Nothing says you’re special better than a forever piece of golden jewelry. Your love will appreciate your money savvy if you know where to go – head for a jewelry wholesaler.

You can pay full price for gold jewelry in full-price retail stores downtown or you can go up to Bijouterie Oro, a wholesaler, and save half your money. Since 1987, this 3rd generation jeweler has been selling wholesale, and is open up to the public. Lucky us.

There is lots of golden stock to choose amongst, more than you would see in your small local jewelry store. You could go nutsy over the vast assortment of gold hoop earrings – they sell them by weight. You can select amongst the 100’s of chains; they are strong in 2-tone and 3-colors of gold from Italy or Turkey. There’s 14-carat Italian chain bracelets too, and lots of little religious pendants.

If you want to buy illusion diamond studs, they have those too. These earrings give the illusion of a whole stone, but are made up of little ones – for a much littler price.

If you have an older diamond (or any other precious stone) ring and you’d like to change it into something more modern, they can show you trays and trays of semi-mounts (that’s what your stone sits in), so you can see exactly what the ring will look like – it can even be tried on. You can take jewelry which has been just sitting in a jewelry box and have it re-modeled.

Bijouterie Oro still does local manufacturing, so they can reproduce a piece of jewelry from a photo. And they can repair your broken jewelry too.

If you decide to have something made from scratch, it would take only two weeks from the time you walk in the door until you happily present it to your Valentine.

Location: 1255 Phillips Square, Suite 1010
Tel: 514-393-1721 or 514-575-7511
Hours: by appointment only, Mon-Fri 9-4:30
orojewelleryinc@gmail.com
www.smartshoppingmontreal.com/store.php?s=280

Expresco specializes in creating top quality, easy to cook skewers and also sell a variety of frozen cooked foods. Shopping at a food wholesale outlet means you get great pricing.

Open since 1987, Expresco Foods is the leading manufacturer of meat-on-a-stick and their state-of-the-art facility ensures the strictest health standards are enforced.

This is the place to stock up when you are having a crowd for dinner, or just want an easy meal at the end of a long day or might be having last minute guests. They can sell to you at wholesale prices for large quantities.

This week, take your choice of their specials: 6kg of grilled chicken wings (160-180 wings), and while you are there, don’t forget the honey sriracha chicken skewers (50 brochettes) or the chicken jerk satays (70-80).

Think of Expresco food outlet, when you have no enthusiasm for cooking but want something quick and yummy.

Payment Methods: Visa, Mastercard, Debit

Location: 8205 Transcanadienne, VSL H4S 1S4 / Google Map: http://bit.ly/29rG4Ex
corner: Poirier
Tel: 514-344-9499 x 270
Date: Feb 8 – 11
Time: Wed – Fri 10-6, Sat 9-3
www.exprescofoods.com
outlet@exprescofoods.com

Goldtex has always been a superb outlet for kid’s clothing and equipment. It’s even easier to shop at Goldtex now that they have easy to use e-commerce site. Look at the flyer below to see some of the totally cool children’s accessories they now carry. They are one of the first to carry the grab-and-go booster which started out as a kickstarter idea. No more shlepping bulky booster seats for cars, cabs or planes; Just slip this slim seat in your bag.

At the store, hidden amongst factories, there’s clothing, dancewear, fancy party dresses,  suits, tuxedos, outfits for communion, confirmation and baptism as well as colorcode uniforms for school.

Baby accessories are by Safety First, Nuby, Graco, Avent, Dr. Brown and Medela and cribs and strollers by Graco, Baby Jogger, Quinny, Peg Perego & Lil’ Angels.

Location: 8875 Salley, LaSalle Click for map 
corner: Dollard
Tel: 514-365-9699
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-5, Thurs & Fri 10-6, Sat 9-5

www.goldtex.ca

It is really hard to take the boring authenticity-proving side of the modern art world and make it into a delightful audience loving (2 standing ovations on opening night) theatre piece.

Stephen Sachs, the playwright, took on the true story of Terry Horton, a former truck driver who scavenged a painting for $5 at a second-hand shop as a gift for a friend who needed cheering up. Maude Gutman, as she is called in this play, is a lover of kitsch – her trailer is overwhelmed by it (A congratulatory shout out here for the jam-packed shelves created by set and costume designer Pam Johnson, who really needed my Smart Shopping Montreal book to find all that stuff!). At a yard sale, the local art teacher noticed the painting and mentioned it might be a Jackson Pollock; and so begins the tale. Somehow Gutman managed to get a major art house in NYC to send an expert over to check out her claim.

And therein lies this sparring pied-a-deux. A foul-mouthed bourbon drinking trailer park madam vs. the snooty elitist artsy gentleman. Human authenticity versus art authenticity is set to be proven. Nicola Cavendish walks the walk and talks the talk. Her sneaker grounded stalking moves her around the trailer while her expert verbal comedic timing keeps the pace going. She even manages to give the garbage pail “a line”.

Jonathan Monro (Lionel Percy), himself a renaissance man (competitive swimmer, piano prodigy, singer, director, lyricist, actor), glides around her, expertly dodging her verbal and physical attacks. My take-away forever (as a former NYC art teacher) is the exuberant and sexually suggestive way in which Monro teaches us the how and why a Jackson Pollock painting is important – and not just a bunch of paint splashes on a canvas.

Though Percy always trusts his “first blink”, it is Nicola Cavendish who summed it up brilliantly when she observed Pollock’s paintings, “You can see that what emerges is layers and layers and layers. I think it’s a lesson on how we can learn to look more closely, whether we are talking about a piece of art or whether we’re talking about the woman who lives across the street who’s offensive.” Modern art is beyond the understanding of the ordinary citizen, and this play opens the door a crack as to what it is all about, how it works and doesn’t work. The show makes it all fun and drives Maude’s trailer expertly to the end to find out if she goes from rags to riches.

Location: 453 St-Francois Xavier
corner: Notre-Dame
Tel: 514-288-3161
Dates: Jan 31-Feb 26, 2017
Prices $28- $51
www.centaurtheatre.com
Metro: Place d’Armes

C&M keeps expanding its repertoire for the home decor market. Now you can buy trendy wallpaper to zuzz up your walls right here. It’s easy then to co-ordinate your look with their blinds and fabrics.

This is the go-to place for the popular motorized blinds. You can peruse the wall display of options. Did you know that you can now even control those blinds from your cellphone or iPad? Sales at 50% off custom blinds and 30% off home decor and fashion fabrics are popular here.

Browse through the section on ready-to hang curtain panels or if you want to order some special fabric, get comfy at the tables, and peruse the many fabric books: Robert Allen, Maxwell, Joanne, Avante Garde, J. Ennis and more. Look for the creative sample table set up like a bed of pillows.

– Whether you are searching for fabric for fashion or home decor, C&M offers it all here and in vast inventories.- This is a one-stop-shop where you can buy/make/install with the help of their expert staff and design consultants.