Support Your Local Independent Businesses!

As a small business and a consumer, I’m constantly looking for reliable, quality suppliers for my office and home. It’s a jungle out there, with lots of phony endorsements that are really paid advertising, and conflicted referrals by those who get something back for themselves if they bring you to their associate. So, I thought I would offer some gratuitous recommendations on suppliers, etc. that I have used with success. They may or may not be clients of mine (most are not); none have asked to be included; none were asked for permission or anything in return, nor was anything offered by them to me; if I have a misadventure or disappointment with any of them, they’ll be dropped from this listing. My criteria:

• good value for money
• integrity
• cheerful, attentive service when needed
• reliability & consistency
• dealing well with mistakes – theirs or mine

Here's Bucky’s Best Bets (in Oakville, unless specified otherwise):

Restaurants:

	Fish Bones, Kerr St. – best Dungeness crab & oysters
	Oliver’s, Lakeshore – always v. good; confirmed recently - I had medium rare caribou with a heavy wine reduction on top, v. g.
	Kori’s Roti, Speers & 4th Line – killer rotis - I really mean killer if hotter than “Medium”
	Mixed Grill, Lakeshore Rd. W. - good value, bistro-style
	Jimmy Heroes - Hwy 5 & Bronte - great pizza
	Bennies - on Kerr St. North - is when we go for a nice lunch on Saturday - burgers or sandwiches
	Stoney's - on Kerr St. South - fantastic sandwiches & salads, great Brunch on Sunday

Seafood:
Mermaids - on Kerr St. South - actually fresh, all good & friendly

Stationary:
Stopwatch Productions – super service from Aaron

Car Repairs, Tires:
MTC Oakville, Speers Rd – Howard will take great care of your car; check out deals on wheels, tires & go-fast equipment
Da Silva Racing, Scarberia – worth the drive

ISP, Web Designer & Hosting:
NETiNSTiNCT – Adam delivers; does a great Elvis too

Landlord:
CMC Developments – Claudio breaks the stereotype for landlords

Corporate Clerk:
McFaul Corporate Services – Best I've ever used

Bookkeeeping:
Computechniques – Janice Tobia is rock solid

Specialist Employment Expertise:
I bring in Jim Henderson, of the downtown employment boutique firm, Kuretzky Vassos, when I need HR expertise on a file. He’s practical, not outrageously expensive, and very responsive; I use Anthony de Fazekas of Miller Thomson for IP for same reasons

Office Furniture:
Addmore, Eglinton & Dixie – great selection, will deal

Carpet, etc.:
Speers Road Broadloom, Speers Rd. – get Dale to work with you

Glasses:
Next Optical on Speers Rd., Bo is reasonable, good service.

Wood (nice & rare stuff):
Exotic Woods, Burlington – friendly, knowledgeable, wide selection

Garage Door Repair:
Garage Door Specialist – Tom practices old style workmanship; the brogue is free!

Wide-Sized Shoes:

	Miller’s Shoes – James St., skuzzy area of Hamilton – but great selection of wide shoes, good quality
	New Balance, 8th Line - for wide runners
	Moores in Oakville has a small but good selection, plus good sales guys who seem to know their products; got a super comfy pair of black dress shoes there for well less than the price you normally pay for special width shoes.

Deal Tombstones, premium incentives:
Winged Foot Promotions – Layne delivers

Plumbing:
Abbey Plumbing – Scott is reasonable and reliable

Pub Food:
Niblicks, Upper Middle Road, and Coach and Four, Bronte - best pub food by far

Steaks:
Brunos, Abbey Gate – tried them all, but meat here is better than ever from lowly sirloin to prime strip loins

Computers:
Canadian Computers, Speers Rd. - new ownership has improved everything

Pools:
Pioneer Pools, Oakville store – We played around with others, & went back to them; not the cheapest but no surprises, good service; however, prefer Total Tech for opening/closing

House Painting:
Mike Piccoli – used for the first time this fall, is neat and thorough

Dog Grooming:
Debonair Dog, Kerr St. – reasonable and follows instructions; Mark is a pretty good artist, too, but won’t sell anything yet

Vet:
Abbey Animal Hospital, Nottinghill Plaza – used for many years, Drs. Jeff Beck and Scott Hobson; referred us to Dr. Norm Gofton at Veterinary Emergency Clinic for ACL, super job

Kitchen Reno:
Home Depot – We tried the locals, but ended up with Home Depot - 25% savings and very responsive