Lee Valley Tools#Veritas Tools

Lee Valley Tools was founded in 1978, in Ottawa, Ontario,[https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/other/how-ottawa-businesses-like-lee-valley-plan-to-deal-with-trump-tariffs/ar-AA1AcMdp How Ottawa businesses (like Lee Valley) plan to deal with Trump tariffs], MSN, March 4, 2025, by Lynn Saxberg by Leonard Lee, a recipient of the Order of Canada. Over the next ten years, the company opened several more stores in Toronto and Vancouver, and started manufacturing its own line of tools (starting with the Veritas Dovetail Marker in 1982). Since then, it has continued opening stores, manufacturing more diverse tools, and selling through mail order and the internet.

In 1998, Canica Design was launched. Canica is a medical design company associated with Lee Valley Tools which arose out of consultations between Leonard Lee and surgeon Michael Bell after Lee found that Bell was using Lee Valley tools in his plastic surgery practice.

Partly because of the company policy of enforcing and codifying the concept of “pay slope”{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/how-one-company-levels-the-pay-slope-of-executives-and-workers/article15472738/|title=How one company levels the pay slope of executives and workers}} limiting the pay at the highest levels in the company based on what the lowest paid employees earn, Lee Valley Tools earned a slot in the Forbes Top 500 Employers list in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/lee-valley-tools/|title = Lee Valley Tools| website=Forbes }}

In 2023, Lee Valley Tools had 18 stores, accounting for about half of its sales.[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/article-lee-valley-tools-business-success/ The sharpest tool in the shed: How Lee Valley built a cult-like following], The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2023, by Susan Krashinsky Robertson]

The primary business is mail-order and retail, purveying mainly woodworking and gardening tools and equipment, as well as woodworking hardware, cookware and gifts. The consumer part of the business runs under the main company name, Lee Valley Tools. In the retail stores customers make their selections from a catalogue (originally paper, now electronic), fill out a form listing what they want, and then wait for their number to be called for assistance,. When the number is called, staff will locate and retrieve the items from the warehouse. In the original Lee Valley Tools store in Ottawa there was a small framed sign behind the counter reading, "If it's in stock, we have it."

File:Axes and Woodcutting tools, Lee Valley (2579477868).jpg

Lee Valley also has a manufacturing arm, called Veritas Tools. Veritas makes many woodworking hand-tools, including hand planes, marking gauges and other measuring tools, router tables, sharpening systems, and numerous other gadgets. Veritas does research and development activities for the factory line, and has developed and patented many innovative designs.{{cn|date=September 2021}}

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• {{Official website|http://www.leevalley.com}}
• [http://www.veritastools.com/ Veritas Tools]

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Category:Hardware stores of Canada

Category:Canadian brands

Category:Tool manufacturing companies of Canada

Category:Woodworking

Category:Manufacturing companies based in Ottawa

Category:Retail companies established in 1978

Category:1978 establishments in Ontario

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