Europe Bound

You go to this location for bike gear — they’re not greatly stocked on outdoor gear. King location is better for that.

Sometimes the disorganization can work for you. I popped into Europe Bound looking for a good pair of pants and found they had a sale on their Marmot products. Pants were great, but the 30% off sign was a week old. Because it was still up, they honoured the discount and I walked out with a great pair of pants. I appreciated Europe Bound for honouring their dated sale sign!

I’m not a frequent visitor to this area, but was in the neighbourhood, so dropped in to take a look since it’s been a long time that I entered this particular Europe Bound.
This location is definitely more orderly and organized than the location on King. I was greeted upon entering and asked if I needed assistance which was a nice surprise compared to the other location.
I was able to move freely around the store and just browse at my leisure. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but always like to check out the clearance section just in case of a good sale.
Some parts of the store looked a bit sparse because of lack of merchandise which is quite the contrast to the other location as it’s just jammed packed with everything. Nevertheless, they do have good selections of outdoors equipment, clothing and accesories that one would need. Plus they have a bike maintenance area which seems to be popular at this location.
Looks like a decent outdoorsy store to me.

The guys who work here are absolute d**kheads. They’ll send you to another store just to get you out of the store. Don’t waste your time.

I popped in here while on vacation in Toronto as we had a flat on our stroller and Unilocal showed it as close to the hotel we were staying at. I was pretty sure we were going to need a new tube for the wheel and had resigned myself to pushing my two kids around with a flat tire, but figured this was worth a try.
I got to the store and the clerk sent me downstairs to the bike department. Down there I found a lovely gentleman who not only fixed my tire, but provided great conversation while he did it! Turns out we both came from the same part of the country (interior BC) so we had lots to talk about. Anyhow, my tire just needed to be put back together (we’d been a little overzealous with the pump) and he fixed it free of charge.
Altogether an enjoyable experience and I’d happily return for my biking needs if I’m ever in the area!

Went in to the Front St location and tried on some Vibram FiveFingers. Was told they were 30% off and was really excited about that. I tried a couple of different types and sizes and the employee was mostly helpful, although not overly. He said they had limited choices but I should try the King St. location for more selection and to try the Merrel barefoot shoes. I went all the way to the other store and was helped by another employee, who was decent but again not overly so. We found a pair I really liked and I was ready to buy, but then was told they are not on sale and it’s only Winter Clothing that their Boxing Day sale included. We called the other store and they said the first employee had screwed up and I could go back there, but they don’t have the type that fits me. So I left empty handed and I’ll order them online for cheaper.
They should have just given me the quoted price at the King St. store, so at least they would have a happy customer and my money in their till, instead of a bad review and none of my money.
Update: The manager finally got back to me. After a weak apology, two weeks too late, I expressed my distaste for the way the small situation was handled, which turned it into a larger issue. He then responded with this:
«Wow! I read your comments on Unilocal,pretty harsh don’t you think!!! People make mistakes. It was Boxing Day. Unbelievable. I was away visiting my family during the Christmas holidays and I come back to read comments like this. Thats why you weren’t emailed. Those are disgusting comments.»
Yes, people do make mistakes. I was happy to forgive and forget for the mistakes. In fact, I even bought the shoes from your store in the end. The issue was the 2 week wait time for a response. And now saying that I wasn’t emailed because of my comments? That’s a really poor way to run a business and to treat your customers.
I would expect a multi-​store retailer to have someone available to answer customer service inquiries while the manager is away, especially during Christmas and Boxing Week! Unbelievable.
I’d written up my full story on my website and will keep it updated as the story unfolds.

Service quickly degrading, prices still decent.
The master bike technician that is now working there has replaced one that I had some issues with in the past. He initially seemed better, but my last experience was rather disappointing.
I called on Friday with some issues with my spokes, asking how much it would cost to replace them. I was given a fair quote as well as a time-​line of up to one day. I was told that if I were to bring my wheel in early Friday or Saturday, it could be repaired by the end of the day. I hurried and brought my wheel in as soon as I could which was at the end of day on Friday. I was told that my wheel needed to be replaced as it was in too rough a shape to be worth repairing. Since they were hurrying to close, my information was taken down and I was promised a call-​back from the master technician (who had at that point left for the day) on Saturday. Saturday went by and I got no call-​back. I called them on Sunday and the person who answered the phone said something along the lines of, «OK, have a good day. Europe Bound.» So he was giving someone a parting statement as picking up the phone, it would appear. I asked to speak to the bike technician and I was asked how he could help me. I gave him the situation and he said that someone would be calling me back that day. Several hours later, I wanted to know if I could ride my bike to work the next day, so I called them back. I asked to speak to the bike tech, and I was asked to hold. Someone else then picked up, and I asked if I was speaking to Steven to which I got «How can I help you» as a response. I told him they had my wheel and I was wondering if they had any updates. He told me that it needed to be replaced as the hub on it was bad as were a bunch of the spokes. When I asked him what the price range would be for a new one, he replied that I should call back on Monday as they could get a hold of their distributor then to see what the prices are so they can order one for me then. I called Urbane Cyclist, where they had the wheel in-​stock and said they were able to do the replacement of the wheel in 15 minutes. I then got a call back on Tues being told that the repairs of the wheel would cost $ 10 less than a new one and truing of it would basically be impossible, so they recommended getting a new wheel. I decided not to do any repairs/​replacement for the time being.
So with this experience in mind, the quality of this store has gone way down in my books.