Lee Valley Tools

My mother is a farmer.
OK, that sounds super badass, buuuut I’m lying. She’s a retired editor and professor turned gardening nut. She slowly vamped her big backyard into a garden, then into her main food source and finally into an urban farm with its bounty available at a farmers’ market in Cobourg, ON.
What do you buy a farmer at Christmas? Farming things. Duh. After you buy the usual pair of earrings and funky reading glasses, the only thing left for this lady is gardening goods. We know she had her heart set on a seeder, so we popped into Lee Valley to get her a gift card. If I ever start gardening, or need some fancy hardwares for my house, I know I will be returning to this sleek outdoorsy mecca.

Amazing service, great attention to detail, super knowledgable staff, great return policies and an overall enjoyable customer experience. I trust their staff, their supplies and hope they are around forever.

Definitely a cool store to look around in. They have a million little things that you’ve either never seen before or never knew existed. Lots of gardening and kitchen gadgets. It’s sort of like and outdoor Consumers Distributing (If you’re not old enough to remember catalogue shopping, this comparison will be lost on you) and you will have to look up many of the items in a catalogue and then enlist the help pf an associate to get your item.
Go on a slower day in the winter and you’ll receive better service.

I love this place. They have a warehouse of most of their products in the back of the store so if you shop on line, you can check the store inventory, see if its there, pay online and pick it up the same day in the store if you chose.
They also have classes for people like me who didn’t take shop in school and have always regretted it. You actually leave the class with the completed item. Did I mention that I love this place? My family have been shopping there for over 25 years now and it is 100% Canadian owned and operated family business.
I see someone was disappointed in Lee Valley as a hardware store. They aren’t actually a hardware store but a tool store. They have an old fashioned take a number system for service (you can hear the numbers being called at the counter so it is unfortunate the person with the bad experience didn’t notice or hear them being called– that part is a little weird). They can help you figure out most projects from carving to dovetails to getting bulbs planted because they actually have people working there that know about these things. They have usually done the projects you’re working on and if they don’t know they ask their coworkers, who do, for help. If you don’t mind waiting your turn (you usually get served in under 3 minutes), you will get the most helpful and courteous service in the city, sometimes they even tell you that you don’t need the expensive thing you came in for but a simple small thing instead. They do sell very high quality, last a lifetime tools but there are entry level less expensive options too. Woodworking tools and supplies, kitchen hardware, cheapest prices anywhere for that, some cooking aids and everything you need for gardening except the dirt. Go on line to see

Okay, either you get Lee Valley or you don’t. Personally I love their quirky and helpful assortment of things and their warehouse style shopping (Did somebody say Consumer’s Distributing???).
I just popped in to mention that not only do they allow dogs, they welcome them! They have treats available for them and everything. My pooch thanks you, Lee Valley!

Sooooo, I popped into this place the other day looking for an outdoor safe extension cord. Simple enough, right?
Wandered around the store for about 15 minutes trying to find one to no avail. I did find a wood cutting board that I liked, and damn it I love a good cheese board.
I stood over by the cashier in what I thought was the queue with the cutting board and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Someone finally came up about 10 minutes later and asked if I had taken a number… whaaaaa? Apparently I walked right past this ticket contraption when I was in the garden section. I managed to squeeze in a question if they had extension cords or not before she scurried off, and no, they don’t carry extension cords.
Suffice to say I dropped off my cheese board and walked to grand and toy down the street to find an extension cord. Sadly, grand and toy does not carry wooden cutting boards.
I’m admittedly not a DIY person by any means, but I thought it was rather confusing how everything was laid out, and I couldn’t find someone on the floor to help me at about 4pm on a slow Saturday. A hardware store that doesn’t carry extension cords? Very strange.

Like walking through a tool and garden catalog.

How can you not love Lee Valley Tools?
They have all the stuff craftsman/​woman could ever want. If you need a specialized router bit or a coping saw or beam clamps or ANY piece of tooling for woodworking, this is the place to go for QUALITY (read:expensive but last a lifetime) tooling.
Somewhat but not so recently they have expanded into the gardening wares/​tools and have a growing array of nifty tools to edge, weed, trim, whack and water any sort of flora. If I could only afford a house with a yard I would no doubt buy all sorts of goodies/​tools/​stuff from this place.
They also have a small selection of kitchenwares which always draws me in. They have functional and competent stuff in this department. Stuff that will work for years to come. It’s not high-​end flashy stuff that you use to impress your gourmet-​snob friends at your dinner party that you catered anyway because you’re too lazy to cook. It’s functional and more often than not, they tell you where it’s made.
Tip: avoid during lunchtime or late in the afternoon since people pop in for lunch.
Also, order online and tell them when you want it for pickup! Then it’s ready and waiting for you to dash in, pay, and dash out.