Tip: If there's no one at the stall, you can pay for your items at the Markets checkout area…read more On Saturday, I was in downtown Bowmanville for the first time. i checked out Markets. It had a bunch of vendors under one roof. I spotted Another Spin Records. I love music and record stores. I didn't see any staffers for this business. It was a treat to browse records that this place had. There were new and used records. The variety was amazing. I spotted Duran Duran's Seventh and the Ragged Tiger. I don't have it in record form. I do have it on cassette. There were many Howard Jones records. It was like going through his entire repertoire. I like 80's music. Still stuck in that era, it was great seeing Culture Club and Cyndi Lauper records. The used records were decently prices. I saw them going between $16 and $20. The newer records will cost you more, mainly because there aren't many record-pressing companies out there these days. A brand new Jagged Little Pill album by Alanis Morrissette went for $41. James Blunt's Once Upon a Mind was going for $37. This store also had books in a small section of the stall. I saw a Taylor Swift book there. I liked visiting this store. It was fun browsing. (357)

Tip: The sign on the door states that this store accepts Discover as a payment method. I have yet…read moreto try it here. On Saturday, I saw this Dollarama across the street from where I was having lunch. I like a good dollar store. I decided to drive over to this store to check it out. The plaza that this store is in is huge. There was lots of parking. I parked and headed over to this store. I like that most Dollarama stores are set up the same way. I got the kitchen accessories section. I loved it so much. It now has Martha Stewart and KitchenAid items. I liked finding Zipper Seal reusable bags. I got a five-pack of sandwich bags. I've been using them ever since. I love them. This store has Viva Puffs. I got a box of raspberry ones. Cheap and yummy. The snack sections is excellent. I ended up getting Bounty. It was fascinating seeing boxes of plant-based butter chicken with basmati rice. It even has a bowl, spoon, fork, and napkin in this box. Fancy? I need to try it the more that I think about it. I lined up to pay for my items. This store does not have self-checkout kiosks. There were two staffers cashing folks out. The male staffer that I got was great. He scanned everything. I paid with a credit card. All was great. I thanked him and headed to my car. I put everything in a reusable bag and continued shopping at this plaza. I loved shopping here. I'd return when I'm in the area. (335)

Tip: The canned fish section is excellent…read more On Saturday, I was in Bowmanville, shopping at Winners. After I was done, I noticed this Dollar Tree store across from it. I hadn't been in Bowmanville for a while. I don't recall what this store used to be. I don't remember it being here. I decided to check it out. I drove over to it, as I noticed that there was a parking spot with a tree providing shade. I parked my car under it and walked in. Autumn drinkware and bowls greeted me. Frankly, I can't get into that spirit when it is summer, and I am wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Naturally, I checked out the food and drinks. It had a decent cereal section. I liked seeing mocktails, so I got a sugar-free raspberry mojito. I typically buy lemon juice at a dollar store. This one had lime juice. I had bought a lime the other day for the juice. I decided to invest in the juice version here. Pasta sauce is cheap at $2 a can. I got Primo's garden tomatoes and mushrooms. This store has a decent canned fish section. It's primarily sardines, tuna, and salmon. I was hoping for anchovies, but the demand is likely not there. It was cool seeing Kraft Dinner and Annie's mac and cheese varieties. The latter was new to me. I went to pay for my items. The lineup at the checkout was busy, but it did move fast. I got a woman who was pleasant. I paid for my items with a credit card. It was easy to tap to pay. I thanked her, grabbed my items and receipt, and headed to my car. I liked shopping here. (356)

Tip: Earn GAP rewards at its sister company, Old Navy, with every purchase…read more My best friend had spotted that the plaza that we were at had an Old Navy. We had just finished shopping at Winners. We looked at the Old Navy listing on Google Maps. Photos showed that it was next to HomeSense. From our vantage point, we couldn't see it. Was it in the corner or was it permanently closed? We had no clue. We drove over to the corner. Old Navy was there. Location-wise, it's not the best being tucked away in the corner. I parked closer to the store. My friend was slightly further away. We got out of our vehicles and walked in. We both like Old Navy. I have always liked that it is size-inclusive. At my heaviest, I was able to find clothing that fit me without looking frumpy. This store had 50% off jeans. What a steal! My friend got a pair of boyfriend jeans. I found a luxe top that felt so nice to the touch. It was also on sale at 30% off. I got it in green. There were so many good deals at this store. Getting a t-shirt for $12 was decent. I liked seeing an assortment of jean jackets. I got a friendly male staffer at the checkout. I entered my phone number associated with my GAP rewards to earn points. I paid for my item with a credit card. I tapped and was done. He asked me if I needed a bag. I declined, as I had a single item that didn't merit one. I walked over to my friend. She didn't have a phone number associated with her GAP rewards. Maybe she did, but she has moved around and likely had an old phone number associated with it. She was able to rattle off her e-mail address. The manager found her rewards account that way. Yay! There was an orange alert for heavy thunderstorms while we were shopping. We heard thunder and heavy rain while shopping at this store. We had to wait between the doors for the pouring rain to stop. It took perhaps fifteen minutes before it was safe to head to our vehicles without being drenched. I liked shopping here. It had great deals and service. It's a good place to stay dry during a thunderstorm, too! (344)

I do not think that accompanying my husband to the 'men's section ' of your changing room to…read morecheck the fit of a shirt would have been disallowed. Seriously? Maybe just... I dunno.. get with the times and move to a more accommodating situation? Left a sour taste in my mouth.

