GARDENWORKS Burnaby-Lougheed — Local services in Burnaby

My wife and I have recently taken an interest in gardening, and a couple of weeks ago, we had a great experience at another GardenWorks location, thanks to the helpful and knowledgeable staff. Based on that positive visit, we decided to shop at the Lougheed Highway store, expecting a similar level of service. Unfortunately, this location fell significantly short of expectations.

To start, the store itself is well-organized, clean, and offers a good variety of plants and pots. It wasn’t very busy when we visited, and they appeared to be well-staffed. We spent nearly an hour thoughtfully selecting several plants and pots. During this time, we interacted with a few employees — while one was helpful, the others seemed disinterested and quickly passed us off to someone else. Still, we proceeded to checkout and paid in full.

Our frustration began when we visited the potting station, a service that was offered at no extra cost at the other location. As new gardening enthusiasts, we appreciated this added support — especially since we had more than four pots to fill. However, the staff at Lougheed informed us that they would need three days to complete the potting, despite the fact that we were the only customers requesting the service and the process typically takes no more than five minutes (based on our prior experience).

To make matters worse, the staff then claimed they could only pot one plant per pot, citing store policy. We showed them photos of pots prepared at another GardenWorks location, which clearly included multiple small plants in a single pot. Their response: “We don’t do that here.” We politely asked if there was any flexibility or help they could offer, but the attendant simply called the manager — who, unfortunately, appeared equally uninterested and disengaged. Her curt response was that they “don’t know what the other store does” and that “this is our policy.”

Feeling completely dismissed and having wasted over an hour of our time, we decided to return everything. The manager’s response? A casual “Sure, go ahead,” with no attempt to retain our business or offer a solution.

This experience left us extremely disappointed. It was clear that the staff at this location had no interest in helping customers or building loyalty. If GardenWorks as a brand is committed to customer service, this location is a glaring exception.

We’ll be taking our business elsewhere and encourage others to consider more customer-friendly garden centers that actually value and support new plant...

GardenWorks is where I would go whenever I needed to refresh my mind from work and other things, especially during this pandemic. I loved how every staff there was so knowledgeable and kind enough to help this beginner gardener. One young staff who worked mainly in the tropical area even offered to help me with potting service! (which I did not know existed). Due to this wonderful experience, I often visited to gift my friends with these beautiful plants.

However, today I experienced something different. I visited GardenWorks to plant some lettuces and herbs, and since it was my first time to plant anything edible, I needed some assistance with the soils. Remembering the great service GardenWorks had, I asked the herb section lady for help potting. She showed me the sign that states they cannot pot anything that was BROUGHT FROM HOME. I also thought this was fair and a great policy to have. Thus, I purchased the pot from the GardenWorks and asked if she can help me then. But, she refused to say they don't provide that service anymore. She even brought her colleague to confirm. I admitted it and went to the cashier to pay and talked to the cashier that it's a pity that GardenWorks don't provide that service anymore. However, I got a different response from her. She was kind enough to bring me to the station and brought this wonderful person named Peter who helped me so much with potting and detailed instructions!

I understand everyone is stressed and sensitive during this period, but it makes me sad that this wonderful place where I came for refreshment turned into a stressful experience. I hope the instructions are clear to every staff so that there won't be any of these confusions to...

Today I sought to get more planting supplies so I attended Garden Works in Burnaby, near to where I work. This facility has more stock than the store in my neighborhood in North Vancouver. Today I was looking for organic potting mix for seedlings. There will be food shortages this fall and so I thought to prepare now for that event. Growing our own food is not really what I had in mind. I am more of a market shopper rather than a grower of produce. This is a crash course in survival and recycling what foods I have. When I purchase veggies at the market, they are organic. If I cut the carrots half an inch below the stems, leaving the foliage intact, this will continue to grow when it is set onto a tray that is slightly filled with water. (YouTube videos help here.)I can transfer this into pots on my balcony and harvest the roots once again at a later date. This is how to recycle what we have. The marketplace issue is expected to last a few months. Skyrocketing inflation will impact my bottom line and gasoline shortages will be an issue. I get this information via my connections to the patriot links in the United States military feeds. I cannot grow gasoline and I my have to take early retirement if this situation goes critical. Bummer. I liked my job.

More pots might be required and to this location I will return. They have a fine assortment. Terra cotta is what I like too. I can use this to make water-cooled fridges using sand as a filler. That will extend fruits and veggie for weeks instead of days. Yes, this is a fine store for a survivalist. Blessings...