Hi people
we're getting closer to our big move...........probobly Oct/Nov this year,once we have bought a house in the 'increasingly popular' Nova Scotia.

So we have been looking around on the net and in mags we have bought out in Halifax in order to kit our new place out.
Herein lies the problem.....how can i put it;

fashion/decor household goods etc seem a little out of date and a lot of the web sites for Canadian stores do not have many listings.Where do people shop for such things as furniture/linens/electricals etc if you don't want lace curtains.

Don't get me wrong,obviously coming from the S.E. and the easy retail therapy of London we know and don't expect anywhere near the same in N.S. but these days with the internet,telephone shopping and malls there must be avenues to go down to obtain more contemporary goods.Do people go to Toronto/Vancouver or do you buy in the states?

mike

Not sure if you have any Ikea stores in or near Nova Scotia, but thats where we go to buy stuff to brighten up our apartment.

Ikea stuff has a habit of falling apart though

Ikea mailorder!

http://www.ikea.ca/webapp/wcs/stores...reName=direct2

Iain

Retail therapy....aaah, I remember that. When you could drive or get a bus for 10 mins and be in the heart of Kingston and come back via a pub. No, no, not homesick at all its just that it's still peeing with rain and the summer hasn't happened here yet

If you want an idea from such a distance then have a look at www.sears.ca and www.thebrick.com

both suppliers are not the cheapest and the Brick is the worst (no-one told us ), but to give you an idea I bought a coffee table and two end tables that I subsequently found at a third of the price in a locally owned chain. Shopping is a different creature out in the sticks so it depends where you'll eventually be but we've found here that you actually have to visit a store, get 'pounced on' by the sales blokie, talk your way through the 'where are you from??' convo, and then try to make them understand you're just browsing (certainly don't understand that one in our neck of the woods). A lot of places won't have prices on at all (thus you HAVE to talk to someone) and all in all its not the pleasure it used to be. Still its saving us a fortune and it may be we're doing things entirely the wrong way but not having a point of reference.....

ps.
don't forget that the prices advertised do not include PST/HST/GST so remember to add it on!

Urbane in Regina has a website with loads and loads of stuff on it. Its very modern. They have a 1-800 number. Check out their site. They will obviously ship anywhere in Canada

http://urbane.ca/index.html

Sears has some nice furniture - and Home Outfitters has some Ikea-style bits and pieces.

Just about everybody I know tends to avoid The Brick. The sales assistants chase you around the store no matter how many times you tell them to get lost - and nothing is ever in stock.

When you are in Halifax or dartmouth or Fall river, there is a place called Leon's,in Dartmouth it is a hugh furniture place. Also The Gallery in Dartmouth. You can also buy furniture at The Bay in Mic Mac Mall or Sears in Penhorn Mall. We don't have Ikea anymore they didn't do very well here. In Halifax you will find Home Outfitters and also numerous stores in Chain Lake Drive area. Not to worry you will be able to outfit your house or apartment, what ever it is you are buying.

Unfortunatly most of (all of?) the furniture at the national chains like Sears, Leons or the Brick is pretty hideous on the eye at first, its kind of overstuffed, and not very european for want of a better word. When I first came over I wouldnt buy it, so it was Ikea for me, but now I am starting to go native I think. I am sure the furniture at the chains is still as bulky and ugly as ever, but it doesnt grate as much as it used to and I even got my "chesterfield" (thats canadian for sofa) at Leons.

Good luck with the search.

Iain

Hi

We didn't bring anything when we came over and I thought shopping for all new stuff would be fun........boy was I wrong!

Ikea, The Bay and look at your local furnitures stores is probably your best bet.

You have to look past the rubbish/old fashioned bits and now and again you come across something half decent!

Good luck!!!

JJ

People have mentioned Sears - and that is a good choice. But never pay their regular prices. All their stuff goes on sale sooner or later and you get a lot off in the sales, sometimes maybe 40% So wait for the sales. In fact you can ask the sales assistant when something is going to go on sale and often they can tell you.

If you need it and there is no sale - find it somewhere else and get them to pricematch.

Finally, if you ever have problems with Sears stuff they take it back and replace no questions asked. For instance, we got a Electric Kitchenaid stove - real nice it was too. But after 4 months we decided that we should have got a gas one instead - we called Sears and said we were unhapy because we should have got gas - I never expected them to do anything - but right away they arranged to change it for a gas model! Now that is service for you.

I had a TOTALLY different experience at the Brick. I went there about six times trying to buy something but all the sales assistants were lounging on sofas watching the big screen TVs. So I left.

The one time I went there and an assistant came and asked if he could help, I bought a leather sofa and chair and I told him that previous to him - I had thought I was invisible.

Then about a month ago my son decided to buy a new fridge. We went to the Brick first and he liked a Maytag side by side that was on sale for $898 which I think is a very good price for a Maytag. We tried to go to various other stores and they were all closed because it was Wednesday night! So he went back to the Brick and bought the Maytag.

Maybe he looked richer than me because a sales assistant came up to him right away and asked if he could help.

Nobody appeared to be watching TV!

Did anyone look at the Urbane site? If so what do they think of the furniture and are the prices reasonable? I guess the delivery cost would be a factor too, although who knows, perhaps they don't get delivered from Regina and could be just as cheap elsewhere.

Hi lizwil98

Yep, I looked at the Urbane site. Very nice stuff but too pricey for me!

Not much help to the Nova Scotia person but there used to be a company called IDOMO out Mississauga way. It used to be IKEA like though I don't know what it is like now. When I was out there last year I did like the furniture they showed on their telly adverts.

Just had a quick look at Urbane and yes the prices seem high!

Hi
i have just been informed by my sister (lives in dartmouth) there is a new store opened in halifax that has great up to date fashionable house hold things like curtains etc, called OUTFITTERS, so Mikejw go take a look when you get out there in august and let me know what it's like.

Thats Right Wendy....Its called Home Outfitters. I haven't been there myself yet but been by it. It is in the Lakeside industrial Park Chain Lake Drive Area....Where Costco is! Gee I bet you wish you were here now eh!