Winter Holidays at the Met

Metropolis at Metrotown is definitely a best place for shopping in Metro Vancouver, especially when Santa is there during the Christmas holiday season.

The mall is a favourite place for shoppers, with its 300+ stores, Cineplex movie theatre, free parking and central location. During the winter holiday season, however, the place is especially popular, with its sales, festive decorations, special activities and photo opportunities with Santa Claus.

This article is about the holiday shopping season at the mall, including some of the shopping centre’s special events in November and December.

To learn about the mall in general, see our article about Metropolis at Metrotown or visit metropolisatmetrotown.com. To learn about the shopping centre’s Santa Experience and other holiday happenings, however, continue reading.

Santa Experience and Holiday Shopping at Metropolis at Metrotown

Also known simply as the “Met”, Metropolis at Metrotown celebrates the winter holiday season with decorations, festive music and Santa Claus, along with sales at its many stores. There is live music on select dates and times, a toy drive (where they collect donations for kids in need), and a charity gift wrap service (which supports Burnaby Neighbourhood House).

There are rumours that, in 2025, a brand new Holiday Market may be located outside the shopping centre, although exact details are to be confirmed.

To give you an idea of what the holiday season is like at the mall, below is information about some of the events that took place at Metropolis at Metrotown last year. 2025 will likely be similar, although the exact details are yet to be confirmed. First though, we’ll provide details about the shopping centre’s location and hours.

For the mall’s official website, visit metropolisatmetrotown.com.

Where & When is the Mall

The largest mall in BC, Metropolis at Metrotown is located in Burnaby, on Kingsway Avenue, about halfway between Central Park and Deer Lake Park. The Metrotown SkyTrain Station is conveniently right outside the mall.

For much of the year, the shopping centre is open every day from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm on Mondays to Saturdays and between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm on Sundays. This is the case in November and December too, although with a few exceptions.

Special holiday hours last year were the following (and 2025 will likely be similar):

Black Friday (November 29th) – 8:00 am to 10:00 pm
December 22nd – 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Christmas Day (December 25th) – Closed
Christmas Eve (December 24th) – 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Boxing Day (December 26th) – 8:00 am to 10:00 pm
New Year’s Eve (December 31st) – 11:00 am to 7:00 pm
New Year’s Day (January 1st) – 11:00 am to 7:00 pm

Santa Claus at the Met

Santa Claus was at Metropolis at Metrotown during the last holiday season and in various forms. The first day for Santa last year was on November 12th. He’ll be back again in 2025!

Father Christmas, the traditional Santa Claus with the bright red suit from movies and storybooks, was at the mall for most of the season last year, between November 12th and December 23rd (so the day before Christmas Eve). The mall hosted Santas embodying other perspectives of the holidays too, however, on specific dates. This will be the same again this year too.

In addition to the traditional jolly old elf, on the Tuesdays of November 19th and 26th last year, Global Santa appeared representing multiple versions of the holidays celebrated by different cultures. Between Boxing Day and December 31st, there was also Tropical Santa who made guest appearances during his well-earned, post-holiday vacation time (likely just before heading south to some place warm for some downtime). In 2025 photo opportunities with Tropical Santa take place on Dec 27th to 30th.

For full details about the shopping centre, visit metropolisatmetrotown.com.

Holiday Music at the Met

Holiday music plays at Metropolis at Metrotown throughout the season, from mid-November until late December. At set times there are also live performances which are free to enjoy.

In addition to the live music in the Holiday Lounge as mentioned above, artists performing elsewhere at the shopping centre last year are listed below. The lineup in 2025 will likely be comparable.

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 – Bonnie Northgraves (on trumpet)
Thursday, December 5th, 2024 – Elisa Thorn (on harp)
Tuesday, December 10th, 2024 – La Trompette de Noel (Christmas Brass band)
Thursday, December 12th, 2024 – Taras Luka (on accordion)
Tuesday, December 17th, 2024 – Sax with Eric (on saxophone)
Thursday, December 19th, 2024 – John Gilliat (on guitar)

For the mall’s official website, click Metropolis at Metrotown.

Charity Gift Wrap & Toy Drive at Metro Town

Metropolis at Metrotown supports charitable causes during the holiday season with its Charity Gift Wrap Station and Christmas Toy Drive.

In December, up until Christmas Eve, you can take gifts you buy at the mall to the Charity Gift Wrap Station where they’ll wrap your items in pretty paper for a donation benefiting Burnaby Neighbourhood House (which is a great local charity).

Also at the mall, Metropolis at Metrotown hosts its annual Christmas Toy Drive, where they collect donations of new, unwrapped toys for the Burnaby Christmas Bureau. The Toy Drive typically happens on the first Saturday in December, likely on December 6th in 2025, but with exact details to be confirmed.

To encourage shoppers to donate to the Toy Drive, Metropolis at Metrotown has prizes. Last year, for example, the first one hundred donors got a free $10 gift card to use at the mall. Also, everyone who donated had a chance to win a $100 gift card.

Other Information

To learn more about the mall in general, see our article about Metropolis at Metrotown or visit metropolisatmetrotown.com. To learn about special events at the shopping centre, see the Metropolis at Metrotown Events Calendar.

Other articles that might be of interest include the following: