Otaru Shopping

MyCal has everything under one roof. The whole complex is 0.8km in length and there are four levels for shopping. Excellent place to escape to when snow covers the city and the weather is less than wonderful. The Hilton Hotel is in the centre.
My favourite part is on the ground floor in the centre of the complex, an area called Outlet Town. Here you can buy at factory prices. My favourite store here is Columbia and I buy something from here at least once a month. Prices are anything up to 70% below what you pay at the Columbia shop in Sapporo!
There is a department store at the western end of MyCal, called Posful, and the Eastern Wing there's Wing Bay Otaru, with a variety of stores, including a fantastic book shop (3rd floor, English books and mags), furniture, electronics, HMV and a variety of other kinds of shops. On the fourth floor in the centre is MyCal Warner Cinema complex, and a gym and swimming pools.
Back to ground floor, in the centre of the complex is Seattles Best Coffee - and they have staff here who speak English!
MyCal opened in late 1999 and has been through a number of reincarnations. It's now back to almost full operating capacity again.
You can catch a train or bus to MyCal (JPY200 from Otaru Station, get off at Otaru Chikko), or if you drive, there's over 5000 parks, most of them covered underground or on upper levels. Outdoor parking can be found at the far western (Posful) end. The first hour is free, and if you buy over Y1000 worth of stuff (accumulated or in one hit - even the post office counts!) you can get your parking ticket validated for a total of five hours free parking.