It’s that time of year again! Although there is officially no Richmond Night Market for 2008, a different promotional group has taken over the same plot of land for Summer Night Market. By and large, the two concepts are pretty much the same. If it wasn’t for the minor name change and a few rumblings on the Internet, most people wouldn’t even know that there is a difference at all between the Summer Night Market in Richmond and the Richmond Night Market that takes place during the summer.

Seeing how I provided guides for Richmond Night Market for both 2007 and 2006, I figured it would only be apt that I provide another guide for Summer Night Market 2008. Whether you are visiting from out of town or you’re doing the local tourist thing, Summer Night Market could be worth an evening or two to you.

1. What is Summer Night Market?

With the growing population of Chinese people in the Metro Vancouver area, the city and surrounding area is really starting to see a lot of Chinese cultural events. Summer Night Market, like Richmond Night Market before it, is designed to mimic the night markets that populate cities like Hong Kong and Taipei.

Street vendors set up a series of stalls where they sell a wide range of products. There is also a section for some terrific “street food” at a very affordable price. The best part is that Summer Night Market takes place in the evenings, so you don’t have to bake in the sun to go bargain-hunting and enjoy some ethnic cuisine.

2. Where is Summer Night Market?

Summer Night Market 2008 occupies the same plot of land that Richmond Night Market has occupied for the last couple of years. The exact address is 12631 Vulcan Way in Richmond, BC. If you know where the IKEA, Future Shop, and Home Depot are near Bridgeport Road and the Knight Street Bridge, then you’re in the right neighbourhood. Just follow the crowd.

In terms of Summer Night Market directions, you will want to take the Knight Street Bridge in from Vancouver. Take the Bridgeport Road West exit toward IKEA. The first traffic light is Sweden Way. You can turn right here and see the crowd. Alternatively, you can continue on Bridgeport Road until you reach No. 5 Road and turn right. Then, turn right on River Road and continue for about a minute until you get to the parking lot entrance.

3. What are the Hours of Operation?

Summer Night Market is open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. On Fridays and Saturdays, the hours of operation are from 7:00pm until midnight. On Sundays and holiday Mondays, the hours are from 7:00pm to 11:00pm. Summer Night Market will run until October 5, 2008. These hours are very similar to the ones that the Richmond Night Market had last year.

4. What About the Parking Arrangement?

When I went last weekend, parking was surprisingly plentiful. Do not park in the Home Depot, Future Shop, or IKEA lots, because your car will be towed. There are pay parking lots in and around on Sweden Way and Vulcan Way near the Summer Night Market. These lots typically charge between $4 and $5 for the length of your stay that evening. You may also find some free street parking, but be sure to observe the signs.

The official Summer Night Market parking lot is accessed from River Road. Check the directions that I provide above for how to access this lot. As of last weekend, the parking fee was set at $4. This may or may not change as the summer goes on.

5. What Should I Expect for Food?

A big reason why people go to the night market is for the street food. There are two rows of stalls where vendors sell a wide variety of ethnic food. There appears to be more diversity than in the early years of the Richmond Night Market. There are stands that sell Chinese dim sum items, hot and sour soup, Japanese takoyaki balls, Korean rice rolls, mini donuts, Taiwanese stinky tofu, barbecue skewers, and bubble tea. Most items are available for under five dollars.

6. What Can I Buy at Summer Night Market?

The vendors who rent the stalls at Summer Night Market change over the course of summer. Among the items that you can expect to find available are Vietnamese karaoke DVDs, inexpensive clothing, no name MP3 players, toys and puzzles, trinkets and curios, video games, cell phone accessories, and more. There was also a stand that was selling novelty street signs, as well as one that was selling strapless sandals.

7. Any Tips or Info for Shopping?

Bring cash. None of the vendors take any form of plastic payment, so make sure that you have cash in hand. Also bear in mind that most vendors will not provide you with any proof of purchase, so be sure that you actually want what you are buying. More likely than not, you will be able to get any sort of refund or exchange. Also, the quoted price may not necessarily be the best price you can get. Buy multiple items at a time and you may be able to negotiate for a better bargain.

8. What Else Can You Tell Me?

Is there anything missing from this guide that you would like me to cover? Use the comment form below to ask any questions you may have about Summer Night Market and I will do answer them to the best of my ability. You can also check the official website for information as well.

Last Tuesday, I announced the best comment contest, looking to see who would be able to come up with the best comment of the week out of the Beyond the Rhetoric community. I said that commenting on any post was fair game and all comments posted between Tuesday and midnight last night would be included in the contest.

The prize for the contest, pictured above, was a Gelaskins decorative skin for the 3rd-generation iPod nano. The skin is basically a 3M sticker that will protect your iPod from random bumps and scratches. I have one on my DS Lite, but I thought I’d share the iPod version with my readers.

After sifting through the comments that have been posted in last five days or so, I have chosen a winner. The winner of the best comment contest is…. Betshopboy!

