About Kids Market
Kids Market is your one-stop destination for family activities, events and shopping. Our locally owned and operated two-level building is on Granville Island in the heart of Vancouver, Canada.
A unique & inspiring experience
Kids Market is an immersive, magical world that sparks kids’ wonder and imagination as you explore. Enter through the special Kids Door to find Jack climbing his beanstalk. Look up to see butterflies and hot air balloons floating. Snap your own photos with our ever-changing fantastical displays created by Gail Taylor Designs.
Kids Market has a variety of indoor family-friendly activities, the ideal way to spend a rainy afternoon. We’re also just steps away from the Granville Island outdoor water park, great to visit on a hot sunny day. Experience the excitement of a 30+ game arcade, hundreds of immersive virtual reality experiences, a multilevel indoor playground, and bumper cars.
There’s always something happening at Kids Market, from free weekend craft workshops and entertainment to special holiday events. Annually, we have over 75 events including our Treasure Hunt, Easter Egg Hunt, Canada Day, Summerfest, and Halloween Spooktacular, plus Spring Break and Pro-D Day events, seasonal craft fairs, and the best Santa’s Workshop in Vancouver. If kids aren’t in school, there is an event at Kids Market!
Over 25 independently-owned small business vendors offer a wide selection of children’s toys, games, puppets, clothing, costumes, footwear, magic tricks, novelty items, collectables, crystals, jewelry, and more — plus kids’ haircuts!
Creating childhood memories since 1984
Built in the early 1900s as a factory, our historic building was the starting point in creating our unique, open concept environment with vaulted ceilings, wooden beams, and large industrial windows. In 1984, as Granville Island established itself as a top Canadian tourist destination, the Kids Only Market was designed to provide a fun-filled retail, entertainment, and activity space dedicated to kids and their families.
Rebranded as Kids Market in the 1990s, we have always maintained a vision of fun, imagination, creativity, and support for our local small business community. Several of the original businesses continue to thrive here decades later. It’s our pleasure to continue entertaining and inspiring the kids of Vancouver — and the world — for many years to come.
Kids Market factory building, 1926
Surrounded by the rich history of Granville Island
Granville Island began as a natural sandbar that was an important fishing ground for countless generations of Coast Salish people. In 1916, mud from the surrounding False Creek was dredged to create a 40-acre manmade island to support Vancouver’s growing forestry, mining, construction, and shipping industries. During World War II, manufacturing switched to defence equipment; however, by the 1960s, industry moved to the suburbs, leaving the site in decline.
In the mid-1970s, the Canadian government, shaped by public input, transformed Granville Island into a mixed-use “people’s space.” Blending its industrial heritage with lively modern amenities, the island is now home to a bustling Public Market, art studios, theatres, restaurants, shops, a hotel and marina, and, of course, Kids Market.
Kids Market acknowledges that we are located on the ancestral territory of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.
Our Community
