Winners/HomeSense

Winners is one of those stores that people seem to love or hate. I however, have a love AND hate relationship with this place.
I love it because I always find a tonne of clothes, shoes, purses and accessories that I fall in love with and absolutely must have!
I hate it because after purchasing said clothes, shoes, purses or accessories, my wallet is painfully thin. I cannot walk into a Winners without purchasing something. I am a sucker for a deal! Many of my favourite items of clothing have been scavenged from one of the racks lining Winners’ aisles. The most comfy/​best fitting pair of jeans I own were a $ 12 score from the juniors sale rack.
I like to shop without being disturbed. Winners is perfect for this. You will never be approached by staff wanting to help you find the right size, style, or colour. This suits me just fine! If you need a bit more guidance, you may do better elsewhere.
Waiting in line is a shopping experience unto itself. There are lots of interesting items for you to browse as you wait to be called to a cashier. The lines may be long-​but they move quickly. Don’t be dissuaded!
All in all, Winners may not be for everybody, but it works for me!

What I love most about this store is the shopping experence while waiting to check out. I end up getting most of my shopping done that way.

You should always keep winners in mind when you’re looking for home décor options on a budget. They have everything from picture frames to bathroom accessories.

I love Winner’s, I do, I do, I do! They always have really neat things for all parts of the home and I highly appreciate that they have such a large selection of cruelty free beauty products, as well as, some pretty cool vegan food items. Prices are good for the most part. One of my favourite places to shop.

I rarely go in here, even less so for clothes. If I go to the Home Sense side looking for something specific, forget about finding it. Things are not always grouped together with like items. If they are, I’m not always sure how they do categorize things.
How this store works best for me is that I will go through once in awhile and browse every aisle, occasionally I will see something that I have had in the back of my mind to purchase if I see it for a good price. Not always do I find it for a good price.
Pretty good selection of home décor and kitchen items. Otherwise I’d likely never go in here, sometimes I wonder why I do.

Yeah … no.
I wandered into this store looking for a coat. They had, like, two. Hidden way in the back of the store.
I have never seen so many awful-​looking clothes in one spot. I know people who love this place, but I fail to see why. There were very few items that were work-​acceptable (not see-​through, not leggings, not skinny jeans, not «lounge wear») and certainly nothing I would spend actual money on. Also, where are all these wonderful deals? Every tag I checked was what I would expect to pay for gaudy seconds.
However, I do like HomeSense. Not enough to actually buy something there, but I like looking at their selection of cushions and doo-​dads for the home.
There is a dearth of sales clerks on the floor, but that is par for the course in most big-​box stores. At least this location is attached to a mall so I could just wander back on out and continue shopping.

Once I get into the HomeSense side of this Winners, I definitely do have some fandom for the spot. It’s packed to the brim with all kinds of home goodies that tend to be better brand names and better deals than you’ll find on the clothing side of things. Of course, it does take some time to scour and plenty of repeat visits especially if you’re looking for something quite specific, but since I live nearby, that’s no issue!
Gorgeous outdoor pieces greet you on the left-​hand side as you walk in, with an obnoxious amount of kitchen items and dishware to the right. I don’t usually mess around with this stuff since it’s all a little overwhelming, but it’s a great option if you need to stock up on new place settings on the cheap. Plenty of clean, white dishes of all shapes and sizes plus the occasional crazy cat lady design.
A little further toward the cash, you’ll find cardboard boxes stuffed with art pieces. It’s nice stuff but since it’s sold at Winners I’m always nervous you’ll just see it at every apartment in town by the end of the month. It’s not a very good system for browsing through either as you flip through giant canvases as if they were very large books on a shelf, but hey… sometimes you can luck out.
The furniture selection is small and definitely hit-​or-​miss but we’ve found a chair or two with some perseverance. Pricing is anyone’s guess on the larger pieces. Some are surprisingly cheap, others will make you wonder what the original price must have been if *this* is the reduced version.
What you’ll really want to focus on though are the lamps, the rugs, the pillows, and random accent pieces. This is where you’ll find some gems for very little dough and be able to know that they’re not quite as mass-​produced as Bouclair’s selection. Mix and match to your heart’s content!

I actually don’t like Winners.
No, that’s not a joke. I don’t.
Whenever I’m gone to look for clothes I’ve found everything to be over-​priced and without great selection. Shoes? Even worse.
So how does this place warrant a 3-​star rating? HomeSense. It’s not a perfect store. If you’re looking for something specific, it can be a bit of a scavenger hunt. But I take the approach that the thrill is in the hunt!
There are lots of great items to be found for your home if you’re willing to invest the time. Example: a set of very nice shower hooks that everywhere else I looked were $ 20+ were less than $ 10 here.
Whether you’re looking for practical or pretty or a magical combination of both, HomeSense has options and at reasonable prices.

I love Winners for many reasons. It has a cornucopia of goods, they change stock frequently, and they have great prices.
This Winners is a pretty good Winners considering it does everything. Housewares, kitchen stuff, clothing, shoes, pet stuff, and clothing. I’ve found that compared to the Halifax Shopping Annex Winners the clothing and shoe selection isn’t as great. The location is one of this store’s best features. It’s a great place to wander in and find something you weren’t expecting.
A word of warning. The ladies change room continuously smells like barf. The air conditioning the store is also less than optimal on super hot days.

Where are the deals for men?
I have been to Winners quite a few times with my girl friends when they wanted to stop by and pick up a really great deal. For women, this place is a no-​brainer. But for men, its easier just to avoid. They have plenty of name-​brand clothes, but: A. I am not a name-​brand kind of guy. I love fashion but I don’t care who made it. and B. All the name-​brands they sell for men aren’t that cheap. I have been able to find the exact same clothes for cheaper prices at Walmart and even at better store such as RW&Co.
All that being said, they do have some fun, cheap gadgets and plenty of items for good prices to decorate your home with. I like those areas but I tend to always be in this store longer than I want to since the women’s section has so many great deals and I am done with the nick nacks and gadgets in five minutes.
The staff at this Winners and other Winners are consistently good. Sometimes you meet a teenage staff member who doesn’t do much work but most of the time you meet some really nice people who are ready to help you out.
So for men, if you are going to Winners, just head to the gadgets and keep yourself busy. For women, you have found a really good store and stop asking your boyfriends, husbands or just male friends to come along. lol.

This particular Winners is different from most in that it’s a Winners and Home Sense store all in one. In addition to the clothes and gift-​ware traditionally sold at Winners, this store also sells furniture, rugs, wall-​art, lamps and more. I particularly enjoy shopping there for cushions as they offer a wide and unique selection, including the extra-​large over stuffed cushions (averaging around $ 20 each).

Winners is the type of store where bargain hunters love to shop for great deals on clothing and footwear. For visiting USA shoppers, Winners is very similar to shopping at Marshall’s, TJ Maxx, and Filene’s Basement, where you know you can find something decent like last year’s styles and items at a good price, but you need to have some patience and know where to look, that is the challenge here.
This Winners store is paired up with Home Sense, similar to Home Goods (in the USA) which sells discounted housewares and kitchen items. There’s plenty of women’s apparel, dresses, shoes, swimwear, plus size clothing, handbags, jewellery, and children’s clothing here and a decent selection of menswear. For myself, I managed to find some good dress shirt/​tie combos, pleated pants, and buttoned down long sleeve shirts at around $ 20-​$ 30 each, not bad.