Phil C.

At Lee Valley Tools, on Wale Road, the staff are extraordinarily helpful, knowledgeable, and polite. I could not commend them too highly.
The Veritas brand of woodworking tools are a thing of beauty and a joy to use.
The catalogue is superb - written by very knowledgeable people. It is an education in itself.

For craft persons, there are brilliant tools to satisfy the most pernickety worker. Look at their specialized vice, holding a guitar neck, for example.
They also have a large section of tools for crafting forest products - be it a log house, or forest furniture, still with the bark on. Be nice to yourself and buy a new axe here, and if it's your birthday, you could buy a couple - they have around 20 to choose from... And one could easily wax lyrical about the two dozen types of wax they sell here. It is the tool lover's Nirvana, and there is also a cheap way in.

Lee Valley have a 'Last Chance' offering, with tools and products that will not be including in the next catalogue. You can get a deal, here, with full warranty.

And finally; they welcome dogs in the store. Predictably, Lee Valley don't give boring dog treats here,. The dog loving staff will offer your dog freeze-dried sardine treats, no less - just the kind of mouth-watering quality I've come to expect from Lee Valley 🙂

Jeremy G.

Great quality of products, friendly staff that help out right away. Looking forward to my next visit.

Stella M.

My Daughter and I visited one of my favorite places today.
Covid Rules in place.
We were greeted by a staff member who asked if we needed help finding anything.
Since I look online quite often, I was prepared for my purchases.
I bought 3x 16-month Garden Calendars. Always full of beautiful garden pictures, money goes to Charity.
Daughter saw 2 items she needed for her kitchen...
Lovely staff, great store. 🙌

Update 7 December 2024
Nice to be able to pop in ,get the things I needed , served quickly by knowledgeable staff.
Just wish there would be a store Up Island.
I'm in Oceanside. Parksville/ Qualicum Beach. I'm visiting Daughter in Victoria.

Graham M. H.

I have been a customer of Lee Valley Tools since 1980, I think. It's been a long time. I still have an original Lee Valley 6 lb splitting maul from 1981 in my woodshed, and I will be leaving it to my grandson. Today I bought something quite different, quite high-tech in comparison...a rechargeable electric fan, an Aire One. I live in a small seaside cottage, built before WW2, and I heat it with a wood stove. It can be a cold and damp life experience when the power goes out in the middle of winter, so a fan that doesn't need electricity to operate is a definite plus here. I have two Ecofans on top of my Drolet stove, but they do not push a lot of warm air. So the prospect of a high-power cordless fan is quite exciting. I had to try it out. It is amazingly quiet. I have some high end electric fans for summer, Lasko and Honeywell, capable of hurricane-level air movement, but with noise to match. The Aire One is quite silent, almost as silent as the Ecofans. A mere whisper. I am totally impressed. I salute the geniuses that designed and built this fan.

Michael D. T.

Friendly bunch in there. Very insightful and great recommendations. Wish it was a bit more busy for how great the store is. I've been in other lv stores before and this one seems more complete. Lots of gadgets

Aiden S.

Lee Valley is a wood workers dream store! They have a great deal of specialty wood woeking tools. This is not solely the whole focus of the store, they also sell bits and bobs for gardening and unique items like the watch repair kit I picked up.

Not all the gadgetry is on the show room floor just a small selection to whet your appetite lol. There is on the other hand a clearance room that you should check out for some extra deals.

So the process starts with using the computers on site to start your order. If your like me you've already looked online and have the info you need.

You then write it down on a order form and you bring it to the 'cashier/picker'. Where head into the back warehouse and pick your order. After which they process the purchase.

Staff is helpful and personable. Just a quick note, they may or may not have the item your looking to get. It happens rarely but it does happen.

Sometimes you have to be patient as the place can be busy and the speed of getting your order completed depends on the number of items and the speed of the picker.

I personally like the place and pop by when I'm in the neighborhood. Check it out.

Andrew S.

Great tools, unpleasant store.

I went there twice to look at veritas hand tools.

I left after 20 minutes, unable to see them both times. The hand tools are locked up, and the staff who can unlock them are not on the floor, so you have to wait for them. And, they don’t know anything about the tools (“what’s a number 5 hand plane?”)

The Kelowna location has tools available to pick up and use on scrap wood!

L

Nice place but...

I went to the store with my partner who was very excited about the specialized tools and everything the store had to offer. They didn't seem to notice the treatment we were being given. We are people of colour and when we went to the store we were followed the whole time. We selected various items and went through the payment process. At this point I was starting to already feel uncomfortable and had put items back. The fellow who took us at till would not let us leave after paying (we heard the beep, the transaction had been complete). Suffice to say it felt as though we had been flagged as shoplifters or something of the sort and weren't trusted in the store. I didn't feel comfortable or welcome in a place that should be open to newcomers and people looking to start to projects or hobbies.