As one of the regular canucks on this site I have some enthusiasm that Lowes has just opened up three stores in Ontario. Do they deserve my enthusiasm or are they just another borg?
Have a good day, eh!
Cliffy
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Join some of the most experienced and recognized building professionals for two days of presentations, panel discussions, networking, and more.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
- Home Group
- Antique Trader
- Arts & Crafts Homes
- Bank Note Reporter
- Cabin Life
- Cuisine at Home
- Fine Gardening
- Fine Woodworking
- Green Building Advisor
- Garden Gate
- Horticulture
- Keep Craft Alive
- Log Home Living
- Military Trader/Vehicles
- Numismatic News
- Numismaster
- Old Cars Weekly
- Old House Journal
- Period Homes
- Popular Woodworking
- Script
- ShopNotes
- Sports Collectors Digest
- Threads
- Timber Home Living
- Traditional Building
- Woodsmith
- World Coin News
- Writer's Digest
Replies
IMHO quite a few notches above HD in the service department.
The blue is a refreshing change from orange.
Do you remember Beaver Lumber or Cashway, they were my old standby's in Ottawa.
I remember the Beaver just near Carleton. On top of the hill by Billings Bridge. It was a self service yard. I went over in my 75 Pontiac Astra (in 1984) and bought about 12 studs so my roommate and I could make bunk beds in residence. We went back 20 minutes later and self served again! The following year the beaver was gone and about 15 homes were built on the property.
Have a good Holiday in NY or Ottawa. Your dam Sens beat my Bruins last night again.
Cliffy in Onaping
I remember going to that Beaver Lumber store as a young child with my father, must have been 4 years old. I was born in Alta Vista very close to Billings Bridge and my dad was a professor at Carleton.A happy holiday to you and yours. I'll be skiing in Lake Placid (site of the Miracle on Ice). We also will skate the outdoor olympic oval where Hayden (sp) won 5 gold medals.
Wow, what a post.. i live in Alta Vista, and grew up at bank and walkley... never in my life could i imagine a beaver lumber near billings bridge!!
I remember going to beaver with my parents to pick out bathroom fixtures etc.. and now am in the final stages permits for building my first house.. not in AV though, in Hunt Club where we found an old bungalow on a triple lot.
Are you still in the ottawa area?
Edited 12/19/2007 5:24 pm ET by ravz
LOL. Yes Beaver Lumber used to be on Bank St. just south of Kilborn. It became a roadhouse restaurant I think. When I was a carpenter in Ottawa I had an account at Cashway. It seems everybody lives in Hunt Club these days. Many of my friends live out that way. When I was a kid the only time I went out there was to go to the drive-inn, go-carting or the airport. I left Ottawa almost 20 years ago for NYC.
Lowe's IS coming to the rest of Canarda...wife works for Hd, they've been told....
and by the by,...isn't Beaver Lumber just another name for a woody?!!!!!!
Seriously tho', we had BL's here in B.C. .......
"If 'tis to be,'twil be done by me."
Alta Vista is a great neighbourhood, but to buy / build a home there you need deep pockets... not yet for this guy! Its not insanely expensive, but expensive enough to make teardowns about 280K...
What are you doing in NYC? I noticed in another thread you frequent asia-pac.. High Flying!
I spent a lot of my childhood in the Billings hood. My father built the Beaver store (and the A&P across the street,) you're refering to on Bank near Rockingham on the South side of the tracks. Went to school at St. Thomas (2 to 6) and skated at the Alta Vista school out door rink.
Sens are sporatic this year and could be doing a lot better.
Gabe
What did your Dad teach at Carleton? Lake Placid is a great place to ski. Had the pleasure a few times.
And a merry Christmas to you and your family, see you next year
Cliffy
Cliffy in Onaping - a good basin name that's for sure.
I've skied Onaping once and liked it - very family friendly and great skiers - a little shy on total vert though. ;) Glad you are having great conditions.