I love Winners. I spotted this location after shopping at Farm Boy…read more The funny thing is that I have done some quick banking at the CIBC within this plaza in the past. I neither noticed this Winners, nor the SportChek next door. This store is one of the better ones. For those in Whitby, be proud of it for a few reasons. First, I am a huge fan of Kipling handbags. This store goes one step beyond my usual level of happiness at Winners by offering a pink Kipling backpack. It is a rare find. The second point sealed my love for this store. It offers USB type C cables, which is incredible. It is a first for me! You typically get micro USB and lightning cables in ample supply. Yes, I have to be so different with a phone that only uses USB type C. You get a decent variety of two different brands. Both USB type C cables are six feet in length and go for $7.99. Perfect! I love the selection of items, from limited edition Simpson Tic Tacs in both donut and bubble gum flavours, to Popcornopolis popcorn. I don't see any of these fine products at my local Winners. The selection of size 11 women's shoes in decent. I nearly bought a pair of Keds sneakers, but decided that I didn't love them desperately enough to purchase them. The cashier was super sweet. She was polite and cheerful. I happily paid for my purchase and walked out. There is plenty of parking. When I am in this area again, I will certainly drop by. (233)

Urban Planet is in the throes of its closing sale right now since this wing of PTC is about to be…read moreconverted into City of Pickering space. Aside from the gigantic signage indicating that the store is closing, you wouldn't really be able to tell because all the racks and shelves are still fully stocked! In fact, there is a lot of merchandise spilling out into the mall and they are able to take up a lot of space since neighboring stores have already been vacated. Everything has been reduced to super cheap prices. Out front there are racks that are all $5 and $7. There are a lot of basics in this section like tanks and camis that have little embellishes like buttons or ties in the front. There were also tees and dresses. They do have many tops that have strange prints and patterns on them so look closely. Inside they have more substantial items and they even have a small athletics section. There are men's items but there was definitely way more women's clothing. I didn't bother trying on any of the tops I picked out since they were so cheap but the back wall is mostly change rooms. My friend and I came away with a pretty good haul of 7 items for $40!

This review is my first for 2017. Yay!…read more I have visited this Winners a number of times within the past four years. I used to go to Bowmanville once a month back in the day. I love a short road trip. With any Winners location, the merchandise tends to be different. Over the years, I have managed to score a number of cool, unique items. On my last trip, I managed to get anti-aging serum (I have a few brown spots on my feet, likely due to not applying sunscreen on them during the Summer) and quinoa pancake mix. I love the selection of teas and gourmet food items. I nearly got a package of lemon risotto. I also wanted the package of wild rice with mushrooms. I was pleased that I showed some restraint for a change! As always, staff there are friendly. The woman cashing me out was friendly and seemed to enjoy her shift on Saturday. It was refreshing! There is plenty of parking. This store shares its parking lot with Canadian Tire. It is an area full of box stores and a movie theatre. (1)

Good location with great service. Friendly staff who go above and beyond to make your shopping…read moreexperience pleasurable.

Tip: The stationery section is decent. Just the pens alone are fun…read more I needed a bowl with measurement units. I have plastic and steel mixing bowls, but they don't have measurements. It would be easier to measure ingredients in the bowl and stir everything in it, more to improve efficiency and not dirty up a measuring cup. This bowl would also be great to soak items, such as beans. I thought I'd try my hand at a dollar store. I was in Ajax. I did a search and this Dollar Tree was close by. Perfect! It was a great introduction to this plaza, which is a bit north of all the major box stores. I pulled into the parking lot and parked. It's across from Value Village. It also has a Crumbl, which is probably the closest one to my home. Back-to-school items greeted me. I have always enjoyed looking at school supplies. I liked seeing Jibbitz knockoffs for your notebooks and Crocs. There were pens galore. The pens were cute and practical. I eventually landed in the regular stationery aisle and got a metal twist-up pen with a pineapple on top. I like that it's small and fits in my purse. It's got black ink and writes smoothly. Fall items are out. Pumpkin decorations. Pumpkin spice everything, from candles, to air fresheners. I am not ready for autumn in my shorts and t-shirt, sweating buckets. I hit the kitchen section. I've always loved looking at accessories. I found the bowl of my dreams. Not only was the size right and it had measurements inside the bowl, it had a spout to easily pour liquid or batter out of it. Yay! It came in three colours. I went with grey. I don't have any grey bowls and there were maybe ten or so in this colour compared to the white and red ones that had at least twice the number. I had completed my mission. I ended up browsing. The automotive section had steering wheel covers that looked like shower caps. The problem was the the material was slippery. It would be better to have a more grippy material, but I loved the ease of applying it to the steering wheel. The snack aisle was excellent. I ended up getting a bag of Covered Bridge potato chips in sweet heat. It's a Canadian brand that I enjoy, but have never tried this flavour. There was a family of two women and four children. They had found the washroom, but the door was locked. My guess is that you need to contact a staffer to unlock the door. As with all Dollar Tree stores, you get the best bang for your buck when it comes to getting inflated helium balloons for your party needs. I liked the variety. You're also not breaking the bank because you're in a dollar store getting some! The cold beverage section was also impressive. There was lots of variety. It had pop, water, water with vitamins and electrolytes, energy drinks, and more. Sadly, this family of six took its sweet time trying to make payment. This store is cool, but does not have air conditioning. It didn't help for all of us waiting while getting warm for these two adult women to pay. The toddler behind me with his dad wasn't a happy camper. They eventually did pay after five minutes. Props go to the nice female staffer at the checkout. She had so much patience with these two women. She was cheerful getting me next. I paid for my items with a debit card. I tapped and was done. I wished her a good day and told her to take care. She thanked me and reciprocated. Nice staff. Cool, useful items. Other than a bit of a delay dealing with a loud family coughing up payment, I enjoyed shopping here. I'd do it again when I'm in the area. (376)