Sparks Street Mall

Sparks street mall is baren. There are «restaurants» but they’re nothing special. There are random shops but now that HMV’s closed down… there’s no reason to go. Hallmark’s there, but it’s a small shop.
If you want food and you think hey I’ll go to the Timmie’s there! Don’t. I work around the corner and I used to go often as it’s the closest Tims. Bad idea. The drink are usually fine, although they did give a warm pepsi to my friend who was with me (who wants warm pop?) and iced caps etc are fine but food? No. You ask for a breakfast sandwich no meat — they’ll add meat. You ask for a bagel with butter? They’ll put cream cheese. You ask for a strawberry donut? They’ll give you a strawberry & Cheese Danish. You might think I’m making these examples up but I’m being completely honest here — Those three examples have happened to me. MULTIPLE times. Not the donut though. the bagel and the breakfast sandwich. They’re idiots. Nice. Very nice in fact… but they are incompetent. and I’m not asking them to customize my drink as Starbucks customers do… but if I did — they’d probably royally screw that up too.
To conclude, the Tim’s is pretty much the only reason you would want to come to Sparks street, but I’m tell you, go to the Laurier one instead. It’s farther… but at least you won’t end up with things you paid for, but not what you asked for.

Sparks street is one of my favourite spots! It’s super safe, and the diversity makes it a great place for tourists, and people who like doing street photography. The shops and boutiques are great. Definitely a street to go on your next visit to Ottawa!

The Sparks Street Mall is an empty pedestrian mall that doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing. Besides the Bridgehead it’s nothing shitty pubs, shitty restaurants and shitty stores. On top of that, their Business Improvement Association allows those permanent shitty businesses to have a monopoly by closing down any type of competition that dares to open around them (i.e. the very shortlived «Market»). Sparks Street deserves to be boycotted and go bankrupt in my opinion.

The only time I go to this outdoor mall is for Rib Fest.
Sure it’s smokey and loud, but isn’t that how you want to eat your ribs?
Don’t want ribs? (something has got to be wrong) Go grab some chicken and corn on the cob.
Ribs usually go for 13, ½ or a full rack and prices range from $ 9 to $ 22.

We just returned from visiting the Ottawa International Ribfest on Sparks Street. WOW! What an amazing Festival. It was Massive. Record crowds featuring live blues, all kinds of vendors to choose from, awesome ribs, chicken and pulled pork, a Pulled Pork Eating Contest and so much more. Sparks Street is truly morphing into something NEW and very exciting. From the new lights, to artwork, benches, Farmers Market, new Stanley Cup monument (coming soon), this place is coming alive. Check out their amazing lineup of events, programming, attractions including plans to open a new Zipline in the near future.
I’ll be back!
btw: You gotta check out New Year’s Eve… they do a New York style drop. This past NYE Party attracted 20,000 people and they expect 40 – 50,000 this year for 2014.

Oh boy, are they ever doing a lot of construction on Sparks Street! Hope it’ll be done by summer. And I’ve no idea what’s going into the old Zellers’ spot. They need something in there, to entice the traffic on the street, otherwise what’s the point?
Sparks is more inviting in the summertime, when patios are open, and crowds are thronging. I’ll go back in a couple of months in the hopes of seeing improvements.
The must-​see event there of course, is the rib fest. Look for it, and plan on being there. Awesome! You can’t go wrong no matter which booth you buy your meal from. Just go!
One shop I really like on this street is the Snow Goose, near Elgin, on the North side. I keep going back again and again to buy their cookie presses! They make great gifts, but also they come with a recipe in French and/​or in English, for butter cookies that are to die for. And, they’re only $ 2.50 each! I’ve got dozens; they come in different patterns: maple leaves, hearts, holiday designs, and much much more.
Sparks Street is really cool. It’s history in the making. Let’s not give it back to traffic! Put more stores there and keep this tourist attraction going! Who’s with me?

stopped by for ribfest… had some super tasty ribs, chicken, roasted corn on the cob, and fresh squeezed lemonade and orange juice.
can i just say… what a crazy bunch of carney foodies… it’s a traveling circus of food.
i would love to hear some stories from these people… lol

Hmm… well, there’s nothing really bad about this place, but nothing exciting, either. It’s not even a mall, really. Just a few city blocks that are closed to vehicular traffic, with some random shopping and restaurants sprinkled throughout.
Occasional bands and other shows will set up at various spots along the «mall.» This place gets insanely busy during Ottawa’s annual Busker-​fest, with contortionists, jugglers, gymnasts, whatever and the huge crowds they somehow attract…

Sparks Street «Mall» is much more of a strip mall or promenade than an actual mall. Only pedestrians can walk down here, and it’s open all year. As you would expect, though, it’s much more popular during the summer months. There’s the Sparks Street International Chicken & Rib Cook-​Off in June, live entertainment during the Canada Day festivities in July, and the Ottawa International Buskers Festival in August.
Though there are a bunch of stores, shops, and cafes, people don’t really do much shopping here, since the Rideau Centre is so close by, and the Byward Market is a hot spot for restaurants and nightlife. Sparks Street really isn’t anything special, but it’s nice to take a stroll down every now and then on a hot summer day or when the sun begins to set.

I agree that the mall isn’t really much of a mall. It would be better to call it pedestrian shopping or something like that. I don’t understand the logic since it gets cold in Ottawa in the winter.
On a positive side, there are lots of shops, beauty salons and pubs along Sparks Street and it is nice to have somewhere to stroll without traffic.
In Frosh week they closed off part of the street and there was a party here. It is a good area for events.

I feel bad for tourists or anyone who read that we have a pedestrian mall only to walk down Sparks Street Mall and ponder ‘Where?’.
There really is not much to this district of Ottawa. Sure there are stores and the link between then is only open to pedestrians but the stores are few and far between with restaurants and vendors who are usually only open during the daytime on weekdays for government workers.
There are few places along this stretch of retail that are absolute unique and I certainly wouldn’t be able to or suggest making an afternoon of it.
The only time this places comes to life is when festivals utilize the street and then it’s the way it’s supposed to be – a great space for families or people to enjoy.
Rib Fest in June and the busker fest in the summer are the best use of this space. Rib Fest sets up booths for various BBQ’ers and people are then a bit more inclined to check out the stores that span Sparks Street but there aren’t many to choose from.
The levels of government who control this area really need to do something about this district.

While we were unable to fully explore the mall due to the limited hours the businesses keep, it seems that the variety and selection of stores is lacking. Everything seemed dark and deserted, what could be a vibrant and unique shopping area is instead tired and dull. Do yourself a favour and skip it for Byward Market, you won’t regret it.