I needed some blood capsules for my school play and I had a student who is gluten free and I was worried that the blood capsules could have gluten in them. Charlie offered to call Ben Nye and find out if they had gluten, turns out they didn't and now I know my studen is safe. Thank you Charlie! read more

Went in to purchase a Santa suit. Charlie was most kind and patient to deal with. A most pleasant experience. I would highly recommend.

Going to an 80's theme party! Was looking online for some costume bits and pieces on Amazon, but was unsure of fit and materials so by googling 'costumes in Calgary' Don's Hobby Shop came up. Soooooooo glad we went! The service was amazing! The inventory, extensive. I found all the missing pieces I was looking for, plus more! And, if I ever decide to take up competitive frisbee this would be the first place I would go! Thank you Ladies! read more

Don's Hobby Shop - Hobby Shops Near Me - Calgary, Alberta

Maybe post the correct opening times. 11am not 10am. It doesn't take too many wasted trips due to inaccurate information before I give up on a business. read more

Wow. Looked online for a mask. Found it in stock. Went to store to pick it up. "Sorry. Someone called and it is on hold until Friday close of business." Wow. This is after my work party and I needed the item. I thought paying customers that were live and took the effort to drive to the store would actually get preference. No. Bad service. read more

To be up front, this review is more story than review. You see, my visit to Don's had absolutely nothing to do with Halloween (although it was around that time last year). I was shopping for a proposal! I have a fairly diverse background, stemming from my days in high school. I was actively involved in choir, drama and improv, in addition to being the computer club and playing hockey. It's the drama background that convinced me years ago that whoever I proposed to would get something special. Just in case you have better things to do, I'll start with my trip to Don's. For my plan, it was vital that I change my appearance. I sat down with someone at Don's and explained my needs; facial hair, different skin and different hair. She was extremely helpful in assisting me select the right stuff (goatee, makeup to adjust my shade, fake skin defects, wig, and naturally, teeth with braces). She even explained how everything should be applied and removed. Very important for someone who has never had to apply their own makeup (drama remember, we had girls who would do that). One thing I did notice outside of the reason for being there is the selection of costumes and accessories they have. My fiance & I were there again yesterday and the selection is still great, even a few days prior to Halloween, and the prices are pretty good (certainly not the cheapest you can find). Back to my story. I had arranged with my fiance's employers to send her to a fake conference in Banff. Of course, I went to great lengths to ensure this didn't look fake at all, including a real and fully functional website and toll-free number. Additionally, the hotel in Banff was in on it all the way. They even let me pretend to be a hotel employee so I could help my fiance to her room, at which point the proposal happened. Did she suspect anything? Unfortunately, the shirt provided by the hotel was short sleeved, so my arms gave me away a bit. However, my fiance knew I was in Edmonton on business, so she dismissed it as being coincidence while in the elevator. A success, to say the least! read more

I have been to Don's a few times and during my visit today I was reminded of how awesome the staff are, as well as the selection of costumes, accessories, etc. I scored myself a sweet wig for an upcoming party and the woman who helped me tore open every bag I asked her to in order to try them on and find exactly what I was looking for. How can you go wrong with great service, decent prices and free parking? I'm thankful I was the only customer for the moment because Don's can be a zoo, but that just tells you it's a great store. read more

My friend's husband was about to do some missionary work abroad as Captain Canada. Complete with a Canadian flag cape and Canadian flag face. Because of my work in theatre what work I have done with children they called on me to help them with the make-up part. Finding good theatrical makeup is difficult in Calgary, I mean you have many options for economical face painting supplies but what I was looking for was a professional oil based paint called Ben Nye. After making several phone calls, and upon recommendations of several costumes stores, the only place that I could find it was at Don's Hobby on Centre Street. Don's Hobby boasts 14,000 products from costumes, balloons, and juggling to unicycles. Ben Nye makeup is the best; I have used it myself in many productions. The best part of is how it does not affect your skin. If you are doing 2 shows a day for 6 months you are going to wear a lot of makeup, this one stint found me in this position and never once did my face react to the BN product. DH offers tons of Ben Nye options, crèmes, mattes, foundations, concealer, glitter, eye shadow and lip stuff. For advanced makeup applications there are also prosthetic effects, nose and scar wax and my personal favourite blood effects. Moo Ha Ha. Prices at DH are appropriate prices for Ben Nye. You are paying for the best in stage make-up so expect to pay a little higher than normal. But I just needed some standard face painting stuff so I was able to walk away with my two colours of red and white for 7.95 each. Not bad. Check out Don's for that special or not so special theatrical presentation. read more

If your hobby is to dress up like a Kiss band member, firstly I say "strange, but I like your style", and secondly, I'd say that you should get down to Don's Hobby Shop, cuz they just got a new shipment in. (Gene Simmons' freakishly long tongue not included - sorry ladies). Never mind that, though. Besides the Kiss outfits, they have thousands of other costumes for kids, adults, and plus sized alike. They also have all the wigs, masks, makeup, and props you might need to complete your look. In addition to all the costumes and accessories, Don's also has a wide selection of magic supplies for any aspiring magicians out there. As well, everything you could ever want, or need, to become an accomplished juggler is on hand. All in all, Don's Hobby Shop is just dandy. read more

