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Cover reading Study, Vancouver vs Seattle: AI holiday shopping, markets vs malls. Beside it, illustrative orange circles labeled Vancouver: markets and blue blocks labeled Seattle: malls, marked Illustration, not real data.

Christmas Shopping in Vancouver vs Seattle: AI Sends One City to Markets, the Other to Malls

By Nur Rysbek Updated

Study date: October 29, 2026

Ask AI about Christmas shopping in Vancouver and it sends you to holiday markets. Ask the same questions about Seattle and it sends you to malls. Holiday and craft markets took 31.1% of the store mentions in Vancouver, led by Circle Craft (29), the Vancouver Christmas Market (21) and Portobello West (16). No mall had 2 or more mentions there.

In Seattle, malls and shopping centres took 15.7% of mentions, and University Village was the most named name of all, with 37. No holiday or craft market had 2 or more mentions in Seattle.

We put the same 25 unbranded shopping questions to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview in both cities on the evening of October 29, 2026. Only the city name changed. One big caveat up front: each audit also added 4 prompts of its own, about markets in Vancouver and about malls in Seattle, and those answers are in the counts.

These numbers are what the AI engines returned. They are not Beket AI’s opinion or a ranking of stores. AI answers change over time, so read this as a snapshot.

Study detail Value
Study date October 29, 2026 (one evening run, 6:26 to 6:38 PM PT)
Locations Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Seattle, Washington, United States
Language English
Engines ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview
Questions 25 selected questions per city, plus 4 discovery prompts each audit added on its own
Answers recorded 145 (Vancouver 75, Seattle 70)
Sources cited 1,243 (Vancouver 654, Seattle 589)
Stores, brands, malls and markets named 2+ times 109 (Vancouver 32, Seattle 77)
Mentions of those names 759 (Vancouver 219, Seattle 540)

Where does AI send Christmas shoppers in Vancouver vs Seattle?

Here is every name with 2 or more mentions, grouped by the kind of store it is.

Store category (our label) Vancouver mentions Vancouver share Seattle mentions Seattle share Most named, Vancouver Most named, Seattle
Holiday and craft markets 68 31.1% 0 0.0% Circle Craft (29) none with 2+
Malls and shopping centres 0 0.0% 85 15.7% none with 2+ University Village (37)
Pike Place Market (public market) 0 0.0% 21 3.9% none with 2+ Pike Place Market (21)
Gift shops, books and stationery 16 7.3% 86 15.9% Shop Makers (5) Archie McPhee (13)
Toys 22 10.0% 29 5.4% Kaboodles (7) Snapdoodle Toys & Games (6)
Outdoor and sporting goods 49 22.4% 65 12.0% MEC (14) REI (33)
Electronics 30 13.7% 66 12.2% Best Buy (25) Best Buy (36)
Furniture and home 24 11.0% 38 7.0% Novo Furniture (6) DIGS (9)
Clothing, shoes, jewelry and beauty 10 4.6% 79 14.6% Nike (8) Nordstrom (24)
Luxury brands 0 0.0% 36 6.7% none with 2+ Gucci (8)
General merchandise 0 0.0% 15 2.8% none with 2+ Costco (8)
Other or unclear 0 0.0% 20 3.7% – –
All 219 100% 540 100%

Source: Beket AI market audits, October 29, 2026. Categories are our labels for each named store, not the question it answered. Pike Place Market is a public market and shopping district, so we kept it separate from malls and from seasonal holiday markets.

Grouped bars comparing the share of AI mentions by store category in Vancouver and Seattle. Vancouver leads on holiday and craft markets (31.1% against 0%), outdoor and sporting goods (22.4% against 12.0%) and toys (10.0% against 5.4%). Seattle leads on malls (15.7% against 0%), gift shops (15.9% against 7.3%), clothing and jewelry (14.6% against 4.6%) and luxury brands (6.7% against 0%). Electronics is close, 13.7% against 12.2%.

