Herbie’s Herbs

First of all Canadian should be lucky to have this store, especially with vacines becoming mandatory in the US and ongoing efforts to shut down the vitamin/​herb sector. Seond, the internet was a godsend for these people. Before when I needed a herbal formula I had to go into the bowels of downtown Toronto and look for a parking spot. Now I order online, pay a small postage fee, and the item is at my door in three days on average. Great store.

Needed some sweet paprika and these guys had a quarter pound for $ 3. It was delicious.
The employees are helpful in aiding for the search (although herbs and spices are organized alphabetically), and they also wear old-​timey doctor coats, which immediately makes me trust them.

Ive been a customer for 5 years + and wont be going back after today.
Ive experienced some snuffy attitude from both the owner and 2 particular staff members on more than one occasion but brushed it aside due to how convenient it is to run in and pick up what i need sometimes (i live close). However, todays aggression due to me returning a possible moldy bag was not warranted. I felt attacked and unappreciated. No apologies, no discussion, just some huffing and puffing. Even if i was wrong about the mold, there are more democratic ways to handle such situations particularly considering the item was only 8 $ and i had spent a few thousand over the years at their store…
The owner wouldnt even look at me, he was talking to me through his daughter (the only friendly staff member) and all 3 of us were a few feet from each other…
To top it all off the quality is not the greatest for some items and their prices are the highest you will ever encounter.
Im just dissapointed i didnt stop shopping here sooner, oh well lesson learned.
Oh and some of the advice given as other posters mentioned is clearly wrong…

whoaaa this place is magic! There’s a shit load of voodoo in here, and all of it is amazing and pure. I felt good being in there. There are shelves and shelves of bagged up herbal goodness, herbs I have never even heard of before. Also, the lady behind the counter knew her shit. She put together a tincture, aka A MAGIC POTION of herbs and natural juices to help my friend with her body infection, an infection she probably got from licking a pole on the TTC. I myself bought a few healing crystals because my life is full of bad and evil shit, and this is the only way out! Crystals, not just for smoking, but for healing!!!

I agree with the 1^st reviewer – a very wide selection with unknowledgable staff.
I also stopped coming here over a year ago after one of the employees berated me when I asked to buy 1lb of Juniper powder after he had already brought out 1lb of Guarana powder that I was ready to purchase. That’s $ 54 worth of merchandise. He complained that it was too laborious of him to return to the back-​room to get the Juniper and that I should have asked for both at the same time. There is just no respect for the customer.
The inaccurate product knowledge is not only confined to the website but to the employees and this can potentially be dangerous. For instance, I know that Butterbur can be very effective in treating both migraines and allergies but can be hepatoxic and carcinogenic due to its pyrrolizidine alkaloid content. Only carefully-​made extracts that remove those compounds are safe for human use. The employee i spoke with, however, simply sated that any herb can be toxic in high doses and that Butterbur is no more toxic than any other plant the store sells, which is a falsehood.
I’m still not going to lower my overall rating as the selection and prices are rather good. It’s just that the service is so very, very terrible.

I would mark higher, if the staff were more knowledgeable, but they are not. Herbie’s Herbs is a great place to go if looking for a fairly decent selection of herbs — verbena, lavendar, calendula, cinnamon, feverfew etc. But if you visit the shop be prepared to take of yourself. I have never gotten actual service.
If you want to deal with a proper Herbalist, I’d recommend Thuna Herbs on the Danforth. Herbie’s Herbs isn’t the place to go if you want a Herbalist consult, but it is decent enough to get any necessary herbal ingredients.