This is probably one of the worst run Canadian Tires I've ever stepped foot in. The aisles always seem messy, the staff seem annoyed when you ask for help and the cash outs are dreadfully planned.
Friends always rave about their notorious sales...some of which are really great...plus I've heard that they've got a 30 day price match on items purchased in store...so they must be doing something right.
On my last visit, 4 staff members were "hiding out" in the seasonal section, playing soccer in an aisle, causing customers to scoot around them. An announcement was made for someone to go to a different area to help a customer and one of the group of 4 told the others to ignore it and that someone else will take care of the customers. They continued on with their game despite interfering with customers. The game must have gone on for 10 minutes or so before someone came up to them and told them to help customers rather than goof off.
I did have an issue at this location which caused me to call their corporate office a couple of years ago to complain about offensive and insensitive language of a certain manager. Here's a brief overview of what happened:
I was walking through the store (near the paint department) when I heard a manager yell very loudly at an employee (in front of myself and a few other customers), "Are you a retard or something"? I was completely taken aback that anyone would use that type of terminology in the workplace yet alone at all. I was so upset that I left the store. After taking a day to think about it, I decided to call their corporate office to complain. They insisted that it was an "isolated incident" and that all managers go through "sensitivity training". They also said that staff have an outlet to report such behaviour to corporate office without repercussion. Kudos to them for trying. The store manager called the following day and his response left me completely understanding why this type of behaviour exists in his store...he actually tried to joke about the issue and defend his manager to me saying "it was a busy day" and that the staff member in question "had been goofing around all day, paging staff when not needed, etc" and that the manager "lost his cool and may have not dealt with the issue properly". I get that supervising teenagers is not easy...but they still don't deserve to be treated that way by an employer and especially using that terminology in a public forum.
While I still shop occasionally at this store mostly for convenience sake, if possible, I go elsewhere (Lowes, Home Depot) or to the Cdn Tire on Highway 7. read more