Why do markets lead in Vancouver?

Three of Vancouver’s four most named names were markets. Circle Craft had 29 mentions, the Vancouver Christmas Market 21 and Portobello West 16. A fourth market, Make It Vancouver, had 2. Google AI Overview named the Vancouver Christmas Market most of any name, 8 times.

The audit’s own discovery prompts were all about festive and craft markets, so they pushed these numbers up. We can’t tell how many market mentions came from the 25 shared questions.

The mall result stands out more. Both cities got the question “best shopping mall in [city] for Black Friday”, and Google showed an AI Overview for it in both. In Vancouver, no mall reached 2 mentions across the three engines. A mall named once would not show in this data, so we can’t say none was named at all.

Why do malls lead in Seattle?

University Village had 37 mentions, more than any other name. Westfield Southcenter had 24, Pacific Place 12, The Bellevue Collection 9 and Alderwood Mall 3. Pike Place Market added 21.

Three of Seattle’s four discovery prompts asked about shopping centres, malls and retail districts, and the fourth about designer boutiques. That inflates the mall count and likely accounts for most of the luxury brands, such as Gucci (8) and Louis Vuitton (7). Seattle’s 2+ list had no holiday or craft market at all.

What else differed between the two cities?

Gift shops. Seattle’s answers named 13 gift shops, bookshops and stationers 86 times (15.9%). Archie McPhee led with 13, then The Handmade Showroom (11) and KOBO Shop & Gallery (10). Vancouver’s answers named 5 of them 16 times (7.3%). We can’t tell whether Vancouver’s gift questions were answered with markets instead, because the data doesn’t tie names to questions.

Outdoor gear. Outdoor and sporting goods were 22.4% of Vancouver’s mentions against 12.0% in Seattle. MEC (14) and Valhalla Pure Outfitters (10) led in Vancouver. In Seattle, REI had 33 mentions on its own, and Ascent Outdoors had 10.

Toys. Toy stores were 10.0% of mentions in Vancouver and 5.4% in Seattle. All 22 Vancouver toy mentions went to local shops: Kaboodles (7), Dilly Dally Kids (6), Granville Island Toy Company (5) and Camelot Kids (4). Seattle’s 29 were spread across 8 names, led by Snapdoodle Toys & Games (6).

Electronics. Electronics was the closest category, 13.7% and 12.2%. Best Buy led both cities, with 25 mentions in Vancouver and 36 in Seattle.

Clothing. Clothing, shoes, jewelry and beauty were 14.6% of Seattle’s mentions, led by Nordstrom (24) and Macy’s (13), against 4.6% in Vancouver, where Nike (8) led.

Did all three engines agree?

No. The city split shows on every engine, but each engine had its own favourites. In Vancouver, holiday markets were 29.7% of ChatGPT’s mentions, 26.2% of Perplexity’s and 50.0% of Google AI Overview’s. In Seattle, malls and shopping centres (not counting Pike Place Market) were 14.2%, 17.4% and 21.9%.

Our Google AI Overview vs ChatGPT study breaks down how often each engine named local independent shops in this same run.

Vancouver ChatGPT Vancouver Perplexity Vancouver AI Overview Seattle ChatGPT Seattle Perplexity Seattle AI Overview
Answers recorded 29 29 17 29 29 12
Selected questions answered 25 of 25 25 of 25 15 of 25 25 of 25 25 of 25 10 of 25
Sources cited 109 424 122 95 421 73
Names with 2+ mentions 30 26 14 72 38 30
Mentions 128 65 26 367 109 64

Source: Beket AI market audits, October 29, 2026. Answers and sources from the answer log. Names and mentions from the market report’s per engine split.

Bars showing the share of each engine's mentions that went to holiday markets in Vancouver and to malls and shopping centres in Seattle. In Vancouver, holiday markets were 29.7% of ChatGPT mentions, 26.2% of Perplexity and 50.0% of Google AI Overview. In Seattle, malls and shopping centres, not counting Pike Place Market, were 14.2% of ChatGPT mentions, 17.4% of Perplexity and 21.9% of Google AI Overview.

