The Village Co

These 2 ladies should be ashamed of themselves. Not paying the vendors, not responding to communications and being downright insolent. I called them unprofessional and they took the time to send a very lengthy email (which I did not read) yet they refuse to reply when payments are late or skipped altogether. Every month they have some excuse about the bank or their system not working. Maybe they expanded too quickly & found themselves in a bind?? As a buyer- if you wish to support local small businesses, buy from them directly.

I was a vendor at all three locations during the period of December 2021 – June 2022. I left because my sales payments were withheld, without explanation, for many months; and their communication regarding this was either non-existent or an obvious lie. I’m not sure what the owners are thinking, but they are effectively stealing from their vendors. I have had numerous other vendors reach out to me and confirm the same thing. Not paying their vendors is not an oversight or a mistake, it is intentional. Thankfully, with the help of a lawyer, I was able to retrieve all of the money that was owed to me and retrieve my product, but it took a great amount of effort and follow up on my part.I would not recommend this store to anyone, vendor or shopper. If you like a product in store, please take a card and contact the vendor directly. If you are a vendor, stick up for yourself and then find a better retail partner – there are many honest and responsible shop owners out there who would bend over backwards to help you grow your business.

Update: Came by again on June 14 at 5:28pm. Seems like they're always closed... or I just have bad luckI came in on Sunday June 12 at 11:00am to get a few gifts for a birthday party. When I arrived, there was a sign saying they'd be back at 2:50pm.I went around the mall and did a few different things. When 3pm came around I went to check the store again. To my surprise they were still closed. I waited around until 4pm but they were still shut. Unfortunately it seems like they were closed for the entire day!They have a lot of unique and artsy stuff here so it was disappointing to not be able to purchase what I needed.I would understand if they came back on time or the note explained they had an emergency, but in this case I'm not really sure what happened.

As a long time vendor at The Village Co. I wanted to leave a review of my incredible experience. Sam the owner is professional, pleasant and so supportive. She supports small business, is a strong member of this small shop maker community and is always donating to causes. Her communication is awesome whenever I have questions, as a vendor there’s an app to track my sales and any issues have always been resolved politely and professionally. I have been a vendor since day 1 and I’m so excited for the growth of the store as more locations open. Can’t wait to shop!!

It's unfortunate that this company decided for steal from many Small businesses and Artisans all across Canada. They suddenly closed thier doors with no explanation, and after months, very few vendors have been paid, or recieved their products back. By far, one of the worst businesses I have ever seen. The owners should be incredibly ashamed of themselves. honestly- I don't know how they live with themselves. This could've been something remarkable, but they burned it to the ground, and ruined thier reputation. I hope all vendors get thier goods back, and what thy are owed. If I could give a 0 I would.

I've been a vendor for the past few months with the Village Co and it's been one of the best decisions I've made! Sam and Jess are extremely upfront and honest with you, and they don't take advantage of their vendors. Not only do they want to support you and tell you as such, but they go OUT of their way to ensure your success with their stores. They invest in all of their own displays and work to display your products in a way that catches the attention of shoppers. If they find you're not succeeding with sales, they make alterations to their displays and provide you with feedback on what you can do as well. Mind you, I wasn't even aware that my displays were being altered - it was just mentioned casually in conversation that alterations were occurring to better display my items (which in all honesty I already thought were displayed nicely so you can imagine how touched I was).The owners go out of their way, and go and above and beyond, to provide support to their vendors I never expected when I first signed up to display with them. This was my first time applying to a store to display my items, and I have absolutely no regrets. Thank you so much for all you do - you guys are very much appreciated!!!

DO NOT BECOME A VENDOR WITH VILLAGE CO. My experience with this company started in 2022. I went to the store with a friend of mine and connected with the owners. My first interaction with them was already bad. They were talking to me about their existing vendors and how annoying some of them were. To be transparent my business was just starting and I was excited to be in a store, my mistake was still giving them a chance after that red flag.I was with Village Co. for a total of 5 agonizing months, through this time, I had to constantly email them for my profits, which were always late, it took them over 3 months to provide me with my last payment.Their communication throughout my time was less than poor, in most cases I would be lucky to even get a response, which were always rude and filled with excuses. It wasn't until I made the decision to take legal action about my constant missing payments that they replied to me.On top of this, the company promised to promote my inventory on their social media on a monthly basis, as described in our contract together, over the course of 5 months they never promoted my business, again, failing to meet their contracted obligations. When I emailed Village Co. about this (Keep in mind they do not accept phone calls) I was met with no responses.I finally decided to leave this contract due to the headaches and stress it brought me. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY TO SELL YOUR PRODUCTS. They are unorganized and rude. Their incompetence to meet the obligations of their contract with you are only taken serious when you have lawyers on your side. Not worth the hassle - they're are many other companies out there that are MUCH better at distributing your product and getting you sales your company worked hard for.

CAUTION TO POTENTIAL VENDORS!I personally would not recommend The Village Co to any small business owners. Huge waste of time and money. During the initial onboarding process the owners seemed more concerned with just getting my signature on their Contract" than actually selling and promoting my products. I was supposed to sell at 2 of their stores but never received any communication from them after I signed my onboarding contract. Of course they claimed that they tried to contact me however I didn't receive any email or phone call from them. I'm in constant communicationwith other customers and stores I sell at so I'm not sure how I could have missed all their alleged attempts at communicating with me (We're all on our phones 24/7... I would have seen an email) but how convenient that the few emails I did receive were all invoices ?! Overall horrible customer service and vendor support. I wasn't happy with communication from the store and was forced to pay a $600 "termination fee" just to get my own products back and only then did I receive my first payout from the store after 4 months of selling there. Literally not worth your time or effort. Owners are rude and had a very annoyed attitude when I went in to pick up my items. SAVE YOUR MONEY! Your better off starting an Etsy shop!"

Applied and was accepted to be a vendor with a contract start date of September 1st, 2022. I sent an email twice to touch base to the store and store owner and got no response. I asked about the poor vendor reviews and what they were doing to resolve that, as I wanted to give them a fair chance to explain themselves. I got no response and lost my $200 deposit fee but I think in comparison to what others went through, my loss is nothing.

DON'T RECOMMEND! ...BE AWARE⭐️ They don't pay their vendors⭐️My mom and I had the worst experience dealing with Village Co in Upper canada mall.To start, they pressure you to get your signature for the contract and once you sign and pay their fee, theres absolutely little to no communication with the owners at all.They offer an extra one time fee to barcode your items and yet.... majority of our items weren't even barcoded.This shop claims to support small local businesses"and "shop local" yet they couldn't careless how your small business is sustained.They don't care that it takes time