this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Opinion | Canadian Tire has never been more Canadian — and it’s working

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Friendly reminder that Home Hardware is also a Canadian owned hardware & building supply chain. Not as prevalent as the American Home Depot, Rona/Lowes choices, but they take care of their employees, and your money doesn't go into some MAGA Republican's coffers.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Shopping at home hardware is such a weird experience. You can ask questions and the people working there actually know the answers to the questions and can point you in the right direction.

It’s weird to interact with someone that isn’t a fucking troglodyte that knows nothing about the products they’re selling.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

I agree wholeheartedly. I walked into a home hardware trying to get a replacement for a botd I'd stripped. The guy took one look at it and said "looks like an M5" and it was! Got me a new one and I was on my way. This was after I had just gone to Canadian Tire for the same thing. The "hardware guy" there was pretty much trying to find a match exclusively by vibe and colour matching

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

I'm an "analyst" as well. My opinion is that Canadian Tire went all in on flyer delivery and e-mails and that is what turned the tide.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Just avoid the lowest end Chinesium parts and you'll be good.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Canadian Tire treats their employees like shit. You are shopping at Canadian Walmart, nothing more.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Since abandoning American retailers, I've certainly given Canadian Tire way more money than I used to. I'm not surprised that others have, too.

They really are an alternative to many of the things you might find at Walmart or Amazon.

And they sell a surprising amount of Made in Canada products, which is even more important to me.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Back in January I did a bit of price comparing between Canadian Tire, Home Depot and Rona for the materials for a project I was planning. (I wanted to check Home Hardware as well, but the closest one is about 75KM away, so not really practical in my case)

I was surprised to discover that Canadian Tire had better prices on all but 2 of the things I looked at. And even those 2, they were less than a dollar different.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And Home Depot's owner is Republican megadonor, so I avoid it whenever possible.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Rona is the Canadian alternative, right? Looks like it was owned by Lowes, but was re-established with headquarters in Quebec. Still, it can be hard to know with everybody trying to look as Canadian as possible.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Now owned by US private equity according to wiki.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Cool story. Now pay your workers a living wage and get them health benefits.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That and make the mechanic shop good faith again. Scammy reputation.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

I would never take my car to Canadian Tire. I've heard way too many stories of bad service.

They would have to do some pretty amazing things to earn that trust back.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Everyone forgot they were using facial recognition cameras

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Warranty your products properly as well. I don't buy anything from Canadian tire that isn't disposable since they won't take back a 2 month old vacuum or car jack that stopped working.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They exchanged a Motomaster battery charger that was almost 20 months old. It suddenly stopped working, and they didn’t even bother testing it to confirm my assertion.

The biggest headache was finding the purchase in my account’s history, as they can only search a month at a time, and not by product. Very bad usability for something that employees likely use on an hourly basis.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

My latest was a 2 month old Hoover vacuum that died on me. I had to go to Hoover who wanted me to pay to ship and repair it. I bought from Costco after that.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (22 children)

Tools are pretty good bang for the buck for regular home owners that are handy...

I still would NEVER take my car to be serviced there... I rather set the car on fire

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I rather set the car on fire

That would probably make the car safer than a CT tune-up.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tools are pretty good bang for the buck

Don’t know what it is now, but for the longest time about ⅔ of the wrenches and rackets were rebranded Gearwrench, which is nothing to sneeze at. So OK, it’s not Grey Tools or Snap-On. But Gearwrench is solidly upper-end quality.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I am not 100% what they do now but when I moved 11 years ago I started getting some tools to fix my house, car, etc and most of them are still with me. I am not a handyman by trade to be sure, but I have done quite a bit of work around the house and tools lasting 10+ years are pretty acceptable for the price range IMO

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Last time I had my tires changed I had to bring it back to ask the mechanic for my tires back.

He was more reluctant that I expected.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I hate how much CT has stepped up their credit card sales tactics, I feel like their sales desk has creeped closer and closer to the entrance over the past few months.

I really hate it because getting assaulted with a sales pitch triggers an anxiety attack for me. Maxi is also guilty of this (PC Financial), but they put them at the exit so you can't leave.

But I do have to admit what they have to sell is good, Canadian and decently priced. I end up there a lot regardless for car parts and tools.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

I just say that Visa and Mastercard are American companies, and I won't support them. No more anxiety and make the them feel bad for selling that shit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

At the local store here they stand 10ft past the turnstiles... My tactic is to just make no eye contact and veer away ASAP. If that fails, I tell them I already had one and learned my lesson. They don't follow up with anything after that in my experience.

This too causes me anxiety, and I have considered avoiding that location because of it. The other stores in the area don't do this thankfully.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Staff the stores and increase the quality of items you carry, and you'd be doing well. Not sure if they're doing that or whether this is just the Buy Canadian effect.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Remember to only buy items on sale, all the others ones are overinflated. For instance the ratchet kit at $699 will go on sale at 80% off every 2 months, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I bought an air rifle last year from CT. The person I talked to scanned it with their hand scanner and told me it was going on sale in two weeks.

I came back two weeks later and got it before they even had their sales tags up and asked to get it out since it was on sale. They were a bit confused on how I knew. I just said I saw it online.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago
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