By Foot Or By HSR Transit Shopping Advice
 

I don't know where all the shops are in this city and I doubt everyone else does too, but someone may know where a shop is that sells a certain something that no one knew existed.

The idea behind this thread is for you to post what you're looking for and if someone knows where it is, for them to say.

If the item can be bought somewhere that's not easy to get to via foot or HSR transit, then don't mention that place, as it's outside the realms of this discussion.

Thanks in advance!

OK, this thread was sparked for the following reasons:

1) I don't have a canadian credit card, so I can't shop online.
2) I don't have a car, so I can't just drive to Burlington or whereever to fetch something.
3) I'm within an easy walk of the downtown core, 20-30mins depending on footspeed. When I factor in waiting for buses and so on, a bus from where I am to the downtown is only moderately quicker.
4) If I can shop in the downtown, then that would be great, because I believe that if I spend my money locally it will help to stimulate the local economy even on the smallest scale.
5) I can get to Eastgate or Limeridge or Westdate, but sometimes the transit time is too much to make the trip worthwhile for that particular purchase.

Last week I had two examples of not knowing where else to look.

I needed a birthday card, I was pretty sure that there was a card shop in JS, but wasn't sure. I knew there was one at Eastgate, but that was too far to go for that. I also knew there was a shop on Locke Street that sold funky cards (The Mercantile I think), but again that was too much of a walk on that particular day. Luckily I knew that Mixed Media sold cards and found something ideal there and didn't need to head onwards to JS. However, there could easily have been other places for me to stop on my way there that I didn't know about.

I also needed to buy a small desk, 100cm x 50cm, nothing huge, just enough to put a computer on. Cheap was the primary focus. I thought something second hand would be ideal. Went to the few secondhand furniture stores I knew on Barton Street, nothing there small enough. Beyond that I didn't know where else to look. In the end we borrowed a car and went to Ikea and bought a cheap n nasty one.

My current shopping needs:

1) LED light bulbs. I loathe Compact Fluorescents. I don't like what they are made of or the light they give off. I don't like how they're deemed this eco saviour, yet few places seem capable of recycling them. Most of all, I hate how they buzz. Some don't, but most do even just a little and I can hear it and it drives me nuts. I used to have LED light bulbs in a few of my rooms back home replacing the normal 60w incandescent bulbs and some of my spots. I could buy some online, but I don't have a card. So does anyone know where I can find some LED light bulbs? I don't need spots, though knowing where to buy them would be useful, I need replacements for normal 60w incandescent bulbs.

2) A spindle of DVDRs. I used to be able to pick up a spindle of 100 for £17.99 (£32 by today's exchange) and that was a good deal back home. I didn't see spindles of 100 at The Source in JS (I may have suffered from temporary blindness). Where can I buy a spindle of DVDRs for a similar or better price?

LED light bulbs are still expensive and hard(er) to find. CFLs are becoming the 'gold standard' for bulbs at the moment, despite LEDs being superior.

Steel City Surplus on Dundurn should have your DVD's and possibly the light bulbs you're looking for.

I'm going to make a plug here for Jamesville Ceramics and Paints. I was looking for some plumbing stuff to fix my friend's bathtub and passed by this place on James North. I never knew but it's a complete hardware store with plumbing, electrical, tools and all. I was looking for a replacement cartridge but couldn't bring the old one and the guy knew which one I needed just from the broken off piece of the tap that I showed him. He also told me I could bring stuff back if it didn't fit. I was very impressed, and needless to say I will return for future hardware needs.

Also, if anyone is doing gardening these days, the variety store on James next to the fish market has vegetable seedlings for $1 a pot. I'm sure they cost more than that at the average place.

Deals
 

Birthday cards always the Dollar store.
DVDs Canadian Tire watch for sales same with Shoppers drugmart if not Summit Computer store Barton and kenilworth.
If you really want a steady deal on DVDs anyone going to Costco between $20 and $24 per hundred.

If anyone does know where to get LED light bulbs I'd be interested in knowing that as well. We were looking at getting some a while ago but were never able to successfully find them in stores. Buying them online is still quite pricey.

I've never been to Dundurn Street, so I'll have to give that a go. Home Depot sells the LED spots, just not the standard bulbs. You can get them on eBay for about $30-40. I think. Are there any stores in the city that specialise in lighting, i.e. fixtures and fittings? If so, they might have a supplier. I've seen a "Yorkshire Lighting" on Main/Wentworth which I intend to check out.

I've never bought Birthday cards from a discount store, the quality tends to be quite low. Christmas cards maybe, seeing as you have to give them out in volume.

You can get to Costco via Foot or HSR relatively easily?

What line of paints do they carry?

I can't think of anything better for cards downtown than Mixed Media. Write Impressions in Westdale is the only other good one that I know of, but not worth going that far out of your way.

Fixed it for you. :D

You should have picked up some CFL's while you were at Ikea. I generally loathe CFL's myself, but I don't mind Ikea's. They're warmer than the others I've found. For LED's, try Home Hardware (http://www.homehardware.ca/Products/...2333%2B126663). There's one at Barton and Gage.

It's not as good as Mixed Media, but drugstores (e.g. Shoppers, PharmaPlus) sometimes have a decent greeting card selection as well, or Fortinos. Better than dollar store anyhow.

