Cheap-Ass Tools: Princess Auto’s Just Like Harbor Freight, eh!
By Chuck Cage
Dan writes: “For anyone up here in Canada, Princess Auto is the Canadian version of Harbour Freight — a lot of cheap-but-sketchy tools (22-piece screwdriver set, $8.88!) and genuinely good prices for tarps, wheels, surplus. It’s a great place to buy big 500-piece sets of c-clips, cotter pins, etc, so you’ll always have the size you need. Oh, and, yes, it’s a dangerous place to get browsing…”
I love hearing about tools and tool shops from other countries, especially our neighbors to the North. On each of my two visits to Canada I was surprised by how similar and how different simple things were from my home in Texas.
For example, the name Princess Auto, in the words of Sam Elliot, is “a name no man would self-apply where I come from.” But when I mentioned Dan’s missive to a friend, she reliably informed me that many Canadian business contain names of royalty — hence Princess Auto. Apparently this is no big deal in the great white North.
Anyway, if you’re in Canada and haven’t heard of it, Pricess Auto is a great source of cheap-ass tools. And even if you’re not in Canada, give the site a look to see where your Northern neighbors go to get tools they can’t normally afford — and where they end up spending too much cash just like you.
Princess Auto [Corporate Site]
January 28th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I’m glad I don’t live in Canada. I don’t know if I could un-man enough to shop for man-stuff at a place called “Princess”…
January 28th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Yeah, the name is weird — and, as they say, it’s a “unique world” — this time around, they had a whole bunch of sausage stuffing machines for $50.
That said, it’s hard to turn down an 18v cordless drill for $19.99, or a knockoff Dremel for $17, or a non-contact thermometer for $33..
January 28th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
For infrared non-contact thermometers, look no further than the TempGun. The Sears version was written up back on September 10th, and I posted a long comment about the success I’ve had with the Pro Exotics TempGun products. They’re solidly built, the nicer models have adjustable emissivity settings for measuring shiny surfaces, and the little ones start at US$15. Keep right on walking past the Cen-tech. Get a better tool at a better price. Oh yeah, they’re loads more durable than the Raytek.
January 28th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
The Scandinavian equivalent is Biltema (http://www.biltema.no). It started out selling cheap knock-off car parts, branched into tools and are currently selling everything from golf clubs to kitchen supplies.
Cheap-ass screwdriver set: (http://www.biltema.no/products/product.asp?iSecId=194&iItemId=93390) $9,52, 12V cordless dril $26,83 and non-contact thermometer (http://www.biltema.no/products/product.asp?iSecId=263&iItemId=91748) $63,17. This is cheap by Norwegian standards, anyway.
Hey also have a 10-years-warranty line of tools which really are quite decent.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
To make up for the store name, the house brand is called Power Fist and all of the stuff is a manly bright safety yellow. The store name is only on the building ant the receipt, my $30 7″ angle grinder says Power Fist. Although come to think of it, I don’t know that I have ever heard someone around here use Princess in a perjorative sense.
As an irrelavent aside another local tool stores house brand for thier compressor products is bynford.
February 2nd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Also, don’t forget that most of us who buy stuff from there call it “PA”. Funny thing though,… I never really thought of the name as ‘weird’… Must be that Commonwealth Country thing, I suppose..
One thing about “PA” is that you can Return ANYTHING in ANY condition and they will take it back, give you full in-store credit OR,…(and I love this one) Simply give you ALL YOUR MONEY BACK !! You can’t beat that…. ‘Period’.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Princess Auto started as a wrecking yard in Winnipeg on Princess street…hence the name.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I live about ten minutes from a pricess auto. and it really,really is abad place too browse. I get a flier about once a montha nd can check off at least $100 of stuf I think I’ll need and $20 of stuff i need now.
March 14th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
There are also some good deals on quality stuff there. Channellock, lisle, milton, and a few others can usually be had cheaper than anywhere else
April 14th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
do you think that you will ever build in chatham, ontario? if so when?
May 6th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Princess is a fantastic place for tinkerers. May as well forget about the cash refund, though. Once your money is spent there, it stays there. If you’re anything like me, you’ll walk out with something else in lieu of cash, probably a russian gas mask from the surplus section, or a box of pager motors.