Don's is a first-rate costume shop for this time of year, complete with a staff that know their stuff. It was crazy busy for them, but the woman at the make-up/special effects counter offered some pretty good advice and although she was busy and talking fast, made time to ensure everyone got what they needed along with a few pointers. Plus, these guys have a wide selection of costumes. Everything from fairies to Michael Myers. They also carry those creepy Eyes Wide Shut masks in case you get invited to an orgy some night and find yourself under-dressed. The only problem I can think of is the fact that Don's is closed on Sundays, even the Sunday before Halloween. That's not convenient, but they are open until 9 pm every weeknight until the end of October. Anyway, great staff and great special effects and costumes.... read more

I have yet to actually enter their seemingly much larger location up on center street (and am very interested to do so if I'm ever in the area with time to kill) but this one left me a little underwhelmed. First, it should be noted I was in early on a Thursday afternoon, killing time before a tattoo appointment a couple doors down so my first issue - the complete lack of any sort of staff attendance - is probably explainable in that regard. There was one lone girl working when I was there and she didn't seem to notice there was anybody there for a good 20 minutes. It wasn't until she had a phone call asking about stock on a particular item that sent her down the isle I was in that she asked if I needed help finding anything. Not a huge deal because I didn't (again, this was mostly a 'stalling for time' kind of trip) but something I might have found rather annoying had I been shopping more earnestly. They did have a few pretty cool items - from a series of touqes designed to look like the headpieces of several Avengers characters, to Darth Vader helmets, to probably the most realistic Power Ranger costumes I've ever seen that almost made 8 year old me come bursting back to the surface and want to pilot a giant robotic dinosaur to fight a dog-faced thing in gold armor. Essentially, my inner geek could have dropped a couple hundred bucks here, easily. Sadly, the selection was pretty scant. Hence my curiosity to check out the bigger store, and I'm sure it gets better closer to halloween and whatnot... but it seemed like I'd find one cool costume related to a certain geekdom or genre and wonder as to what a related one might look like only to find that the sole one i discovered was all they had, and even THEN most of the coolest ones things were only available in kids sizes so (even though I wouldn't have bought them) it sort of killed the imagined appeal. Win of the day: a life sized, rather sweet looking (thin plastic, but you'd never know it to look at it from the correct side) Captain America shield that will look awesome mounted on my 'geek wall'. They may be trying to please too many demographics with too few products... but dammit, on some level, they still get me. read more

Very helpful staff, a great place to go for stage/costume makeup

In May I had been searching through the internet for mini top hats, Dons' Hobby Shop was the closest to me so I went ahead and picked and ordered one of their plain satin top hats from the online store as well as a pair of short black gloves. The top hat was for my youngest sisters' year end dance, to say the least it was importand and I ordered everything for the dance a month ahead of time. Days after I placed the online order I recieve a call from Dons' about the hat a ordered, the woman was short,snippy and completely unprofessional with me from the get go. I was informed that the hat I orderd was out-of-stock and I was offered one of the less attractive velour top hat, I had no choice but to agree to it. I told the associate that all the hats on the site said that they were in fact listed as IN STOCK, her reply was "well, we have hundreds of thousands of items in the store, what do you expect". I checked back in the following days and they NEVER changed the listing on the site to "out-of-stock" The items were recieved by mail within the week, what I got was unexpected. The black velour top hat looked like it was used and very cheap. There was hot glue in the front of the hat on the black ribbon that circled it. The seams were also showing and the fabric stuckout on was fraying all over the place and glue was very visible on the black materials. The elastic that was suppose to fasten the hat to your head was short tight and uncomfortable. The gloves that were ordered were incredibly cheap, the fabric was horrible and due to that fact they didnt fit properly. They didnt conform to the hand and looked goofy. The items were beyond cheap looking & feeling. So dissappointing i called Dons Hobby Shop back immediately to let them know of the defective hat that I recieved and what a coincidence! It was the same woman who called me about the out-of-stock hat. Again her repy was "Well I looked at the hat before I mailed it, what do you want me to do about it?" the tone was condescending and rude, she offered to take the shoddy workmanship back and exchange it or have me mail it back (both at my expense) for a refund. The hat was needed in a week for the dance and my sister was already very excited. If indeed she did look at it before mailing it, why wouldn't she have let something that looked like it was assembled by a 5 year old, leave their store? The defect wasn't my fault and I shouldn't have to pay for her/the companys' mistake. And why be in customer service at all when you're going to be snippy and snide with customers? I only wish I got her name. I'd rate it NO STARS but that's not an option, Shopper BEWARE This is the last time I'll EVER order from Dons Hobby Shop and I hope others read this too and are aware of what they'll be getting themselves into. read more

Friendly and helpful staff! A wide variety of products! The staff are very informative and helped me pick out the best make up for my costume. They even showed me how to use it right there and then with a quick demo! read more