Those Ottawa Beaver stores are all gone now I guess. The Tremblay Rd. one had a great lumber counter, was well staffed, and a pro-level tool dept. When HD opened up a couple blocks away on Cyrville (or is it the other way 'round), the old Beaver kept their chin up and did not panic. But since consumers value the perception of cheaper prices more than good staff, the Tremblay Beaver was dead within 18 months iirc. Once the Beaver was gone HD staffing levels and quality went down.
A long-time competent HD employee told me that HD staffs a brand new store with new hires and a hefty contingent of very skilled long-time staff who they fly in and house for the first six months or so. Great way to establish a new store in a market. Once the customers have been bamboozled and the competition had closed its doors, the experts fly off to the next opening. Staffing levels/knowledge then shift into maintenance mode, i.e. the bare minimum.
Where I'm at now, the Beaver dealer rebranded himself as a Home Bldg. Ctr., when the Beaver chain packed it in coast-to-coast. Fortunately, the change was an improvement in terms of product availability; staffing levels are good and the same folk work there for many years so you get to know them.
You canuck boys remember the old-style PAL adds on 1960s TV, with the animated tree? Any of those PAL lumber/hdware stores left out east?
Do you remember the lumber mill down in Westboro, I think it was around Gladstone / Wellington / Richmond Rd. Also there was one way out Bank St., Perkins and something or other. I used to buy my cedar from them. Those were great places. Is Home Hardware ad CTC still. I hope those haven't disappeared. Cyrville Rd., haven't heard that name in a while.
Yep, near Wellington and Bay/Gladstone, right next to Mechanicsville. I bought molding from them...they molded their own stock, very consistent thickness. I dunno if they're still open.
Perkins...you mean the hardwood mill maybe 10km or so E. of Manotick on RR8? Man that place was straight out of a Dickens novel. lol. Some old brothers ran the place iirc, prolly 6 generations of knowledge there.
HH still has a solid presence on many a small and big town's mainstreet, thank god. They've also created H Building Centres, which took over some of the old Beaver locations. CTC is huge, expanding into rural markets even. Dorky TV ads though. Lotsa China plastic stuff on the shelves, pos electric tools. CTC stopped carrying their 4+2 Belt o' Glass winter tires after you left town. lol.
p.s. Ever buy anything in the States with old Billy's money? ;)
The hardwood mill near Manotick is correct. That was someplace wasn't it.I've got a stash of Billy's $ somewhere. Me and my buddies used to pool our CTC money together, buy something, then return it for real cash and hit a BR to get a two-four. Talk about entrepreneurial.
All those references remind me of how the valley was such a great place to grow up. I liked the mix of big city delights and backwoods practicalities. The city was surrounded by folk who knew how to get things done with whatever they had at hand. It wasn't always fine homebuilding, but it kept the rain out...till next year anyhow. ;)
Do you miss the valley?
I do indeed. Funny, I met one of my best friends in Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago (who lives in Van) and we were reminiscing about what a great city it is. It really had the best of both worlds with ample culture, yet lot's of nature and small towns surrounding it. Truly a special place. When I took my wife up to Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, she really preferred Ottawa.
tony i used to go to alta vista as a kid then onto Tech later
my family lived in heron park when it was the other side of the tracks
beaver lumber is now the blue heron mall
i live in that area for 25 years including the last few on heron rd till they expanded it & tore down the duplex i lived in
after that i moved south ie: winchester area
i find i love small town areas near larger cities
merry christmas and happy new year to a former canuck from a canuck
I was born on Niagara Drive, just off Kilborn, I went to Alta Vista till grade 2 then moved east. All my older siblings went to Alta Vista then to Ridgemont. I was in Ottawa two Easters ago and took my then first grader to where I had first grade. Showed her the pole I stuck my tongue on and froze it to just like in the Christmas Story movie, it had been over 35 years since I was back there. Went to St. Thomas D'Aquinas also.Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too. Always a canuck, just an ex-pat south of the border.
