second Avenue. Imported sausage and smoked meats, rye breads, pickles, preserves and the candy people grew up with in Poland and Ukraine.
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Long-running Steveston women's boutique that has traded since 1980 and specializes in travel-friendly clothing: pieces that pack small, resist creasing and layer well. Popular with cruise and Europe-bound shoppers looking for one outfit that does everything.
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From the blog
Longer reads from the editor, with the places worth a detour linked inside them.
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The West Dyke Trail is about five and a half kilometres of flat gravel between Terra Nova Rural Park and Garry Point, and I ride it most mornings. Here is what is actually at the north end, which way to walk so the wind is on your side, and why winter is the better season for it.
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