Practically all of my friends either really love Winners or really hate it.
I used to be a member of the later group but then I switched over to the former and I'll tell why and how.
I too used to be one of those shoppers who would see the long racks and be disheartened. Nothing was laid out in an orderly way unlike other department stores or boutiques. So how are you supposed to find anything in this chaos?
Here's the strategy. All of Winner's racks are labelled according to size, TP (tres petit), S(mall), M(edium),L(arge), XL(arge). Each section has a different colored hanger
Then there is a different aisle for different pieces of clothing: Dresses, Jeans, Blouses, Short Sleeve Tops, Sweaters, Long Sleeve Tops, Jackets, Pants (slacks), Exercise Tops, Exercise Bottoms, Juniors, etc.
Say you're looking for a sweater.
All you need to do is look for the 'Sweaters" aisle and figure out if you you are a S,M or L and go to the appropriate size area. And you just look at one after another. It usually takes less that 5 minutes to see if there's anything there that might catch your interest. Same strategy works for shoes, boots and undergarments.
I've found designer jeans, cashmere sweaters, leather boots, silk scarves, great summer dresses, leather purses, shoes, heels and sandals over the years at very reasonable prices. The trick to Winners is that you have to stop in often.
While I find the quality of the clothing has sort of declined in recent years, I do find that each Winners seems to have a better selection at one thing over others.
Atwater: Best Clothing, Purses and Shoes
McGill: Purses, men's clothing, household stuff
Decarie: Exercise clothing, yoga gear
Lasalle: Dresses
Marche Central: Purses, Dresses, Shoes
It's not just clothes. Their bed and linen section carries bed sheets with 300+ up to 1200 thread counts at very reasonable prices. Home decor sections also has funky glassware, vases, bamboo shower caddies, vintage styled tool boxes, home gardening sets, and many more. Surprisingly, their food section also has hit or miss stuff like gluten-free flour, organic sugar, basil oil. I've also picked up fantastic recipe books here too.
Note: Winners is the Canadian equivalent of TJ Maxx in the States, the parent company also owns Marshall's, a bit more upscale which will shortly be coming to Canada