If you need tools to modify and/or abuse, Power Fist is the ticket. Usually good enough to be fairly (or occasionally very) useable, but nothing you’ll regret cutting/bending/grinding… Also, as stated above, nice deals on good stuff.
I love Princess Auto, even the name.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I believe its called Princess auto because the original shop was on Princess St. in Winnipeg I went to school in Winnipeg back in the late 60’s when PA was primarily an army surplus place and built cheap farm equipment. I recall you could buy a little army jeep from them for 50 bucks back then. Wish I’d bought a truck load. A great place for the inventive mind, I love the place. Those flyers though have almost led to divorce around here
May 21st, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Also in Canada is Busy Bee Tools.
They are closer to Harbor Freight than Princess Auto, I think, in that they have most of the same or similar items as Harbor Freight. Canadian prices tend to be higher than Harbor Freight prices, especialy after allowing for currency conversion. So shop carefully.
There are some differences, at times, between Harbor Freight and Busy Bee items. For example, the Busy Bee version of the 7×10 metal lathe had metal change gears, while the arbor Freight version had plastic ones. So again it’s worth looking closely at Busy Bee in terns of price and product detail.
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:25 am
Princess Auto is coming to Newmarket (Green Lane & Hwy 404 area)! Ah, no longer a need to drive a hour plus to get there! Princess Auto is what Canadian Tire used to be, before they got the feminine hygeine section.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I have been a PA tool and equipment shoppers for awhile. I love the surplus section. I buulit a lot of stuff around the house for $5.00 Cdn.
One thing I am in love with is the furniture dolly.
I am a Canadian with Filipino heritage and I am cheapo.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I live in Burlington,Ontario. I would give PA’s power tools a mixed rating. However their return policy is unreal. They claim “no sale is final until you are satisfied”. And guess what? They mean it! I took back a broken $88.00 air compressor after 1 1/2 years with no bill. The service clerk was extra pleasant and gave me a refund, no problem!
I agree that PA is just like Costco. You go in for 1 thing and you can easily end up spending over $200.00 dollars.
June 6th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Hey cheap tools you can buy 2 or 3 for the price of a similar name brand tool. I would buy all my high end tools elsewhere but any thing under $100 seems to be great.
June 26th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Their flyers should be illegal. Constant eye-rolling from the wife when I come home from a trip to PA because of that evil flyer
Sometimes I’ll buy the bizarre surplus stuff ‘just because’. Rarely buy tools for work there, but for unique stuff for home use they can’t be beat.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I AM the wife in this house, and Im the one who introduced my husband to Princess Auto; I was introduced by a couple of other women - one is a farmer from way out in the boonies, and when she comes south the three of us like to browse hardware and building stores together. My husband took one look and he was caught, too.
My most recent purchases were a pair of small haemostats (ideal for removing a floppy disc’s metal part from where it got stuck in the floppy drive) and a small hydraulic jack for deck repairs.
July 7th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
To get to a Princess Auto i have to drive fifty miles in one direction or about seventy in the other and since i started going there i have been making a trip about once a month to get that one thing i “need” and walking out with three or four things i dont need right now but may need next week hahahaha.
Although their tools are cheap some of them work fairly well and as far as specialty dodads i think they have got Canadian Tire placing second place now.
They do have a good money back deal there and so far although i have a “couple” dodads around i havent used its been a good store for me to shop at
July 11th, 2007 at 11:35 am
ive built 2 go karts, a mini bike and a trike from princessauto’s suplies and today i have a $140 credit so me and my friend are getting some suplies. its the only nplace hear in bc that i can find all this stuff so its great for the kid thats still in school to learn from
July 15th, 2007 at 9:27 am
We buy all the tools for our delivery staff at Princess auto - some of their tools have a good over the counter replacement warranty.
Never thought about the name being girly, but “Power Fist” brand name for tools sounds like some kind of gay sex practice…..”oooh yeah, give me your power fist!” ugh!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Hi,
If you think that you don’t like shopping at a “Princess” store check out how many Canadian Stores are called “Crown” or “Royal” !