In response to the post Who Keeps You in Check?, Betshopboy wrote:

“Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.” LOL!!

Behind an average joe like myself is a capable wife, who helps maintain my sanity in this crazy little world.

A hearty congratulations goes to out to Betshopboy. Please use the contact form to send me your mailing address and I’ll have the iPod Gelaskin shipped out your way. Thanks again to everyone who participated. You can probably expect more contests when I get back from Computex.

Remember how I was provided with a Gelaskins protective skin for the Nintendo DS Lite? The artistic skin not only adds a huge splash of personality to the DS Lite; it also helps to protect the device from random scratches, bruises, and other forms of abuse. As nice as some of these skins may be, not everyone is willing to fork out the big bucks to buy them… so I’m giving one away for free.

The Prize

The Gelaskins decorative skin that I’m giving away is not for the Nintendo DS Lite. It’s for the 3rd-generation Apple iPod nano. This is the most recent version of the iPod nano and it’s the one that comes with Cover Flow and the ability to play video. The Gelaskins skin that I’m giving away is called The Stranger and it’s by artist Brian Despain. Don’t worry; there’s nothing fishy about this giveaway!

How to Enter

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, the way that you go about entering this contest is very simple. Just leave a comment on any of the posts on Beyond the Rhetoric. Although I may not reply to every comment posted by visitors to this blog, I do read each and every one. I certainly appreciate any input, feedback, or general comments that you may have.

The winner will be determined based on the quality of the comment left. You can leave as many comments as you’d like, but it’s about quality not quantity. The best comment could be the one that’s the most insightful, the one that’s the funniest, or the one that adds the most to the discussion. Be creative and grab my attention.

Please note that if you have never left a comment on this blog before, it will be held in moderation. I personally review all comments held in the moderation queue, but if you don’t see your comment approved within about 24 hours, do drop me a line via the contact form.

Contest Deadline

The contest runs until 11:59pm PST on Sunday, May 25, 2008. That leaves you with about five days to comment away. The contest is open to virtually anyone in the world. Just don’t ask me to ship it to Antarctica or something. Good luck!

UPDATE (6/27/08): Click here for complete Summer Night Market information.

Visitors to the Vancouver area will quickly notice that there is a very substantial Chinese population in this city. As such, there are a lot of cultural events that take place throughout the year and one of the most popular is the annual Richmond Night Market.

Taking place over a span of several months over the summer, the annual event is where people can spend their evenings shopping in an outdoor marketplace and enjoying some food at Richmond Night Market. It may have been plagued with some counterfeit items (fake Gucci purses, for example) in the past, but this is what happens when you have a Hong Kong-style marketplace!

I’ve written a few things on the Richmond Night Market in the past, largely because the official website is seriously lacking in information. This year, unfortunately, the official website does have an important piece of information.

Richmond Night Market Cancelled for 2008

Target Events is the company that owns the copyright to the name “Richmond Night Market” and they are the ones who have been running the annual festivities for the past few years. They were unable to secure the lease for the same site as last year and they were unable to secure another site in Richmond for this year. They are currently looking for a new site for Richmond Night Market 2009.

This means that there will not be a Richmond Night Market this year. However, this does not necessarily mean that there will not be a different outdoor Hong Kong-style marketplace in Richmond; it just means that it won’t be run by Target Events. If another promotional company decides to do something, they can. Alternatively, you can consider the Chinatown Night Market in Vancouver. The Chinatown Night Market opens tomorrow.

UPDATE: Lions Communications says that they will be hosting a night market in Richmond called the Summer Night Market. It will likely be in the same location as last year, but Target Events removed all the plumbing, wiring, and sanitary facilities last year. Lions has taken steps to set up the site for this year. According to their website, they are gearing up to open on May 30 and the Summer Night Market will run until October 5.

It’s an annual tradition in Canada for people to brave the cold and wait for hours on the day after Christmas. That’s because December 26th is Boxing Day, a day when all the retailers in land put their leftover products on sale. Everyone from Best Buy to Walmart, Chapters to Athlete’s World has a Boxing Day (or even Boxing Week) sale, clearing out as much of their inventory as possible so that they can make way for the new stock coming in the new year. As a result, consumers gravitate to the malls in droves, trampling over little old women so that they can score 10% off on a pack of socks. As if they didn’t already get enough socks for Christmas from similar little old women (you might know her as grandma).

I’ll admit that I’ve partaken in this tradition on more than one occasion. After circling for hours looking for a parking spot, standing in line to get into any store, rummaging through the pile of stuff to find anything worth buying, waiting at the cash register queue, and finally emerging out the other end with a shopping bag and added debt, the net result is typically a fairly minor deal. It feels good to save twenty bucks on a pair of jeans, but you’ve got to wonder if it’s all worth it, especially in this age of online shopping.

So, why am I not Boxing Day shopping this year. It comes down to five critical factors that separates Boxing Day this year compared to years gone by.

