Rosie "Retail Therapy" S.'s Profile

WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW.

(wows = stars)

This is one of the city's most spectacular rooms for sure. The aesthetics are incredible, the acoustics are PERFECTION and the lobby spaces are unique and a very lovely tribute to both the history and the new growth of this space.

The Globe and Mail calls it "The temple of tone." So true.

You can rent it for events (various spaces), it offers performances open to the public, and it's also an educational institute. Nicely played.

Stay classy, Koerner Hall.

I. LOVE. THIS. BOUTIQUE.

The thing about it, though folks, is that you have to respect what it is. Come here to buy. Come prepared to spend. You must interact with the FC peeps in order to find your treasure(s). And they are wizards.

So, as I said, you must use their best resource - their staff!

Go in, and just explain what you want... or don't want... I didn't know, so I outlined I couple of styles (dress cuts) I like, and a bunch I know I hate. They then found 6 to 8 dresses for me to start with. My find was the fourth one I tried on, and I tried on 5 or 6 after (just to be sure). It's so FUN to play dress-up! They have a few pairs of slip-on heels at the mirror, and they'll accessorize it up so you can get the WHOLE pic before deciding.

Bought one of the most expensive pieces of clothing I now own there on Sunday.

GORGEOUS dress designed by Pam Chorley herself for $399 plus a beautiful crinoline (also made in-house) for $50. For $500 (plus another $50 for a new pair of satin pumps on sale), it was totally worth it. I felt AMAZING.

It's a black lace, vintage-inspired silhouette (a la Mad Men swanky cocktail party). Just gorgeous. They have a huge in-house line that's made in Canada and really beautiful.

Here's the link - though mine is black lace rather than the swirly overlay pictured - http://fashioncrimes.c...

LOVE IT! GO HERE!

WOW! Yum! This place was completely unexpected.

My company is moving into our first real offices in a few weeks - we were there for a tour of the new space (on Lesmill Road, currently under construction) and decided to stop for lunch too... preview our options in the area!

This is located in a plaza with a bunch of other establishments - a Fox & Fiddle-type pub, a big Chinese buffet, Starbucks, Pizzaiolio,

YUMMERS! I'm a sucker for bread, as we know. The bread here is fantastic and fresh - you can also buy loaves to take home.

For $9.69 you can choose two of:
- half bowl of soup (still huge)
- half sandwich (from their classic cafe sandwiches, gourmet sandwiches and grilled paninis)
- half salad (eight to choose from)

I got the above deal - soup/sandwich. I chose the "Grilled Vegetables, Portobello & Arugula on Multigrain" (Grilled peppers, eggplant, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, arugula, red onions with a nut-free basil pesto & lentil hummus). It was great! I couldn't eat the whole thing, however... I also got the cream of broccoli soup which was to DIE for. I was also a little hungover, admittedly, so the saltiness of the soup made me come back to life.

There were three others in my party - one got the same deal as me, but got the pumpkin soup and the gourmet turkey/avocado sandwich; the others got the classic chicken breast (had a ton of veggies on it) sandwich and a turkey BLT-type thing on amazing cheese foccacia. The place was efficient, clean, seemed like a great place to meet people or to get work done by yourself...

We will definitely be frequenting this place once we move in!

I have nothing to say but absolutely wonderful things about this place!

I have been a customer for about seven years - through boyfriends, of course... I always send them here. I have nine or 10 pieces from Eko, and I adore them all.

It's kind of a nasty thing to do, sending boyfriends here, since the layout is a bit intimidating, but they always have the BEST things to say about it. The  sales staff are all outstanding. They know how to make anyone and everyone (including Mr. Rosie S.) feel comfortable. He goes back here not only because I love it, but because they make the experience enjoyable and easy.

Once I had to go in to get a bracelet repaired, and the customer service was remarkably polite and positive. They have also sized both rings and bracelets for me, free of charge. A truly classy, customer-oriented place that supports indie designers.

What's not to love?

Very cool concept, but more work needs to be done to put into action.

Great find are possible, but you REALLY need to be careful here - I tried on about a dozen things, and all but three had major damage (and really should not have been out for sale). Terrible staining, rips and frays, etc.

Sizing is a challenge as they are used items of a million different brands - make SURE you try things on.

Layout is totally disorganized. Guys, arranging by colour is not the most effective. As others have said, you'll find high-end right next to bargain basement, which means you need to search through every single item to find the treasures. For those who love the thrill of the chase, this place might be your heaven. For me, I found it irritating.

Staff were friendly although the so-much-cooler-than-you vibe was a bit much. One of the girls sitting behind the checkout was actually offensive, but the girl on the floor helping me out was great.

One of my fave locations. Gets 4 stars because it was so crowded there was nowhere to sit to try on!

Loved that the new pumps came with stick-on treads for the bottom, and the woman helping me gave great tips on how to apply (use a blow dryer afterwards)!

Snagged a great pair of black satin peep-toe heels with a bow on sale for $40 for my company's annual gala. Sweet.

Also (shhh... don't tell...) got a pair of grey legwarmers on sale for $6. Even sweeter.

Great staff, great store, and unexpected in these parts!

Ordered delivery from here tonight... New Year's Day and just too lazy and tired after all the holiday gallivanting to cook!

Mr. Rosie S. ordered the Lamb Souvlaki Dinner and I got the Vegetarian Dinner #2 (spanakopita & Greek salad). We also ordered extra pita bread and tzatziki.

The tzatziki, as others have said, is incredible. EXTREMELY garlicky! I thought it was pepper-spicy at first, but no. THAT is how much garlic they use. I love it, and it's worth the dragon breath.

PLUS you're about to eat a (fabulous) Greek salad - feta, raw red onions, olives, etc. - more breath fun there. We both really liked the salad (his came with a small, mine with a large which could have fed four).

D loved his lamb and the rice was very lovely - had a lemon tinge to the flavour. Potatoes were not so good - when it says "roasted potatoes", I think the browned, thick/crispy outside, soft inside. This was the peeled-potatoes-sitting-in-hot-liquid-all-day type. Basically mashed potatoes still in the shape of mashed potatoes.

The spanakopita was very nice - not mushy, quite crispy, good flavour. I feel that the majority of the time, Greek pastry (especially delivery/take-out) tends to be very oversalted or completely bland). This one is great - no gross frozen spinach aftertaste, great cheese blend... loved it.

We will probably end up ordering from here again - a nice break from the pizza and Asian delivery!

GREAT customer service!

It was too cold to walk all the way to the LCBO, and Mr. Rosie S. had the car, so I "dialed-a-bottle"!

They came within the hour, as promised (about 50 minutes), and the delivery man was very friendly.

However, when I got into the kitchen to unpack the bag, I found one error (in my order of three things) - he had given me SHERRY instead of BAILEY'S (I have no idea how they could be confused...)! YIKES!

I went back onto the website - no phone number to be found.

So, I replied to my order confirmation, filled out their contact form as well as emailed all the actual email addresses I could find.

Within 5 minutes, I received a reply saying the driver was on his way back to make the swap. Awesome!

Going to definitely use them again - I was very impressed with their customer service.

This is the most overpriced supermarket in the area.

It's on the main strip of Springdale, so it's convenient, but it makes MUCH more sense to drive to Hurricane and shop there (try the Walmart if you want to find the best prices). You'll pay over double the MSRP for a lot of standard items.

That said, Sol Foods has a great selection of organic, sustainable and vegetarian/vegan products, so if that's your priority, this is the place to go.

As for me, I can't stand the thought of paying $6 for a loaf of Wonderbread or $8 for a 2L carton of generic, from-concentrate OJ. Sorry!