Williams Sonoma

The customer service at this location always seems to be lacking. Sherway Gardens is my mall of choice and normally service is great regardless of the store but the staff at this Williams-​Sonoma lack basic customer service skills. My husband and I have both shopped together and on separate occasions and always leave feeling like we’ve interrupted or inconvenienced the sales associates by shopping and purchasing. On one occasion, the sales associate was so preoccupied with removing staples from a table cloth, she told an elderly couple the item they were looking for was ‘just up at the front of the store’ while pointing and letting them go off on their own to find it.
Neither of us have ever been greeted upon entering the store or been asked if we’d like assistance. To be helped, I find I always have to wait at the cash desk until someone appears from the back or looks up from their merchandising to acknowledge me.
On the other hand, the products are great, and we’re excited to redeem the very generous gift card we received as a wedding gift but I think we’ll head to another location to use it.

What a terrible shopping experience I had there today. Friends had bought my wife and I a wedding gift, a gift card from Williams-​Sonoma. Firstly the web site wouldn’t allow us to redeem it (even though they say all over the site that you can, apparently it only applies to US shoppers and not Canadians). So into the store I trekked with my list of 3 things that I couldn’t buy from the site with the gift card. Sounds simple enough, right?
On arrival I was asked if I needed help, and I said yes and informed the sales woman that I had a list of specific items that I was looking for and that it even had the item numbers/​SKUs. She sounded very surprised but didn’t want the list I had printed that though would make life much easier, she wanted the items by name … but only one at a time. Sooooo it all started. After 20+ minutes of waiting around and them fumbling through their inventory software they «found» the first item I was looking for in the back … the computer told them they had 4 in stock but they were all scratching their heads as to where they would be. The sales woman brought me 3 of the 4 of them they had, apparently so I could «look» at the different ones and decide which I wanted (this was a boxed up pair of knives in a gift set). I thought it a bit strange but picked up the first box, opened it up and said «Yes, this is what I want.»
After scanning in this first item the price was a good bit more than it was on the website. I asked about this and was told in a very brusk manner by the store manager (who had taken over at this point, apparently it was too much for the other employee to handle) that there was no way they could «match» the price advertised on their website, and that the price that I had on my list must be in US dollars. It was not. It took her about 10 minutes of clicking all around the website to concede that the price I showed her was indeed in Canadian dollars.
She then proceeded to tell me that she still couldn’t match the price because «of course you still have to pay duty on that price» … and the answer was no, you do not, all the prices they show on the site include all applicable duty (this is in bold in 18 point font at the top of the page which was currently open on her computer and I pointed this out to her). Then she proceeds to tell me «Oh look, see this? There’s a flat rate $ 10 shipping charge on any items so I still can’t price match that price because you have to pay shipping» … I proceeded to ask her «So you’re telling me that I have to pay a $ 10 shipping fee even though I’m here in the store to pick the item up???» …
The arguing went along for a few more minutes with her giving me even more excuses why she couldn’t possibly match the price on the website until I pulled out my phone and actually read her the statement on the website that stated that all advertised prices were valid in any Williams-​Sonoma retail store. She still wasn’t budging, so I asked to speak to her supervisor. When she told me that she was the store manager and didn’t have a supervisor, so I then asked her to call up her head office and have THEM explain to ME why I had been standing here wasting time for over half of an hour and that it was ok for her to charge me more than the advertised price for the item in question. She finally relented and insisted on looking at the US price for the item and then using today’s exchange rate in order to «fix» the price on my item — so it turned out to be $ 0.61 more expensive than the website price. Luckily while all of this waiting around was happening I found the other couple of items that were on my list by myself and they didn’t need price adjustments.
All-​in-​all one of the worst shopping experiences I’ve had in a long, long time. I will likely never set foot in that store again. If it had not been for the gift card that I had no choice but to redeem in their brick and mortar store I would have walked out without making the purchase.

** 3.5 Stars **
My love for cooking and food often drives me to search out the best wares and items to create that perfect dish. When Williams Sonoma came to Canada, I was thrilled but the price mark up kept me away from the store for the first few years. Fast forward to today and I’m still weary of paying the Canadian retail price but the service and noted constant sales is slowly winning me over.
The store is right at the corridor leading to Holt Renfrew and right across from Tiffany’s. With it’s golden accented and deep blonde wood doors, the waft of spiced apple cider pulls me in. They have a full working kitchen inside the store and one of their cleaver ploys is having a constant baked or bubbling item going at all times. During Thanksgiving it’s their pumpkin butter bars and now it’s their peppermint bark and spiced cider.
For the epicurean, this place is potentially nirvana (if it was all free). You’ll find only the best (and most expensive) pieces to adorn your kitchen and dining room. Heavy copper pots, high end espresso machines, singular grain Japanese knives, hard to find herbs and spices, bakeware, and china fills the room in all corners. The associates free float and are super helpful to find the perfect utensil or item of your kitchen dreams.
They have many high end brands like Le Creuset, All Clad, WMF, and Kikuichi. It can be really daunting at first to pick up one item and see it being $ 300+. The nice thing is that there are some (relatively) affordable alternatives nearby and the associates are more than happy to explain which one would be best for you. If you’re lucky, you may find one of those ridiculously high end items in their clearance section at a good 50% off. I managed to pick an All Clad saucier that way and I still love it do date.
The store is open, spacious, and well stocked. There is never an issue with service as they are so efficient in finding you a brand new boxed item and running it through the cashier till in minutes. Though it is a very expensive store, the quality of the items and service does make it feel special. Now… if they stop that horrid Canadian mark up, this would be a perfect 4 star store.