1. Nothing to Buy: During my high school (and even university) days, Boxing Day represented the best day to find some new clothes, whether it be a pair of sweatpants or yet another t-shirt. I could typically find jeans for half price and there would be enough stock that the shopping was worthwhile. Now that I work from home, I’m not in need of new clothes nearly as often; after all, no one really sees me at my home office, so there’s no need to maintain appearances. Sure, there are items on my wish list, but there’s nothing that I feel I need this year. No need to brave the crowds.
    
2. Already Got It: I guess it’s not completely true that there’s nothing for me to buy this year. There is, but I already got the stuff that I really wanted anyways. John Chow told me about the Dell deal on a Garmin nuvi 250 portable GPS navigation device, so I grabbed that online (with free shipping) a couple days ago. I also bought the Wii Zapper and Guitar Hero III already, so need to buy those either.
    
3. Save More At Home: If I had a conventional 9-to-5 kind of job, there’s a good chance that I would have today as a day off and so I wouldn’t really have anything to do nor would I have a legitimate opportunity to make some money. As a freelance writer, however, I can work today if I choose to, earning a few extra bucks instead of lining up to save the same few bucks. I don’t know about you, but I prefer sitting in front of my keyboard than standing in line, fighting off the hordes of value-conscious shoppers.
    
4. No Major Deals: With the beauty of the Internet, we all have the opportunity to peek at the Boxing Day flyers several days in advance. Browsing through these the past couple of days, there weren’t any deals that jumped out at me, telling me that I absolutely had to take advantage. For example, I saw a two-pack of 2GB SD cards for about $30. That’s a decent deal, but not one worth lining up for. I also saw a few Wii games on sale, but again, it was only like $10 or $20 off. This goes back to reason #1 and #2, because there’s nothing that I absolutely must have.
    
5. Sleeping In: I work hard enough, just let me sleep in. Sleep is good.

I could try to save a few bucks on Boxing Day, but I’d rather save myself for CES in Las Vegas when I might score the best deal of all: free food, free booze, and free swag.

I’ll admit it, I don’t have all of my holiday shopping done. There were a few holiday gift ideas that popped in my head while cruising around in Tokyo and Hong Kong, but not enough to tick off everyone on my list this year. Yes, I’ll be a part of the insane buying blitz this weekend, surrounded by other last minute shoppers.

If you’ve still got a few people for whom you have to buy a Christmas present, allow me to present you with five last minute holiday gift ideas. Heck, these work pretty well for the rest of the year as well. Birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, high school graduations… these are all worthy gifts.

1. Gift Cards
It’s a bit of a cop out to buy someone a gift card, but it’s a proposition that works in everyone’s favour. Unlike the Nintendo Wii and Guitar Hero III, gift cards will never be sold out, so you don’t really have to worry about low stock. The best kinds of gift cards are the ones that can be used in multiple stores. In the Vancouver area, you might want to consider the Metro card, which works at just about every shop in Metrotown.

2. Apple iPod nano
There are lots of other MP3 players on the market, but very few boast the same kind of usability and undeniable good looks as the iPod, particularly the third-generation iPod nano. You may be able to find a deal on a second-gen iPod nano, but the third-gen has several advantages over its predecessor, including CoverFlow, the ability to play videos, and a much smaller form factor. A four-gig version can be had for about $150, whereas an 8GB goes for between $180 and $200.

3. Funky T-Shirts
It’s not necessary to spend as much as Ed does on special limited edition t-shirts to satisfy someone’s need to express their personality. You’d be surprised how many cheap t-shirts there are at discount stores like Urban Planet (Vancouver) that look pretty original and creative. For example, last year I nabbed a Borat tee for three bucks. Just be sure that the t-shirt you give fits the person’s personality. If they’re a total heavy metal fan, I’d imagine that they won’t be as appreciative of a Tupac Shakur tee.

4. Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset
Widely regarded as one of the best Bluetooth headsets that money can buy, the Jawbone by Aliph makes use of fairly advanced bone conduction technology. You see, what you’re chatting with someone in a noisy environment, other headsets have a tendency to pick up that background noise, making your voice a little difficult to discern for the person on the other end. With the Aliph Jawbone, it detects vibrations in your jaw, effectively separating speech from surrounding noise. So awesome.

5. DVD Box Sets
Walk into just about any store that sells DVDs and you’ll be bombarded with a myriad of options. For the more comedic among us, you can consider a box set from The Office. For historians and drama queens, there’s Rome: Season 1 and 2. If the person on your list is more about mob hits and swimming with the fishes, you can’t go wrong with a complete DVD box set of The Sopranos. There are also countless retro sets for the more nostalgic, including I Love Lucy, Mork and Mindy, and M.A.S.H. This is a great way to overcome the writer’s strike.

Now that you have some last minute holiday gift ideas, go join the herd in the mall, because anything you buy online will not get here in the next 3-4 days.