They do have a good selection, not tons for Birthday's though. Mum and I went to this store on Locke S Spencer's Mercantile and that has a few rather funny cards in there which Mum stocked up on, seeing as she'd never seen similar in the UK. All along the lines of "I thought I'd send you this card to tell you how much I miss you...." opens card "but actually I don't, so I thought I'd send the card anyway".

I have passed that Home Hardware repeatedly, I haven't yet gone in, will do.

They have a nice line of cards at Write Impressions based on photos from the 50's and 60's that say things like "Give me back my Tupperware you pencil-browed bitch." But I guess it's more of a chic thing. :D

I like those cards, but they're pretty much everywhere in the UK, so depends on whether or not they images are different to the ones we have.

I went into Yorkshire Lighting. Met the owner, a fellow brit, who's been in Canada since the 60s, now a rather elderly gentleman. Alas the shop isn't very customer friendly, perhaps it caters to tradesmen more. It's certainly not set up for displaying the lighting fixtures, nor is it particularly clean or odour free. He did say that he could order me LED light bulbs and will contact me with a price. If he can get them at a decent price, I shall report back.

Home Hardware does indeed sell the bulbs online, but the price is a bit scary.

I think the Shop at AGH sells cards, though they're probably more in a highbrow art mode. White Elephant has some cards and stationary. Write Impressions' spot on James South was the best for all things gifty (and twice as good as the Westdale location, IMHO), but I guess the numbers weren't there. Sylvia Simpson may have some cards in her shop just east of Write Impressions Westdale, and just west of there, Chez Bon Bon has some cards, though maybe a little too "ladies who lunch" for your purposes. (Although they have C101.5 playing in there sometimes, which is unexpected.) Also outside of downtown, The Carnegie Gallery stocks loads of cards made by local artists. Sometimes prints, sometimes photographs, sometimes locally oriented imagery, sometimes abstract. Typically blank, but if you know the recipient you'll think of something.

Again, not downtown, but Interlight on Ottawa Street North have been pushing LED for years.

Where is the Carnegie Gallery? I thought that was in Dundas? As for the rest, I have to buy a card for Mum next, so I can look through "ladies who lunch" style cards for her, thanks for the suggestions.

Well within my foot/transit radius though and if they don't have what I'm looking for, I can pop into Home Hardware, as suggested by Highwater, on my walk back. I shall check out both today and report back on my findings.

IIRC, there's a computer store on Main roughly opposite the pawnbrokers that might be a good bet - I scored a nice long CAT5 cable there for about half of what the big chains (and the computer store a bit further east of this one) wanted. I'd bet he'll do a good deal on DVD-Rs, but suspect they'll be no-namo. Otherwise maybe try Staples/Office Depot if there's one nearby?

Which one?
:haha:

OK, Summit Computers, Kenilworth/Barton - 100 DVDRs $24.99+tax. Not bad, however they aren't on a spindle, so you need to have cases to put them in if you're not going to store them back in the spindle you bought them in.

Slip cases are $3.97+Tax for 50.

The Source, went to the one at Centre Mall are doing a sale on DVDs, 100 for $29.99 plus tax, this is $25 off. Decent brand too, Fujifilm. This also comes in a spindle.

If anyone can beat these prices, please let me know.

Went to Interlight and the guy in the store tried to tell me that LED light bulbs to replace standard incandescent bulbs didn't exist. Having had them in my house in London for the past year, I challenged that assertion and he backed down to say that they didn't exist yet in Canada. I challenged this again saying that places like Home Hardware sold them, to which his response was that the technology wasn't any good unless you were using directional spots or accent lighting (which is primarily what they sell). I didn't seem interested in ordering any bulbs for me or finding out their price so I gave up and left.

Home Hardware do stock the LED bulbs, albeit theirs look pretty darned plasticky. They are $49.99+tax. Alas none were in stock, but they are expected within a few weeks.

The search continues. Anyone else searching for things in this city?

Most of mine are culinary... :D

Good gelato and the cook-it-yourself-around-a-table Korean BBQ (don't think the second even exists here, heard a couple sources for the first but haven't been yet).

A really good latte at a place that's east of James (closer to home). Bread and Roses is OK, but really close to James and not exceptional. A lot of coffee shops don't seem to even do lattes here.

Tattoo artists (my Toronto-based one is gettin' married and moving to Winnipeg). I looked at Cottage 13 today and was impressed by 3 of the portfolios - higher-end, but reasonable rates given their artists' skills. I didn't ask if they have an autoclave/about their artists' bloodborne pathogen training but they seemed fairly on the ball. I have heard about a lot of sketchy artists to avoid in this city though.

I also need to find a couple Halloween costumes before July (random favour for someone else) and I have no idea where to find them in the off-season. They aren't specific, but I was thinking a gorilla mask and a Frankenstein mask to start.

I was there again today and found out they carry 'Selectone Quality Paints'. Couldn't look around much though, they were closing.

I did see a shop on Ottawa street that had the word Costumes in the sign, I wasn't looking for them, so didn't pay much attention, but I can remember seeing the word. It may have been rental stuff though, might be worth a google and/or a phone call.