A visit to the Lee Valley store in Ottawa

[Derek Cohen]

For those that have not travelled to Canada and are curious what it would be like to purchase tools from an actual LV store, here are a few photos.


Apologies for the quality of the pics (had difficulty resizing and retaining any quality).


The way it works at LV is quite different from any other store I have visited. More about this in a moment. First, this is the entrance to the store, taken by my wife Lynndy.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV1b_zpse966dda2.jpg


Through the front door ... great music playing in the background. Staff around to help.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV1a_zpsf41fad41.jpg


The nerve centre of all LV stores is here ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV2_zps5fe2a4df.jpg


It's a reference centre, with all the catalogues. In the right corner you will see a computer terminal ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV3_zpsc670d224.jpg


Each store works by displaying all the items for sale. One of each. They are behind glass or on a wall. Some can be handled, others not. You write down your selection on the computer, and then collect your order at Customer Service ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV4_zpsb036879c.jpg


Here are some of the displays. First woodworking handtools (of course) ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV6_zps4f8e4e9f.jpg


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV5_zpsa221b61a.jpg


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV7_zpsa22c3720.jpg


A Festool display ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV8_zpsa2a5f6d2.jpg


A hardware display - there is an amazing variety of hinges, handles, drawer pulls, etc here. This is an example of the compact way LV get so many items into a smallish area. ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV9_zpse2dde3e8.jpg


Books and DVDs ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV10_zpsb1e87e9e.jpg


There is also a gardening centre. Lynndy headed there ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV11_zpsea9518a8.jpg


.. and managed to get some some help from one of the staff there (he seemed to be up to speed on everything ) ...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/LV12_zps0b96d967.jpg


Of course, I put in my order while Lynndy was preoccupied ... :)


Regards from Perth


Derek

[Carl Beckett]

Thank you for posting Derek,

I looked up directions to the store and was considering making a trip out of it just for the purpose. I was wondering if there were hands on areas to try tools out - it sounds like there is not. But a chance to see (not use) product first hand.

[Paul Saffold]

I wondered what Mecca looked like on the inside. Thanks.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Thanks Derek,

With the way the Sens have been playing, you would have expected the "sales clerk" in the last picture jumping for joy and offering deep discounts to all customers! Appreciate the photos!

T.Z.

[Philip Duffy]

- - -it just not fair that you get to see all that great stuff, and then show us the pixs!! Now, where is the dool rag? philip

[Chris Griggs]

Thanks for posting Derek. I think its about an 8 hour drive there from my neck of the woods.... I'm going to try to make it out there within the next year and spend at a least a day hassling Rob and his R&D guys....

No pics of dog sledding?

[Jim Matthews]

The delivery entrance, around back is a little harder to find...

252547

[Jim Belair]

Thank you for posting Derek,

I looked up directions to the store and was considering making a trip out of it just for the purpose. I was wondering if there were hands on areas to try tools out - it sounds like there is not. But a chance to see (not use) product first hand.

While Derek said "some can be handled, some not" that may be a bit misleading. True many of the more desirable items are in display cases but a clerk will open a case to let you fondle anything you like. And I've never been refused a "test run" of a hand tool in a LV store. They've got a stash of wood in the back and one can clamp it up at one of the display benches and take a few swipes. (I hope this is company policy and I'm not getting anyone in trouble here)

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Jim

I did not intend to imply that tools could not be handled, rather that some could not be directly accessed without an assistant's help.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rob Lee]

(snip)
No pics of dog sledding?

I found one.....


Note - this is after Derek pulled a groin muscle....!

252565

[Tony Zaffuto]

I found one.....


Note - this is after Derek pulled a groin muscle....!

252565


Don't you have a hockey game to go to?

[Rob Lee]

Don't you have a hockey game to go to?

Nope - I took a full refund on this non-season....!

Didn't like the last shortened/compressed season, and wasn't going to be an "enabler" of this one. Be back next fall though....

Cheers,

Rob

[Jim Matthews]

I found one.....


Note - this is after Derek pulled a groin muscle....!


Maybe you could have explained that it's the dogs what pulls the sled, first.
Aussies do things diff'ernt, that's for sure.

You do know that this will be the year Alfredsson goes to the Stanley cup final, now that you've given up your seat - right?
(go habs go)

[Steve Bates]

Philip, the drool rags are in picture #5, lower left. I wondered why those folded towels were sitting out by Customer Service. Thanks for the education.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Nope - I took a full refund on this non-season....!

Didn't like the last shortened/compressed season, and wasn't going to be an "enabler" of this one. Be back next fall though....

Cheers,

Rob

Should be a great game this afternoon!

Thought about it and decided not to. If the season would have been cancelled, then I probably would have (mainly because of the chance of losing next year as well).

Unfortunately for me, my wife, daughters and SIL's have gone/will go, with my first game this coming Saturday against New Jersey. Watch for the cute, young girl in the Penguin costume, with the old phart (I'll be the old phart, and the cute, young girl will be my side kick (daughter) from tool sales/auctions.