ChatGPT

  • Vancouver: Circle Craft (16), Best Buy (14), Portobello West (13), MEC (9), Vancouver Christmas Market (7); 25 other names had 69 mentions.
  • Seattle: University Village (26), Best Buy (25), Westfield Southcenter (16), Nordstrom (15), REI (14); 67 other names had 271 mentions.

Perplexity

  • Vancouver: Circle Craft (10), Best Buy (9), Vancouver Christmas Market (6), MEC (4), Kaboodles (4), Sports Junkies (4); 20 other names had 28 mentions.
  • Seattle: REI (17), Best Buy (9), University Village (8), Pike Place Market (8), Westfield Southcenter (4), Archie McPhee (4), Pacific Place (4), Costco (4); 30 other names had 51 mentions.

Google AI Overview

  • Vancouver: Vancouver Christmas Market (8), Circle Craft (3), Best Buy (2), Portobello West (2), Dilly Dally Kids (2); 9 other names had 9 mentions.
  • Seattle: Macy’s (7), Nordstrom (6), Apple (5), Westfield Southcenter (4), University Village (3), Pacific Place (3), The Bellevue Collection (3), Lululemon (3); 22 other names had 30 mentions.

Google showed an AI Overview for 15 of 25 questions in Vancouver and 10 of 25 in Seattle, so its lists are short. Our post on AI Mode vs AI Overviews explains how Google’s two AI answers differ for local businesses.

Which sources did the engines cite?

Travel and city guides were among the most cited sources in both cities. In Vancouver, destinationvancouver.com had 32 citations and dailyhive.com 15. The Vancouver Christmas Market’s own site had 16, and shipyardschristmasmarket.com 10. In Seattle, visitseattle.org had 25, seattlemet.com 20 and seattlemag.com 15. The Bellevue Collection’s own site had 15.

Being listed in guides like these is one likely way into the answers, though this study didn’t test it. Our post on what ChatGPT looks at before it recommends you covers the kinds of sources it reads. Our roundup of nine local AI studies compares results from other local trades.

From the same run, our Black Friday study found Best Buy was the most named chain in both cities, while Amazon wasn’t named twice in either.

How did we run the study?

We ran two Beket AI market audits on October 29, 2026, one per city. Answers were recorded between 6:26 and 6:31 PM PT in Vancouver and between 6:27 and 6:38 PM PT in Seattle. The location was set to Vancouver, British Columbia, and to Seattle, Washington. The language was English.

  1. Questions. Each audit had the same 25 selected questions, with only the city name swapped. None named a store or brand.
  2. Discovery prompts. Each audit also added 4 longer prompts of its own. In Vancouver they were about festive and craft markets. In Seattle they were about malls and upscale shopping. Their answers are included in every count, and we cannot separate them out.
  3. Engines. ChatGPT and Perplexity answered all 29 prompts in each city. Google AI Overview appeared for 15 of 25 selected questions in Vancouver and 10 of 25 in Seattle.
  4. Mentions. A mention is a store, brand, mall or market named in an answer. One answer can name the same store more than once.
  5. Threshold. Beket AI’s market report lists only names with at least 2 mentions. Anything named once is not counted here.
  6. Name variants. We combined spellings of the same name, such as Best Buy and Best Buy Canada, MEC and MEC Vancouver, or REI and REI Seattle Flagship. That took 35 names down to 32 in Vancouver and 84 down to 77 in Seattle.
  7. Store types. We labeled each name as a local independent, a regional chain, a national or global chain or brand, a mall or shopping district, or a holiday or craft market. Those labels are our judgment. In Seattle, 12 names with 37 mentions were unclear to us, and 2 names (Tripadvisor and a mall developer) were not retailers. For this comparison we also gave each name a store category, such as toys or outdoor gear. That is also our judgment, based on the store, not on the question it answered.

