Canadians, where do you shop for presents?
November 26, 2019 7:10 PM Subscribe
Usually at Christmas, I just ship a bunch of stuff home to my family from Amazon and then wrap it up when I get there. This year, I'd like to step away from Amazon, but I need alternatives for places where I can find a good variety of toys (particularly) and housewares and other gifty type things that ship FROM WITHIN Canada.
Stores that ship TO Canada from somewhere else aren't sufficient. I don't want ship-to-store, I don't want anything shipping from out-of-country, and I definitely don't want there to be any chance my family will have to pay charges to collect the packages. Ideally, I would like shipping to be inexpensive or included in the price, but I can make those calls when I see the charges.
I also don't like WalMart, not that I would expect MeFites to suggest WalMart anyway.
Stores that ship TO Canada from somewhere else aren't sufficient. I don't want ship-to-store, I don't want anything shipping from out-of-country, and I definitely don't want there to be any chance my family will have to pay charges to collect the packages. Ideally, I would like shipping to be inexpensive or included in the price, but I can make those calls when I see the charges.
I also don't like WalMart, not that I would expect MeFites to suggest WalMart anyway.
For toys, I’d highly recommend Mastermind - you might find some adult-ish presents there as well.
posted by scrute at 7:19 PM on November 26, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by scrute at 7:19 PM on November 26, 2019 [6 favorites]
Best Buy and Costco both ship to Canada but no idea if they ship from Canada. Best Buy is actually sometimes shipping faster and price competitive compared to Amazon, and if you click “sold by best buy“ (as they also do third party sellers) it’s pretty much guaranteed you won’t be getting fakes or knockoffs. In general the bigger stores (and yes, Walmart included) with a large Canadian presence ship pretty hassle free. For toys, we also still have Toys R Us here although no personal experience this decade.
posted by cgg at 7:29 PM on November 26, 2019
posted by cgg at 7:29 PM on November 26, 2019
There's The Bay and there's Simons, which has somewhat trendier housewares. Also maybe check out well.ca, which ships from Guelph, Ontario, and Lee Valley, which tends to have interesting kitchenwares and gifty things.
posted by zadcat at 7:42 PM on November 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by zadcat at 7:42 PM on November 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
Lee Valley has some kids toys and so many grownup toys. Oh, so many.
posted by clew at 7:55 PM on November 26, 2019 [11 favorites]
posted by clew at 7:55 PM on November 26, 2019 [11 favorites]
Came in to say mastermind. A Canadian company and the selection is SO GOOD!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:12 PM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:12 PM on November 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Have you tried Etsy? You can limit your search to Canadian sellers only. I guess there could be some concern about from where they source their materials/inventory.
posted by defreckled at 8:23 PM on November 26, 2019
posted by defreckled at 8:23 PM on November 26, 2019
Curated gift list with a specifically Canadian focus.
No toys to speak of, but housewares definitely.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 8:56 PM on November 26, 2019
No toys to speak of, but housewares definitely.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 8:56 PM on November 26, 2019
Well.ca has FANTASTIC customer service, a very permissive return policy, and does home shipping (and also has cheap shipping to many Rexall locations).
posted by pseudostrabismus at 10:47 PM on November 26, 2019
posted by pseudostrabismus at 10:47 PM on November 26, 2019
London Drugs ships from within Canada. They have same-day shipping of large unwieldy objects in Vancouver, at least.
posted by lookoutbelow at 2:04 AM on November 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by lookoutbelow at 2:04 AM on November 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Seconding London Drugs! Excellent chocolate and food gifts.
posted by jennstra at 5:28 AM on November 27, 2019
posted by jennstra at 5:28 AM on November 27, 2019
I came in to say Mastermind, which is an awesome company, and Lee Valley. For more specialty items:
Lush
For fast fashion, problematic but faster than others to have compensated the factory workers when that building collapsed: Joe Fresh
Bakka Phoenix books ships across Canada, might be some hassle but I love 'em
MEC ships and it's free on orders over $50
Canadian Tire offers home delivery as well as pick up in store.
Purdys ships.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:32 AM on November 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Lush
For fast fashion, problematic but faster than others to have compensated the factory workers when that building collapsed: Joe Fresh
Bakka Phoenix books ships across Canada, might be some hassle but I love 'em
MEC ships and it's free on orders over $50
Canadian Tire offers home delivery as well as pick up in store.
Purdys ships.
posted by warriorqueen at 5:32 AM on November 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, thanks for asking this question, you've inspired me to try a little harder. :)
posted by warriorqueen at 5:33 AM on November 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by warriorqueen at 5:33 AM on November 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
I like Modern Rascals for kids' clothes. They also stock toys, which are too young/too expensive for the kids I'm usually shopping for.
posted by dotparker at 8:10 AM on November 27, 2019
posted by dotparker at 8:10 AM on November 27, 2019
Bestbuy has a Canadian website, shipping from and to Canada. I have only done delivery for large items (e.g. appliances) because I work two blocks from a Best Buy, but they seem to have a large range of items in the online store.
posted by jb at 2:30 PM on November 27, 2019
posted by jb at 2:30 PM on November 27, 2019
Mastermind ships toys from Canada.
Canadian Tire has everything.
Bestbuy mentioned above sells things on its web site that you would never think of as bestbuy things (e.g. a completely non-electronic play kitchen for toddlers).
ToysRUs ships from within Canada.
Indigo sells more toys than you would think, especially online.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:32 PM on November 27, 2019
Canadian Tire has everything.
Bestbuy mentioned above sells things on its web site that you would never think of as bestbuy things (e.g. a completely non-electronic play kitchen for toddlers).
ToysRUs ships from within Canada.
Indigo sells more toys than you would think, especially online.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:32 PM on November 27, 2019
Response by poster: I ended up buying the niece's and nephew's presents on BestBuy.ca which carries a fairly surprising assortment of LEGO and also a bunch of more tech-oriented kids toys.
I'm not sure yet where anyone else's presents will come from, though I'll add my own recommendation for BoardGames.ca, which I have used in the past, and which offered really great customer service and truly astonishing selection. It's not the cheapest source of BoardGames, but it is pretty awesome.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:05 AM on November 28, 2019
I'm not sure yet where anyone else's presents will come from, though I'll add my own recommendation for BoardGames.ca, which I have used in the past, and which offered really great customer service and truly astonishing selection. It's not the cheapest source of BoardGames, but it is pretty awesome.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:05 AM on November 28, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by AV at 7:17 PM on November 26, 2019 [2 favorites]