[Harold Burrell]

OK...I just added that place to my bucket list.

[Ryan Baker]

Cool store. Maybe I will get there one of these days.

What's with the wires plugged into the floor mats? Is that to wake up the computer? Heated floor mats for longer stays at the ordering computer? Measuring your wallet getting lighter?

Just place your order at the desk and back your truck right up to the loading dock.

Now where are the pictures from the secret product development shop? :)

[Jim Belair]

What's with the wires plugged into the floor mats? Is that to wake up the computer? Heated floor mats for longer stays at the ordering computer? Measuring your wallet getting lighter?


The session ends when you step off the mat.

[Derek Cohen]

No pics of dog sledding?

The dog sledding was in the most amazing scenery .... exhilarating ... extremely hard work ... and frustrating when I slipped about half way along the course when pushing the sled up an icy section and pulled a groin muscle ... painful! Fortunately I was a lot better by the next day when we went skiing at Tremblant (where I just embarrassed myself again .. :) )

A few photos.

The latest in snow gear ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Derek1_zps076bbdf7.jpg

Lynndy and I and the dog team ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Dogsled1_zps6b740a96.jpg


Exhilaration as you head downhill around a bend ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Dogsled3_zps2a5f453f.jpg

One last shot, of me telling Rob-the-driver to watch out for the bumps ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Dogsled5_zps33646372.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Griggs]

What fun! Looks like everyone is having a blast. Those are some beautiful dogs too, they look like they're having as much fun as you. Thanks for sharing.

[Brian Ashton]

The dog sledding was in the most amazing scenery .... exhilarating ... extremely hard work ... and frustrating when I slipped about half way along the course when pushing the sled up an icy section and pulled a groin muscle ... painful! Fortunately I was a lot better by the next day when we went skiing at Tremblant (where I just embarrassed myself again .. :) )

A few photos.

The latest in snow gear ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Derek1_zps076bbdf7.jpg

Lynndy and I and the dog team ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Dogsled1_zps6b740a96.jpg


Exhilaration as you head downhill around a bend ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Dogsled3_zps2a5f453f.jpg

One last shot, of me telling Rob-the-driver to watch out for the bumps ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Other/USA%20and%20Canada%202012-3/Dogsledding/Dogsled5_zps33646372.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thats the only part of Canada I don't miss - miserably cold weather. I'll take the odd cyclone and flood any day over 3 feet or more of snow and minus 10 temps (on a warm day) every year. When I lived there global warming couldn't happen fast enough. Now I live where my signature says. Only at the moment the flip flops are all floating out to sea in the latest floods and the bikini tops are all hung in the trees from the cyclone that just blew through - but at least its warm.

[Rob Lee]

Thats the only part of Canada I don't miss - miserably cold weather. I'll take the odd cyclone and flood any day over 3 feet or more of snow and minus 10 temps (on a warm day) every year. When I lived there global warming couldn't happen fast enough. Now I live where my signature says. Only at the moment the flip flops are all floating out to sea in the latest floods and the bikini tops are all hung in the trees from the cyclone that just blew through - but at least its warm.

Hey Brian!

+10C here two weeks ago, -27C here last week, +14C (forecast) this week...at least it's interesting....:)

Cheers -

Rob

[Chris Griggs]

Hey Brian!

+10C here two weeks ago, -27C here last week, +14C (forecast) this week...at least it's interesting....:)

Cheers -

Rob

Ahhh, lovely.... sounds just like home....born and raised in Minnesota, one of the few places in the world that makes the mid Atlantic east coast feel like a tropical paradise... (and I say that with nothing but love for my home state)

[Harry Hagan]

Don't you have a hockey game to go to?


What's hockey?

[David Weaver]

What's hockey?

It's like soccer on ice.

[Harry Hagan]

OK. I think I’ve seen that on TV. They wear skates, carry big sticks, and beat the hell out of one another. :D

[Zach Dillinger]

It's like soccer on ice.

Only in hockey, it actually takes someone hitting you to make you fall down and scream bloody murder!

/I love soccer, but not what soccer has become.

[Bruce Haugen]

/I love soccer, but not what soccer has become.

Pretty much the same for hockey, too. My wife and I went to a WCHA school, Division I hockey, for all our time in college and we got hooked. All students got in free. The game was great, but now pro hockey has become more like the old quote, "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."

[Mark Kornell]

Hey Brian!

+10C here two weeks ago, -27C here last week, +14C (forecast) this week...at least it's interesting....:)

Cheers -

Rob

Why wait three weeks for that kind of interesting? Move to Calgary and experience it in a day...

[Brian Ashton]

What's hockey?

It's the sport of the Gods. Go the Brisbane Blue Tongues!!! They couldn't beat a Canadian Girls High School team but it's all we have here. LOL Went skating for the first time since I moved here 7 or 8 years ago and could tell who the immigrants were simply because they were the only ones who could skate LOL. To be honest I think the Blue Tongues are made up of expat Canadians and Americans.