If you’re setting up a first apartment on a budget, our first apartment essentials checklist covers the full list of what to buy first. This guide focuses specifically on what’s worth picking up at Giant Tiger — and what to get elsewhere.
Giant Tiger doesn’t get much attention in apartment decor conversations. Most people think of it as a grocery and clothing store, maybe somewhere you grab a bag of chips and a pair of socks in the same trip. But the home aisle at most Giant Tiger locations carries a surprisingly solid range of apartment basics — bedding, towels, storage bins, kitchen textiles, bathroom accessories — at prices that consistently undercut Walmart and Amazon.ca for comparable quality.
The catch is that not everything in that aisle is worth buying. Giant Tiger’s soft goods are genuinely excellent value. Their hard goods — furniture, cookware, small appliances, decorative items with any structural element — are not. The difference is consistent enough that you can shop by category and know exactly what’s worth the trip.
Bedding and Throws: The Best Value in the Store
This is Giant Tiger’s strongest category for apartment shoppers, and it’s not close.
Key takeaway: Giant Tiger bedding — sheet sets, duvet covers, and throws — offers the best price-to-quality ratio of any Canadian retailer for apartment basics. Expect to pay 30–50% less than Walmart or Amazon.ca for comparable softness and durability.
Sheet sets ($12–$18 CAD) come in microfibre and occasionally brushed polyester blends. The microfibre sets are the better buy — they’re soft immediately without a break-in wash, they don’t shrink noticeably, and they hold their colour well. Stick to solid colours or simple patterns. The heavily printed novelty sets (cartoon characters, loud florals) are the same quality fabric but harder to style in an adult apartment.
Duvet cover sets ($20–$30 CAD) are the standout. A set that includes the cover plus two pillow shams for $25 is hard to beat anywhere in Canada. The fabric weight is lighter than what you’d get from a $70 set at a department store, but for a bedroom that stays at normal room temperature, it’s perfectly adequate. I’d take a Giant Tiger duvet cover over most Amazon budget options — the stitching is cleaner and the zipper closures actually work.
Throws and blankets ($8–$15 CAD) are consistently good. The fleece throws are standard quality — nothing special, nothing wrong. The sherpa-lined options ($12–$15 CAD) are where the real value is. They’re thick, they’re warm, and draped over a sofa or the end of a bed, they look like throws that cost three to four times more. Grey, cream, and taupe are usually in stock year-round.
Pillows ($6–$12 CAD) are fine as a starting point. They flatten faster than a $30 pillow from a bedding store, which is expected, but at $8 for a standard sleeping pillow, replacing it every six to eight months still costs less per year than buying one expensive pillow. Throw pillows for the sofa are also decent — stick to the solid-colour or textured covers, avoid anything with sequins or novelty prints.
Storage Bins and Baskets: Solid and Understated
Giant Tiger’s fabric storage bins are one of the few budget options that don’t immediately look like you’re living out of a dorm room.
Collapsible fabric bins ($5–$8 CAD) come in the standard cube size that fits IKEA KALLAX shelving units, plus a few larger rectangular sizes. The construction is reinforced cardboard inside fabric, same as bins costing $12–$15 at HomeSense. Grey, beige, and navy are the most common colours. They hold their shape when loaded with clothes, books, or bathroom supplies, and they fold flat when not in use — useful if you’re moving between apartments regularly, which most Canadian renters are.
Larger collapsible baskets ($8–$12 CAD) work well for closet floors, laundry sorting, or under-bed storage if your bed frame has clearance. The handles are functional, not just decorative, and the fabric doesn’t tear when you’re pulling a loaded basket out from under a bed.
Plastic bins with lids ($4–$7 CAD) are standard clear or translucent storage — nothing special, but reasonably priced. Fine for seasonal clothing, off-season gear, or balcony storage. Not as cheap as Dollarama’s options but sturdier, especially the lids, which actually snap shut and stay shut.
What to skip: Any storage item at Giant Tiger that tries to be decorative — wire baskets with metallic finishes, woven-look plastic bins, anything described as “boho” or “farmhouse” on the tag. These look worse than the equivalent from Dollarama or IKEA and cost more. Giant Tiger’s storage strength is functional, not decorative.
For a full apartment storage system breakdown, see our complete guide — Giant Tiger bins work well as the functional layer inside a larger organizational setup.
Kitchen Basics: Textiles Yes, Cookware No
Giant Tiger’s kitchen aisle is a split decision. The textiles and consumables are good. Everything else is not.
