Ok, The Wholesale Outlet is a strange little place. It's in what looks like a converted barn (!)…read moreThe parking lot (which it shares with The Apple Saddlery) is unpaved and full of potholes. When you go inside, everything is really messy and it looks like a warehouse. The back of the store is really poorly lit. So you would expect really low prices and great deals, right? Well, every clothing item hovers around the $100 mark. Now they do specialize in clothing from Canadian and European designers, and many of their items are made in Canada or in a European country, so yes, the quality is higher. However, with a name like "The Wholesale Outlet" I really was expecting lower prices. In my opinion, the majority of their items are rather dowdy, unless you are in your 8th decade of life, in which case, you would be considered a fashion plate if you wore these items. HOWEVER, if you have the time and patience to sort through their stuff, you will find some lovely gems. I have only ever purchased skirts here, and only in the clearance section at the back of the store, where everything is 50% off (but poorly lit and items are tightly packed together - my arms often hurt after pulling all the items apart to look at them on the racks). Now to give you an idea of my style, I love asymmetric hem lines, over-sized buttons, and superfluous zippers, so I'm a huge fan of the skirt styles from French, German and Scandinavian designers. The sizing of items here is a little strange. Yes, some are European sizes, but even that I found not to be consistent. I'm pretty much a North American size 2 (sometimes 0), so typically a European 36 or 38 and a UK/Australian 6 or 8. However, here I've tried on a "European 40" and a "Canadian 6" and couldn't zip up either item :P So the take home message is, if you like something, disregard the sizing, just eyeball it and if it looks like it might fit, try it on. If you are under 50 years old, you will likely be the youngest person in the store. The staff here are very nice and friendly. I don't come here often, but I will pop in once in a while to check things out.

This store is so unbelievable! Great service & amazing…read moreFrench dressing jeans. Awesome tops, jackets, shoes & beautiful sweaters! My new favorite store! Check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Today I went to the Dynamite location at Place D'Orleans in Ottawa with my husband and 2 kids who…read moreare 2 and 4 years of age. I was returning a blouse that I purchased on December 23rd, 2013. What should have been a simple 5 minute return, it ended up being an hour of waiting. My debit card was defrauded a couple of days after I purchased the blouse so I was issued a new card with a new number. My new debit card did not match the number on the receipt and I was told that I could not get my money back. By chance I still had my old debit card in my purse that matched the number on the receipt. I asked for a manager who was the supervisor on duty. She told me that I could only do an exchange or get my refund on a gift card. I was told that if I wanted my money back I would have had to go to my bank and get proof that the purchase was made on the same account as my new debit card and that I needed proof that I have changed my debit card. They basically wanted to send me on a wild goose chase with my family. The associate and the supervisor were very adamant in providing the stock response of "It's Dynamites policy and it's for your own protection". I understand that there are policies in place to protect the company and the customer but a little common sense and customer service can go a long way. I could not accept that, only because the money was going back to the same account that the purchase was made on and I had physical proof that I was confirming my identity with my old debit card. The store manager, LAURA POTHIER, was on an hour lunch. I was willing to stay and wait for the store manager. During the hour that I was waiting LAURA POTHIER came back into the store to get her coat to go for a cigarette. As she was leaving the store passing me she told the employee that I could only get a store credit or an exchange. LAURA POTHIER came back from her cigarette and went to the back room without even acknowledging me. The cashier received an intercom message saying that the store manager is still on her lunch and she will not be back for another 20 minutes. I waited for that 20 minutes and realized that there was a customer service number on the back of the receipt. I called customer service and explained to the rep and quickly she asked to talk to an associate. The associate was able to return my money onto my new debit account right away. I don't understand why someone with such a high authority was not able to authorize a simple transaction OR ask me to call customer service to complete the return. Obviously talking to customer service this situation happens frequently but talking to the associates in the store this never happens and that there was no solution to this situation. What bothers me the most is that LAURA POTHIER did not once acknowledge me or want to talk to me. She was probably 10 feet away from me and didn't want to take 5 minutes of her time to explain to me my options. She had her employees take the heat of the situation. I have worked in retail for 12 years and 10 years of my retail experience I was a manager. With my experience working in retail, customer service is key to success. As a store manager, LAURA POTHIER, needs to lead by example. She basically is showing her employees that it is acceptable to ignore customers and customer service is not an important role in the retail business. I'm not looking for an apology of any type but waiting in the store with my family for an hour warrants some type of acknowledgement that the lack of customer service was given.