The lumber place near mechanicsville was, I think, D Kemp Edwards. I bought from them up untill they closed. The owner saw that he couldn't compete and wound it down in the early 90's (?). They were conveniently close to downtown and as previously mentioned they also did custom millwork. I miss their selection of mouldings.
D. Kemp Edwards, that was the place. Sort of a sad irony that a former milltown has very little (if any) in the way of mills anymore.
Perkins used to specialize in cedar I bought from them many times but never went there. Another supplier that I used but never visited personally was Adams and Kennedy which I bought birch from. I wonder if this could be the hardwood mill that you refferred to near Manotick?
yes, Adams & Kennedy east of Manotick was also used by TGNY.
Adams & Kennedy was the one. It's slowly all coming back to me ;-)
Heck, I had to think hard to remember Adams & Kennedy and I still live in Ottawa.
I'm thinking the place way out on Bank st. where you used to buy cedar might have been D'aoust lumber. I think Campeau owned them at one point but I don't know if he still owned them when he went under or not. Your right about the irony that millwork seems to be vanishing from "Bytown". I suppose it reflects costs of labor and less usage of wood in general.
Edited 12/22/2007 10:52 pm ET by sisyphus
When Lowes opens a store, they do the same process, hire experienced people to run the departments, then 3-6 months down the road, reduce the
senior person's hours and bring in help at a much lower rate of pay. HD has the policy where if one goes to work @ Lowes, then they can never come back to work at a HD ever again. Wonder what an attorney would say to that "policy".
Edited 12/20/2007 10:18 am ET by Otis P. Driftwood
Pilon ltee. in Hull is a PAL dealer and is still in business as far as I know. I seldom deal with them and don't drive by there often. They used to sell 45's of the dancing tree song but tempting though it was I never succumbed.
Around here, Rona consistently hires attractive young women at the check-out. That's the tipping factor for me. ;-)Seriously now: I have a Home Hardware across the street, which is OK, but I try to combine my purchases and do all my shopping at Rona. The staff all know me there, and I've really come to like the place.And Home Depot is across town, so I only go there if every other store in the city is closed.
Never mind attractive girls at the checkout, PAL had dancing trees.
I am going to Rona this morning to tear a strip off the girl working at the customer service desk. This will be my third trip in trying to find out how to get my impact driver serviced. Attractive or not, I'm so sick of young employees with no apparent skills but plenty of self-esteem.
Home Hardware gets my vote for the worst control inventory of any store. They consistently insist they have stock when the shelves are empty. Even when you show them there are none, they inevitably reply "well the computer says we have 20".
I only buy tools from a small, reputable tool retailer run by two middle-aged guys who do nothing but service and sell tools.So all Home Hardwares are that bad? Wow. Rona's a five minute drive for me, while HH is across the street, but I often drive to Rona rather than waste my life searching at HH.
I don't know if all HHs are like the one near me. It may just be the tight labour market here which has forced most local retailers to hire "special-needs" help - that 10% of the work force that is best left unemployed and supported by other means.
After getting all fired up, Rona gave me no problems. The Christmas lines were so bad they caved in immediately and gave me a new driver.
The "Why Wait for Spring, do it Now" promo, now there was a persuasive jingle.
Fitted right in with PAL's dancing trees. Musta drove procrastinators crazy....there was already plenty enough to do with all the shovelling and pushing stuck cars.
We don't get 125 psf snowload here but we did get 37 cm of snow last sunday and things are messy, lots of shoveling still to do. Rain expected on the weekend will provide much amusement for the owners of older roofs. I am considering trying my rotary hammer drill on some ice dams tomorrow.
Edited 12/21/2007 8:19 pm ET by sisyphus
salut pierre
yeah PAL still exists round here, Pilon in Hull (ok, Gatineau now) is still their main store. Gone the days of D Kemp Edwards. Still got J B McClelland up in Poltimore as a reasonable replacement (Dale and Daryl and his other brother Daryl).
