Vikty

My boyfriend has been in Canada since Thursday. The first thing he needed to buy was a towel, which he bought in Sears and was astonished at the expense. Is Sears an expensive shop?

I'm still in England, he has a job in Canada I will be joining him, but for the time being we could only afford to send him over.

Does anyone have any advice I can give to him? Stumbling blocks to avoid? What shops are better than others for value etc. What to do about healthcare? He has his SIN and work permit, place to live etc.

Is there any advice you can give a newbie. All is appreciated!

Elaine B.

It might help if you tell people where in Canada your boyfriend is living and yes Sears can be a little expensive.

snowshoveller

Sears is a dreadful place - i get depressed just walking through it!

household stuff is surprising expensive in canada, although wal-mart or zellers would have been cheaper. Then again theres always buck or two and the dollar store, it all depends on how many shell suits you want to rub shoulders with

Canadian tire is a bit of an institution, they sell almost everything quite cheaply

Vikty

Sorry! Working in Vancouver, living in Burnaby.

lmartin999

The Bay can be ok. Just never pay full price. I find it a strange store. It always seems to be empty and it always seems to have sales. I keep wondering how it stays in business. I liked Eatons.

Of course there is always IKEA if you can face a trip to hell and back.

rschatha

Try Metrotown Mall, kingsway. Burnaby.

Piff Poff

Sears is expensive and quality of clothes is crap in general - don't know about their towels though. Try to wait for sales in the big named stores such as sears and the bay as whatever you want to buy will be on sale soon enough. For cheap towels then Walmart have bath towels for I think $8, we bought some for when we had guests and they are OK, wash up quite niceley. Also Canadian Superstore (dunno if you have those in BC) do reasonbly priced bedding and towels and stuff.

ExKiwilass

oh, Canadian stupidstore? yeah we have that.

Cheaper household goods (I live in Burnaby)

Walmart - there's one at Lougheed Mall, which is on the skytrain
The Bay always has sales
Sears can be good if they have sales
Zellers - there's one at Brentwood Mall - discount store, sometimes can pick up really good deals
Dollar stores (but the quality is bad)
London Drugs ( Brentwood Mall and I think Lougheed as well) LD is also good for electronic stuff and some housewares, personal items etc.

bodgerx

They should change that McD's Big Mac world cost of living index to a towel from Sears.