Spy Store

4 stars for the excellent range of products. But 3 stars for warranty: a full camera security system for the house $ 500 but only a 6 month warranty?! No thanks.
It’s amazing how discreet and sneaky these products can be. Got a problem with someone sneaking to your desk drawer for food? Get a computer mouse with camera and recording sounds for just$ 351 lol
Guy was pretty helpful though you have to chase him down.
Amex good.

I signed up for Unilocal to bitch about this place — the guy was ignoring everyone in the store while he was sitting on his ass playing computer games. Anytime he did happen to look up and ask if anyone needed help, he quickly got up then ran back to his computer. He just told everyone to go to the website.

I went here because my store has been broken into 3 times in the past month & the police suggested a high quality hidden camera. Not knowing anything about such devices, I made the huge mistake of asking for advice from the UNBELIEVABLY rude salesman. Seemed completely annoyed that I came in his store, and didn’t even look up from his laptop. I was the only customer in the store for a few minutes until 2 women came in & were browsing. They were listening to me asking questions (what range do the cameras cover etc.) and listening to the irritation in his voice as he talked to me like I was complete pain in the ass. We exchanged glances that conveyed that this guy was being totally rude. I was trying to support a local small business (he is only a few blocks from my store) but left telling him he had lost a sale because he was rude. Cannot believe he is still in business with his bad attitude.

Unbelievably bad customer reception. I don’t expect a thing but the guy actually seemed irritated that I would walk into the place. I browsed, but the browse 10min max signage definitely shouted for me to leave.
I would not trust this place. Ever.
The gadgets, while interesting and diverse, doesn’t compete to models found online. Considering the utter lack of customer acknowledgment or service, you may as well order online and don’t deal with the prickly jerk in this store.

This store caters to stalkers. Want to keep tabs on that girl you love from afar by squatting in her bushes wearing a pair of night vision goggles like a freaking lunatic? Well, this is the place for you! Want to bug your ex’s phone line because you’re CRAZY? Hey, they made a store for you!
I went in here because, like others have suggested, the name hints that it might be full of fun novelties. There is nothing fun about this place. It is an utterly earnest Creepy McCreeperson store designed to cater to precisely the type of man you hope you will never meet. Sure, one COULD use the products sold here for another pursuit (if one were a drug dealer or a fictional private detective, for example), but that’s kind of like passing off bongs & hookahs as «tobacco smoking paraphernalia» for official purposes. This is a store for stalkers.
You will never, ever see a customer in here, which means that humanity is not quite as grim as we’re led to believe. I have no idea how this place stays open. They may have an online sales component that caters to stalkers more discreetly, but you won’t want to stay & chat with the creepy douchebag staff long enough to find out.
Run, don’t walk, away from this place!

Went to the one in Surrey and the guy was on phone and he said I am closed for business-​Iranian contra guy LOL seriously wtf –maybe report to the city of surrey to permanently close the business

Terrible, terrible, terrible customer service.
Went in here the other day with a gentleman friend. There is nary an employee to be seen. It was so dead in there that we were actually worried that maybe the place was CLOSED & the door was just (inexplicably) left ajar. We browsed for a few minutes when an employee finally wandered out from the back. Our interaction with this piece of work went like this:
— Employee (sounding quite irritated) asks if we are looking for anything.
— Gentleman Friend asks if they have a specific item.
— Employee’s responded by grumbling (almost inaudibly) «No. We don’t have that», while pulling out his CELLPHONE and wandering back to the back of the store, not to be seen or heard from again.
Gentleman friend looks at me, shrugs his shoulders and we continue browsing on our own for a minute or two. And then we see the signs, posted mutilple times throughout the store announcing that they have a «10 minute browsing MAXIMUM».
So basically, unless you come in this place knowing EXACTLY what you want to buy, you are only welcome to *be there* for 10 minutes. And they you gots to hit the road. WOW. How’s that for throwing a middle finger right up into a potential customers face and telling them that you don’t give a fuck about them or their money?
I will never step foot in this establishment again. Clearly my business was not (and is not) wanted.

Sort of like the store Q would open for retired secret agents. If you’re a private investigator, drug dealer, or in some other field of work that involves surveillance (and maybe even body armor), you’ll want to upgrade your equipment with some of the gems sold here.
Because this store is every voyeur’s dream. With everything from phone recorders to night vision goggles, it sells a ton of products that seem like they would be cool to own but you could never really find a practical purpose for. Unless you were say stalking someone, or trying to find out if your partner was cheating on you. In that case you’ll love the pinhole cameras that look like ordinary pens (and produce ink!).
When I came in here, the place was deserted. I was left fully alone for five minutes to study the products before leaving, without talking to a single person. It actually kind of added to the mysterious and reclusive nature of the store itself, because presumably a spy store knows when someone enters their store.

My hopes were way, way up before I stopped in here. Yes, I’ve previously owned a phone record – for journalistic purposes of course. I wanted to see if they had the same handy $ 9 model here that I’d picked up at Staples when I was in j-​school.
They sure didn’t. What they do have are a limited selection of overly high-​tech phone recording devices. Seems I don’t have enough love of gadgets to be a spy.
The biggest letdown, though, were the salespeople. They looked basically like guys pining to be in the police force. But maybe they’re undercover. Who knows.
All in all, the glass counters and uninventive displays fell flat. The only saving grace, for me, was that the door frame sits at an odd angle, reminiscent of an alley entrance. But if you’re going here for anything other than a genuine need for the gadgets the Spy Store sells, I have a suspicion you’ll be disappointed.

I have no idea why most people would need a store that carries body armour and night vision apparel, but in case you do, you’ve found your store. Perhaps the real mystery of the store is not why someone would need such items, but why there never seems to be anyone in the store… hmmm…Anyway, it could be good fun to come in here and check out all the props you would need to create your very own private investigator drama.

Situated right at the corner of Burrard and Broadway, ironically conspicuous, is the Spy Store. An old high school friend and I used to come here… infrequently, of course… to window shop. Window shop. Yeah, that’s right.
The pinhole camera and bugging devices were always points of interest… if only to help us facilitate the get-​to-​know-​you process with the objects of our affections. Harmless fun.