I worked and lived in Ohio near WV and found Lowe's just a bit more "upscale" than HD (the despot), but still so much depends on the management running the places, which trickles down to the guys on the floor, and on the desks. (and manning the phones--believe it or not, one of the big boxes round here, Reno-Depot, won't even take incoming calls!! They say it takes too much attention from the floor! You get your calls routed to a central switchboard in Levis or Quebec city or someplace. I still go there cause there is a real difference in design between their buyers, (IN mONTREAL i think) and the Despot (toronto, or north carolina) Especially lighting and bath/kitchen fixtures.
The way renodepot routes their calls is extremely annoying. Sometimes I'll go elsewhere because I can't call to determine if they have something I want in the store, but in the past I did get a number from an employee that enabled me to call one section to see if my order had come in. I hope that reno maintains its distinctiveness now that rona has bought it. It is good to have different chains carrying somewhat different merchandise.
I have always assumed that the building suppliers were like the banks, the attitude and culture depended more on which branch rather than which company. Of course some employees are much more helpful/knowledgeable than others and if you are not well informed as to what you need you are at the mercy of others. A problem which one faces in everything one does (although Breaktime will illuminate most everything).
Dale, Daryl and Daryl???? You've got to be kidding. lol
Now, if Poltimore was in the Pontiac, I'd take that as gospel. ;-)
Wow I am shocked anyone here has even heard of Onaping let alone skied here. How long ago was that. It was closed today because of the rain. If you skied during the last 10 years here you would have seen my house.
The store I use the most is a Home Building Centre, good prices and good service. Home Depot is the MacDonalds of the lumber business. You can get a meal but it is not great and it makes you #### an hour later.
Have a great holiday season
Cliffy
Yes, this place - B'time - certainly is the place to shine light on the obscure...and the obvious. lol.
Your 'Cliffy' handle was a mystery to me until I read your reference to Onaping. Onaping...Copper Cliff...the basin. Skied Onaping in the early to middle 90s iirc; also some nice wild x-ctry trail network through the forest somewheres in the basin where I saw a Horned Owl perched 25' up above the trail, looking down at us in smug comfort - or so it seemed. I've mtn biked near the old gold mine, near Tilton Lake, where the big shaft is full of water and the tailings are yellowish dirt...come to think of it that applie(d-s) to much of the basin.
Mr. Perch still in business?
You too Cliffy, have a great one.
Is Lowes only opening new store in eastern Canada?
Martin
I'm not sure about out west, but the three stores that just opened I think are Brampton, Hamilton, and Brantford. I'm sure it won't take to long to get more going>Have a good day
Cliffy
as big boxes go, it's got better service as has been said, and i like the style of certain household hardware they sell better too.
But it still isn't what we need. Better selections, more offerings and checkouts are still needed. But they do seem to do better than the Orange Borg. Their stock price certainly has.
Here in Michigan, I find Lowes has a bit better selection and is slightly more upscale than Home Depot. Still, they're pretty similar. My wife and I have a summer/retirement home in Nfld and shop the Home Depot in St. John's. The HD store there is very new and looks more like a Lowes store in Michigan. Still, it would be nice to also have a Lowes in St. John's. Finally, the Kent Store is not a bad alternative to either.
Chip
Hi Cliffy, Garfield here.
After living in 3 different states now I can say that I most assuredly prefer Lowes to Home Depot any day of the week. Maybe just beat the odds but always found friendlier, more professional and helpful folks there.
They carried a better selection of better goods and a more varied and complete stock of most everything. The fellas at the contractor desk became very helpful.
We've got our fist snowfall and it's pretty much turned to ice! Lucky there's interior work for at least through the new year.
Merry Christmas from the south.
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
That is what I was looking for, so far it seems that Lowes is prefered over Home Depot. HD came yesterday and tore out 80 yards of carpet that I originally paid for in August, their professionals warranty their work. So when it sucked the bag I had to either let the same two dudes come and fix it or tear it all out for a refund. I'm going in today looking for my refund. They took 26 and a half hours to do what the did sofar on the install.
