Thread: Mississauga, Ontario Canada Resources?

Hi all.

I came upon this Forum during my hunt for information on straight razor shaving and subsequently joined. I appreciate the amazing sharing of information here finding it very educational.

Although the internet has been very usefull in this endeavour, I prefer the "touch & feel" method of buying merchandise. However, once I know what I'm looking for, no problem buying it from any reliable source.

I have had difficulty locating a resource where I can do the "touch & feel" thing and am wondering if anyone in this group has any knowledge of what might be available in this area.

Thanks for sharing.

FryGuy, Welcome, no I don't know anything about Canada, but have you signed up for our give away? Even though you can't lay hands on them, The price is right.

Phil

Originally Posted by floridaboy

FryGuy, Welcome, no I don't know anything about Canada, but have you signed up for our give away? Even though you can't lay hands on them, The price is right.

Phil

Thanks floridaboy. I have signed up for your give away and would be very happy with how they feel. What an awesome and generous thing you are doing.

Cheers!

Welcome FryGuy!

I'm not sure of any shops in Mississauga , but Toronto Beauty and Barber Supply (TBBS) in Toronto have some (very limited) razors and supplies.
If you go, I highly recommend buying the J.M. Fraser's shaving cream (its my personal favourite).

I'm sure there are more around, but that's all that I know of. Try doing a search of the forums, as this topic has been previously discussed.

Good luck!

Thanks so much Str877. I will check this shop out and your recommendation.

Welcome aboard. Knife Shoppe or Personal Edge in any major mall (like SQ1) will usually carry a DOVO that they let anyone touch with their greasy fingers and a dinky little DOVO strop that's only useful as an occasional traveller. Crabtree & Evelyn stores carry good brushes, great creams and useless soaps.

Thanks Ilija. This gives me a place to start. Have you ordered off the web and or had a razor sharpened by Lynn? if so, how was it treated by customs?

I've had all my stuff go through customs untouched...apparently stuff from Classic Shaving gets dinged periodically, but other than that, no trouble (especially if you buy used).

Of course, YMMV.

Mark

For reliable, off the shelf, Canadian Friendly shaving supplies:

Lee's Safety Razors, carries some straight razors, the Illinoise 127 and at my request, the 827 strops, lots of nice soaps, creams and the wonderful Simpson brush range... there's more but you need to call or email to get the full scope of what he has. Super fast/ inexpensive shipping via the post office.

QED: Charles offers superb service on gentlemen's toiletries and the wonderful Savile Row shaving brush range, not to mention his own range of soaps/after shave products. Does not offer straight razor specific items though. Fast/inexpensive shipping via the post office.

Vintage Blades: Straight razors, new and vintage, excellent range of brushes including Rooney and Shavemac, a wide range of soaps, creams AND aftershaves including those with alcohol which cannot be shipped via the usual mail service. Jim at Vintage blades has a somewhat different approach to shipping to Canada using UPS. He operates as a non-resident importer to Canada so when you order from him, his price + shipping and taxes is all you ever pay as the GST, brokerage etc. is all included. UPS will drop your package at your door with no collection of any fees. The GST is charged based on the import value, not the retail value so in the end it's not a bad deal at all.... The icing on the cake is that you can order plenty of alcohol based after shaves without having to worry about Customs Canada confiscating those "Hazardous products"!

John Crowleys Shaving shop is another trusted source of a vast array of newly made straight razors and has a full range of other items useful to the straight razor shaver. I have as of yet not ordered anything from John but he is very responsive to emails and it's only a matter of time before my wallet feels the bite with John.

Tony Miller, The Well Shaved Gentleman. What can I say that has not already been said about Tony..... If you want the best in leather strops, look no further. Quick to ship if it's in stock, friendly to all, can't ask for more.

Howard of Theperfectedge is another trusted source for shipping to Canada, great products and frankly the only place I would order a natural hone/stone from....

As for Customs, taxes etc..... The rules are simply, if shipped via the Post Office, there is a good chance that Customs Canada will get their paws on your package and they will charge GST/PST on anything over $20.00 Canadian + add a $5.00 handling fee to pay Canada Post for doing the work of collecting the outstanding taxes/duties. If a package is clearly marked as a gift, that limit goes up to $60 Canadian before taxes/duties/fees are incurred. Using the post office is usually the cheapest way of importing items from anywhere in the world but there are exceptions. Vintage Blades for one with the special deal via UPS makes it a very viable option.

There are times when a package slips through customs without getting dinged.... it really does depend on luck and or where the item is coming from. Some states are flagged by customs for more careful scrutiny, California for one and I've noticed this with shipments from Classic Shaving... it's not their fault, it's just the way it is.

There are others that also do great trade with Canadian customers but I have dealt personally with those mentioned above except for John Crowley but I suspect that will not be true for much longer... he is a member of SRP and is no doubt lurking in the shadows.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have....

Regards

Christian in Winnipeg

PS: When ordering products from a dealer in the States, I for one consider it very poor form to ask them to lie on the customs declaration form. There is always the possibility of repercussions to them for doing so.

I've ordered some stuff off the web. Most of my rotation are either antiques I got off e-bay or while scouring Dixie Mall and the occasional antique shop. I never had a blade honed by Lynn, but he was instrumental in the development of my honing skills. I honed most of my rotation, with the exception of X helping me hone my first razor and ordering 2 shave ready pieces that we'll get to later on in this post. Here are some exceptions:
1) I got a strop and one shave-ready DOVO from Tony Miller at www.thewellshavedgentleman.com. He sells SUPERB strops and the DOVO was as sharp as anything I've ever honed. His prices are cheap considering the quality of work, his shipping rates are reasonable and I think he ships via USPS (no brokerage fees and some stuff slips through the cracks even with high declared values).
2) Got some aftershave (before the ban on flammables) and some restoration supplies off www.classicshaving.com. Excellent service, ok prices, but they shipped via a courier service so I had to use a lot of Vaseline to get over the brokerage fee rape.
3) Got a custom-made razor from Joe Chandler. Excellent experience all around.
4) Soaps by Colleen. www.thegentlemensquarter.com Not cheap since they have to be shipped from south of the border but worth every penny. Best I've ever tried and I've tried quite a few.
5) Soaps by Giovanni http://www.razorandbrush.com/indexbarbieria.html Tryphon soaps have the best lather on the market and some of them deliver a great minty punch.