Adorit is such a cute and fun little shop. It reminds me a bit of Courage My Love in Kensington…read moreMarket in Toronto. It has that hippie vibe and smells of patchouli. It has vintage items but also new items. Their new items are all ethically sourced/fair trade, most are made of organic materials and the designers are Canadian. The owner, Emma, is very sweet and is so passionate about the items she sells. She introduced me to 2 designers that I totally love now: Smoking Lily, and Rabbit & Empee. OMG, why did I not know about these designers earlier? Their pieces are gorgeous! Most of the clothes in the shop are somewhat quirky with a bohemian vibe to them, some with slight steampunk elements, but there are pieces that look more mainstream too. They also have unique jewelry pieces, hair accessories, belts and purses. Prices run the gamut from less than $1 (vintage jewelry) to over $150 (new clothing). New clothing starts at about $35 for T-shirts and goes up to $100+ for dresses. The shop is small and is in an old converted residential unit in the Byward Market. If you are looking for a cool and unusual piece, Adorit is the place to go! ;)

Adorit is a lovely boutique in the ByWard Market that specializes in vintage, Tibetan and designer…read morerecycled clothes. The vintage selection is small and it's the only part of the store that has men's clothing, but they do manage to have some very unique finds. The new clothing is "environmentally friendly" and it's often made out of recycled clothing material with some really great patterns. The clothing is usually made in Tibet (fair trade) or Canada, including some work by local designers. The clothes are usually quite nice and Bohemian-inspired, although the prices run a bit high sometimes. However, they often have a sales rack and trunk with some great pieces, including my favourite coat that probably gets more compliments than any other article of clothing I own. They also have wonderful accessories and Tibet products.The owner is very nice.

So AUB 44 is pretty much L'Aubainerie from Quebec, but they call it AUB 44 in Ontario (the company…read morewas founded in 1944, so that's where the number comes from). It's a store that sells clothes for adults and kids. It's fast fashion and shall we say not the best quality for longevity (at least in my experience). I would say it's similar to Suzy Shier (which has been rebranded to just "Suzy"), Garage, and Dynamite. Not so much my jam now, but I loved L'Aubainerie when I was a broke student living in Montreal. I got tons of trendy clothes for really cheap. Sure they shrunk like crazy in the wash, but I was tiny (yes, even tinier than I am now, lol) so shrinkage was embraced, haha. And sure they faded in the wash and fell apart, but I was grungy-chic back then ;) The style of this company has changed a bit (they have less quirky stuff), and their prices seem to be a tad higher than I remember (even taking inflation into consideration), so maybe the quality has gone up too, I don't know. I haven't bought anything at AUB 44, as I haven't seen anything that appeals to me. However, I do enjoy poking around and being reminded of all the time I used to spend at the Aubainerie on Mont Royal Ave in Montreal :) This store is in Place d'Orleans and was actually the first store to open outside of Quebec! Lots of free parking in the mall parking lot.

Cheap quality. Bought some shorts and washed them before I even wore them once. Zipper broke. No…read morereturns or exchanges even with a receipt. Spend your money elsewhere.

Ok, so Yelp keeps encouraging me to review this place, I guess since I've checked in so many times…read moreand the place actually has no reviews. So here goes. This is a Winners (which for my American friends is like a TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less, etc.) that is attached to a Homesense (like the houseware version of Winners). This location doesn't carry a lot of cool brands and there is no "Runway Section." That being said, I have found a few pieces here, but mostly just athletic wear. Unless it's a return from another location, you likely won't find any fashion-forward items here. I love Winners in general, and I still go hoping to score that awesome find one day, lol. The space is big and it looks like other suburban Winners (as opposed to the "urban concept" Winners or the quirkiest Winners I've been to which is the one on Front St in Toronto which is in the space of several converted row homes). This is in a strip mall, so naturally lots of free parking.

I find this Winners to be a little bit tidier than other Winners I've been to, though sometimes I…read morefind the selection a bit more limited. I guess you trade one convenience for the other! The Winners is collocated with the HomeSense next door, and they share a checkout line. So sometimes the checkout line is crazy long. On the flip side, it is convenient if you need to do some shopping on both sides and only want to check out once. This is the only location we've got in Orleans. I guess the next closest one would be the one on St. Laurent. If you're selecting between this location and St. Laurent, I recommend picking this one.