Where to Buy Olympic Red Mittens?

Published March 9, 2010 at 7:00 am |

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I’m currently in Vancouver, Canada. Home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It turns out that the hotel I’m staying at is quite far from the city, making a trip to downtown unlikely. Nonetheless, I was able to find an adventure today of Olympic proportions…

When mom heard I was off to Vancouver, she made one request; “buy me a pair of Olympic Red Mittens”.

Now, if you were following the games closely, you may have heard of these Red Mittens, made by The Bay Company of Canada (Hudson’s Bay Company). They were the must-have souvenir of the games. A bargain at only $10.00 a pair, they were featured in print and on television. But it wasn’t until Oprah gave them away to her studio audience did they reach phenomenon status.

They quickly sold out and became nearly impossible to find. When I stepped onto the airplane in Toronto I was mentioning to my trip partner my quest to find a pair of these Olympic Red Mittens. The flight attendant overheard me and said, “try online. They are all sold out”. [NOTE: I just did a quick check and pairs on Ebay are going for more than 4 times the original price!]

Now growing up mom was always first in line to get those must-have Christmas gifts for my brother and I. I knew I had to find a pair, but the odds were stacked against me. This was my turn to give back to mom for all those years of waking up early and braving the Christmas Shopping Rush.

When I disembarked off the plane in Vancouver I went to the Olympic Store in the terminal. I asked the clerk and she gave me one of those, “are you seriously asking me if I have Olympic Red Mittens?” look. They were all sold out. It was not meant to be.

Later on in the terminal I came across an empty box from The Bay Company. That’s the photo at the top of the page. That box had Olympic Red Mittens in them. The question was, “where were they?”

Did I find them? Watch this YouTube video to find out.

Scroll down the page for the rest of the story – but watch the YouTube video first…

Can you believe it? I found a pair of Olympic Red Mittens!!! They were just sitting there on the rack. Dozens of people were walking right by them, clueless that these elusive gifts were right under their noses. Most passengers were so preoccupied with waiting for their bags at the baggage claim area that they didn’t think to browse the Official Olympic Kiosk right behind them. I didn’t check my bag, so while I was waiting for my colleague I had time to browse and score me some Olympic Red Mittens.

As I was buying them customers kept asking me where I found them. The only thing I could do was point to the now empty rack. All that was left were children’s mittens. I was the envy of everyone else in the airport. After my purchase, there were no more adult mittens left.

I may not see the Olympic Torch, the Olympic Stadium or even the City of Vancouver, but I’d consider this trip a success. The one thing that was on my “to do” list has been accomplished. Tomorrow – I’m off to Calgary.

Canadian Province Count: 3

Do you have any Olympic souvenirs on your bookshelf? What do you have on display from the games? What’s your favorite Olympic gift? Leave your comment below.