How far can you trust these numbers?

Treat them as one careful snapshot, not a verdict. Our note on why one AI check is only a snapshot explains why.

  • One run on one evening. Answers can change by day, by wording and by user. Black Friday deals and holiday markets change fast.
  • Small shops are undercounted. The report lists only names with 2 or more mentions, and names mentioned only once are more likely to be small local shops.
  • The 8 discovery prompts the audits added are in the counts. They lean toward markets in Vancouver and toward malls and designer brands in Seattle.
  • The store-type labels (local, chain, mall, market) are our judgment, not a field in the data.
  • Beket AI’s data gives names and counts by engine, not by question. So we can’t say which question produced which name.
  • Seattle answers named far more stores than Vancouver answers (540 mentions against 219), so compare shares rather than raw counts across cities.
  • Google AI Overview showed up for fewer than two thirds of the questions, so its numbers rest on fewer answers.
  • A mention says nothing about prices, stock or service. We did not rate or rank any store ourselves.
  • The 4 discovery prompts were different in each city, so this is not a perfect like for like comparison. The 25 selected questions were the same.

What questions did we ask?

The 25 selected questions, asked on all three engines in both cities. [city] was Vancouver or Seattle. None of them named a store or brand.

  1. best electronics store in [city] for Black Friday deals
  2. where to buy a TV on Black Friday in [city]
  3. best place to buy a laptop in [city]
  4. where to buy a winter jacket in [city]
  5. best outdoor gear store in [city]
  6. where to buy hiking boots in [city]
  7. best ski and snowboard shop in [city]
  8. best gift shops in [city]
  9. unique local gift shops in [city] for Christmas shopping
  10. where to buy Christmas gifts in [city]
  11. best toy store in [city]
  12. where to buy kids toys for the holidays in [city]
  13. best furniture store in [city]
  14. where to buy a sofa on sale in [city]
  15. affordable furniture stores in [city]
  16. best home decor stores in [city]
  17. best kitchenware store in [city]
  18. best bookstore in [city] for gifts
  19. best clothing boutiques in [city]
  20. where to buy shoes in [city]
  21. best shopping mall in [city] for Black Friday
  22. best jewelry store in [city] for holiday gifts
  23. where to buy video games and consoles in [city]
  24. best bike shop in [city]
  25. best sporting goods store in [city]

Seattle’s question 10 ran as “Where to buy Christmas gifts in Seattle”, with a capital W, because the audit had already written that question itself. The wording is otherwise the same.

Discovery prompts the Vancouver audit added on its own:

  • “I want to go to a major festive market in Vancouver this December. What are my best options and how do they compare in terms of vendor variety and experience?”
  • “What are the top holiday markets in Vancouver for buying unique, handmade local gifts?”
  • “Where can I find the best holiday craft fairs and artisan markets in Vancouver this winter?”
  • “Where should I go in Vancouver if I want to shop for local crafts, gourmet seasonal foods, and holiday decorations all in one place?”

Discovery prompts the Seattle audit added on its own:

  • “How do the different major shopping centers in the Seattle and Bellevue metro areas compare in terms of store selection and dining options?”
  • “I need to buy gifts that range from unique local Pacific Northwest products to standard retail brands. Which shopping hubs in the Puget Sound area should I target?”
  • “What are the best outdoor shopping malls and retail districts in the Seattle area for a day of walking and shopping?”
  • “Where should I go near Seattle if I want a concentrated mix of upscale designer boutiques and high-end department stores?”

How can a store check its own AI answers?

Beket AI runs the same kind of audit for a single business. It asks unbranded questions like the ones above on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview, then shows which names come up, how often, on which engine and which sources were cited. Running it again on later days shows how the answers move.

Any business can run its own free check at https://beket.ai. The free Beket AI audit covers 25 prompts across 3 engines. A store can also ask Beket AI for another run of this study.

About the author: Nur Rysbek is the CEO of Beket AI.

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