Levack and Onaping are under about 2 feet of snow now. Onaping Ski HIll opened last week. Just the kind of winmter I'm sure you remember from living here!
Patty and I are off to the Sault for a few days for Christmas so I'm going to suggest a little road trip down to Gaylord to check out the Lowes. Trouble is with tthe dollar at par the borders are busyall the time now.
Wishing you and your family a great Christmas and all the best for 08
Cliffy
If you like lumber yards where you can stand in line behind people shopping for toasters, vacuum cleaners, lawn equipment or rose bushes you'll love Lowes.
A big box of any other color is still a big box
A big box is a big box. We have HD and Roma here. I alternate between the two, switching when my grievances against one of them becomes overwhelming, then go back when the competitor annoys me enough.
They are about as different as Coke and Pepsi.
My opinion is somewhat different from the consensus. I will never set foot into a Lowe's store again. In my area HD is the new guy and they work harder for your business. As for Lowe's, I've told my story here in the past, not going to repeat it now.
Stick with a place that has "Lumber" in the name if at all possible.
Cliffy,
Here in Danbury, CT we have access to HD and Lowes, as well as another HD in Brewster, NY. Lowes selection of lighting a decorative items does seem to be better. The wife likes those kinds of things better at Lowe's too.
I buy everything else at HD. The prices are substantially lower, and the level of expertise at both of our HD stores is far better. The price difference can be substantial on building supplies.
The Lowes seems to be understaffed, whereas HD not so.
We do like the choice that we have with both stores around.
John
Here in my neck of the woods (Charlottesville, VA) there's only Lowe's, and it's awful. The staff are (with a few exceptions) apathetic, ill-informed, and unhelpful at best and downright rude at worst. Every time I have to go, something I need is out of stock.
This is in contrast to the Home Depot in Harrisonburg (about 45 mins from my house). Every time I make the trip I'm impressed by something new: unexpected selection, extra-helpful or knowledgeable staff, etc. Last time I was there an off-duty employee offered out of the blue to help me load sheets of plywood into my truck as he was passing by in the parking lot on his way to work.
Aside from venting, I guess all I'm saying is that the outcome of the HD vs. Lowe's debate may vary...
OMG, now all the labels will need to be tri-lingual, n'est-que pas?
I have a hard enough time ignoring the clavos plastered all over labeling.
OK, OK, politically incorrect, 1 demerit.
---
Though I really appreciated English signs when I was traveling in Europe. I just wondered how often Einbahnstrasse managed to keep crossing my path. Where does this Einbahn street go???
Edited 12/19/2007 5:28 pm ET by byhammerandhand
voie à sens unique
<!----><!----> <!---->
Phill Giles<!----><!---->
The Unionville Woodwright<!----><!---->
What about good old Turkstra's Lumber. Are they still hanging in there?
Edited 12/19/2007 9:24 pm ET by thumper
Just opened a new HD in Carleton Place and seems to me that all staff are brand new and know little about where things are in the store or anything about the trades. A new Rona is opening in Feb, looking forward to that.
I'd drive by two Home Depots to go to Lowes.
I go to one particular Lowes when I work on my rentals. Everyone knows me there and they're all friendly and helpful.
I kind of feel like "Norm" when I walk in.
Never been in a place where so many people know me by name.
Too bad. When it was Eagle it at least had SS fasteners. Lowes is really lower than HD and that is pretty low. I used to drive into the lumberyard, load up my truck rack by only moving material once (no wheeled carts rolling away on the second lift). Then I could walk inside, pickout what I needed (nails not in bubble packages), hit the contractor checkout (yeah, they had a real live person), jump in the truck, show the yard guard my paid ticket, and leave.
Now if Lowes or HD had two drive through aisles (one for gyp board, concrete, etc and the other for lumber & millwork) I might even go to one. Sorry the disease is spreading North. Tyr
Edited 12/20/2007 11:14 pm by Tyr