Worth buying:
- Dish towels ($3–$5 CAD for a 2-pack) — absorbent, wash well, come in simple patterns. Comparable to IKEA’s dish towels at a lower price.
- Oven mitts and pot holders ($4–$6 CAD) — functional, heat-resistant enough for normal oven use, available in solid colours.
- Dish cloths and sponges ($2–$4 CAD) — standard quality, well-priced.
- Basic utensil sets ($5–$8 CAD) — spatulas, wooden spoons, tongs. Fine for everyday cooking. They’re not the ergonomic silicone sets from a kitchen store, but they work.
- Food storage containers ($4–$8 CAD for a set) — the snap-lid plastic sets are adequate for meal prep and leftovers. Not as airtight as name-brand sets, but for the price, they do the job.
Not worth buying:
- Pots and pans — thin metal, non-stick coating that peels within months of regular use. A $15 Giant Tiger frying pan is a waste of $15. Spend $25–$35 at IKEA or Walmart for an entry-level pan that lasts years instead of months.
- Small appliances — off-brand toasters, kettles, and coffee makers with short lifespans and no warranty support worth using. Not worth the risk, even at $15–$20.
- Knives — dull out of the box and can’t be sharpened to a usable edge. Buy one decent chef’s knife from IKEA ($15 CAD for the IKEA 365+ line) and it’ll outlast a dozen Giant Tiger knives.
Bathroom Accessories: Stick to Basics
Towels ($6–$12 CAD) are good value, especially bath towels and hand towels in solid colours. They’re not plush hotel-quality — expect a thinner, lighter towel that dries faster (actually a plus in a small apartment bathroom with limited ventilation). They hold up through repeated washing better than most Amazon budget towels.
Shower curtains ($8–$12 CAD) come in enough solid and simple-pattern options that you can find something that doesn’t look like a dorm bathroom. The fabric ones (polyester, not vinyl) are the better buy — they drape better, don’t cling to you, and machine wash without cracking.
Bath mats ($6–$10 CAD) are fine. The microfibre ones dry faster than cotton, which matters in a small bathroom. Stick to darker colours — white and cream bath mats from any budget store show wear fast.
Soap dispensers, toothbrush holders, and countertop accessories — skip these at Giant Tiger. The selection is limited, the finishes look cheap, and you can get better-looking basics at Dollarama for less or at IKEA for the same price with better design.
Seasonal Decor: The Only Time to Impulse Buy
Giant Tiger rotates seasonal home items aggressively — fall blankets and candles in September, holiday decor by October, spring florals by March. This is the one category where impulse buying can actually work in your favour.
What works: Seasonal throw pillow covers ($4–$6 CAD), battery-operated string lights ($5–$8 CAD), and simple seasonal candles ($3–$6 CAD). These are low-commitment items that cycle out with the season, so the lower quality doesn’t matter — you’re using them for two to three months, not building a permanent collection.
What doesn’t: Seasonal tabletop figurines, door wreaths, and anything described as a “centrepiece.” The construction quality shows, and these items take up space in a small apartment that you’ll want back when the season ends.
Cleaning Supplies: Quietly Excellent
This is worth mentioning because it’s relevant to apartment living and Giant Tiger rarely gets credit for it.
Their house-brand cleaning products — all-purpose spray, dish soap, laundry detergent — are priced 15–25% below Walmart’s Great Value equivalents and work just as well for normal apartment cleaning. If you’re on a tight budget, buying cleaning supplies at Giant Tiger instead of Walmart or Shoppers Drug Mart adds up to real savings over a year.
Brooms, dustpans, and mops ($5–$10 CAD) are basic but functional. For a small apartment where you’re sweeping 400–600 square feet, they’re perfectly adequate.
The Giant Tiger Shopping Strategy for Apartment Renters
Giant Tiger isn’t a store you go to for everything. It’s a store you go to for specific categories where the value is genuinely hard to beat:
- First stop for: Bedding sets, towels, throws, fabric storage bins, cleaning supplies, dish towels, seasonal accent pieces.
- Consider for: Bathroom textiles (shower curtains, bath mats), food storage containers, basic kitchen utensils.
- Skip entirely: Furniture, cookware, small appliances, knives, decorative hard goods.
The best approach is to hit Giant Tiger first for the soft goods and consumables on your apartment setup list, then fill in the gaps at IKEA (furniture, kitchenware), Dollarama (decorative accents, small storage), and Walmart or Amazon.ca (anything you need in a specific brand, colour, or size).
For the full first-apartment setup sequence, our essentials checklist covers what to buy in what order — Giant Tiger covers a surprising amount of that list at the lowest total cost.
