Instead of gift certificates, now they have gift cards available at most of the stores that men love to shop in.
The likes of Canadian Tire, Home Depo, Future Shop, and Best Buy to name a few.
You can also get them at Pier 1 Imports and yes it is possible to find things in their to give to either men or women, just depends on their individual tastes and needs.
In the past, giving gift certificates or even cash has usually had the connotation of a cop-out. The idea being is that the gift is coming from you and regardless of what you get the person, you have put some thought into it and decided upon the particular gift for certain reasons. Having said that, I know what you mean you say it is extremely difficult trying to come up with a gift for somebody that supposedly has everything.
One tact I usually use is to ask somebody closer to the person (your mother if buying for your father) as to what he may have been eyeing or looking at lately or comments made about things.
If he likes to read, Chapters and Indigo usually have a pretty good selection of hard cover non-fiction books out on display. These could be biograpgies of world leaders both political and business.
Hope some of these spark an idea that you find useful.