RoB
September 27th, 2007 at 5:52 am
Yes, “Princess” wouldn’t seem to be a good choice, but the company was originally founded in Winnipeg, as “Princess Auto Wrecking”, and was located on Princess Street. Why change a good thing? Here in the ‘Peg, we often simply say, “Off to Princess to get a …” and everyone is quite aware of where we’re going.
October 3rd, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Hi there. I have got a lot of things from Princess Auto and never had to take anything back. I had a grinder fail but we worked it to death. We sanded all the windows and frames on a house and that took all summer. It was only about 25 or 30 dollars for the grinder/sander so it payed for itself a few times over. I find they have some import tools there that I can not get anywere else. The surplus stuff is great if you like to invent or design on a low budget. I live about an hours drive from the store but It is worth the trip. I am going in some time this week to buy a new drill.
Owen
November 13th, 2007 at 11:41 am
The “Princess” in the name probably referred originally to a street. There are plenty of Princess Avenues, Streets, etc. here in Canada. Also lots of Kings, Queens, and Princes. The real funny thing about the name Princess Auto is the fact that they don’t sell auto parts, except for a few oddball things.
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 am
With The Royal Service included, it truly is a “kid in a candy store” experience !
Similar products at “PA” blow away the garbage being sold at Canadian Tire and likewise gracing the shelves of Dollar Stores everywhere. PA’s “No Sale Is Final Until You’re Satisfied” policy is second to none and you will always be leaving any of their locations with that goofy grin on your face wondering just what your going to do with all of your newfound goodies knowing that if you are not happy in any way they will make it right. And like most have already mentioned the impulse buying should warrant starting a support group soon. But after all… he who dies with the most toys wins!
December 8th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
I used the “princess” part of the name to trick my 2 young daughters into coming with me once. It only worked once… now they scream and run the other way! Apparently it gets boring after the first hour.
December 24th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Incidentally, since my husband was looking for presents for me for Christmas, I dropped a PA catalog off on the kitchen table with bits circled, and even notes like “I don’t know why I want this, but I WANT THIS!!!”. I think it worked, I guess I’ll see tomorrow!
December 31st, 2007 at 10:15 am
I live live in Regina, Sk, I buy some stuff at PA, but the quaility of many of the “off shore” tools is very poor. Honestly what good is a warranty on a wrench if the thing bends like butter and breaks at 10:00 p.m.
The china knock off stuff they sell is simply piracy, as China steals other companies products and then reproduce them with .25 cent an hour labour, and poor quailty materials.
My preference is to buy one higher priced quality wrench that will last for years than to have to buy one cheapo and have drive 1/2 an hour to the PA store 3 times to replace the garbage tool under warranty.
It is my time and my money,and my way of doing things.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:08 am
Princess Auto is a Canadain success story. From humble beginnings to one hell of a store. I happen to know the “Weird Name” came from it’s early beginnings. The first store was on Princess Street therefore the name!!!
As one customer here in Canada stated “if you can’t find it in Princess Auto you probably don’t need it”.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
As far as the cheap tools, just look an item over carefully. I have a ball joint press that was 1/4 the price of anywhere else, has done 6 full sets so far, and has stood up to the abuse of a 1/2″ drive air wrench (a heavy duty CP unit, not a low torque cheapo) for the sticky ones, and is still in service. I am about to test the no sale is final policy with a cracked/leaky air hose return. We shall see.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
No body forces americans to come buy at our Great canadian stores. If the name bothers you then go buy tools else where while us frugal canadians don’t have to give our houses back because we are ashamed to buy at Princess Auto !
March 4th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
For “Dan” in Texas a few eye openers.
Princess Auto has a exchange policy second to none, I have braught back a power bandsaw after 3 months [was not happy with it] and got my FULL CASH refund back No uestions asked!
They have a lot of “cheap” stuff, but if you need a tool once in a blue moon it saves a lot of money.
Funny how these “Texans” always know it better even that they live about 3000 mile away.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
The exchange policy is old school, i.e. the customer is always right. If you don’t like it you get your money back. Wow, who does that anymore? I love everything about PA, from staff, to the surprizes you find in there every trip.
Only thing I can think of that could use some improvement is their web site. It’s okay, but could be a lot better, like if they had something like this on it so PA diehards to chat and exchange ideas and comments and stuff.