Aviation World (YYZ)

[Jetlink]

Whats going on with Aviation World in YYZ? Was in there the other day and most of the lights were off, cold inside, 2/3 of the shelfs were empty. Not the same friendly, knowledgeable staff. The new people (non Canadian) didnt seem to know business that well and were not the nicest to their phone customers.
Not sure if I will ever go back there. Heres hoping Threshold Aviation can pick up the slack.

Cheers

[Localizer]

Most of there items are a bit over priced .. and the rest are very over priced.

[MIQ]

I went there a couple of weeks ago to buy a headset and they hardly had any selection. No Bose and Lightspeeds anymore and I got one of the last to DCs. Also the other shelves for pilot supply seemed pretty empty.
Seems like they got some restocking to do. Guess I have to go to Calgary in the future to get my stuff.

[Fr8 dawg]

" The new people (non Canadian) didnt seem to know business that well and were not the nicest to their phone customers"

Yeah.....you people never fail to entertain me with your white trashness.

[FL500]

I was in there about two weeks ago and yes the glass case with the electronics did seem empty but I did not see these "New People" and the people working there seemed quite friendly. Is it possible the ownership changed recently?

FlySafe.

[B_Boomer_54]

The store was actually empty 5 months ago when I was there... Not a good sign. I recommend aircraft spruce in Brantford. Awesome store.

As for the poster above > You know Aviation World has an American side as well? Perhaps that is what he meant? Americans are after all notorious for great customer service are they not?

Before you start throwing terms like "white trash" around, be sure to have your bases covered. ignoramus.

[snoopy]

The new people (non Canadian) didnt seem to know business that well and were not the nicest to their phone customers.
Not sure if I will ever go back there. Heres hoping Threshold Aviation can pick up the slack. Cheers

Seriously???? Non Canadian? How exactly were they "non Canadian" and by what method did you as an ad hoc customer determine this "fact"? Did you check their citizenship papers and/or birth certificate before you made that statement? Did you ask the owners to see proof of a work visa after you "profiled" said employees?

I hope it's ok if I express my opinion on this matter - I regret to inform you I'm female. I am Canadian though, however from quite mixed ancestry. Did I mention I am a pilot? I'm getting quite good at repairing my truck, but I really suck at baking. I guess this is just getting worse by the minute.

At any rate, an alternative might be VIP Pilot Supply, which offers excellent customer service and a great selection. Oh.... crap....they are based in Quebec though. Hope that's ok, because they may employ French people there. Being French, they're probably not Canadian either.

Cheers,
Kirsten B.

[DanWEC]

Every time I've been there there's been a smoking hot girl behind the counter. Always seem to forget what I went in for, but leave an hour later.

[Inverted2]

" The new people (non Canadian) didnt seem to know business that well and were not the nicest to their phone customers"

Yeah.....you people never fail to entertain me with your white trashness.

You obviously haven't spent much time around YYZ my friend.

[Localizer]

Nice to see this group focusing on a comment rather then the thread. (As per usual) He just said non-Canadian .. not black, brown, white, red, yellow .. your assumptions are taking this thread off course.

[MIQ]

Also I was planning on going there to get some charts like VTA and VMC and a new CFS, does anybody happen to know if they have enough up-to-date merchandise in the chart section? Since I don't have a car it would be quite a mission to get out there I'd like to avoid going there just for the sake of speaking to non-canadians like myself

[old fart]

Every time I've been there there's been a smoking hot girl behind the counter. Always seem to forget what I went in for, but leave an hour later.

You didn't happen to go in the building behind by mistake did you??

[Expat]

Every time I've been there there's been a smoking hot girl behind the counter. Always seem to forget what I went in for, but leave an hour later.

You didn't happen to go in the building behind by mistake did you??

Probably, because there are more pilots, and staff there...and the shelves are pretty well full...

[slam525i]

The store was actually empty 5 months ago when I was there....

I was there 2 or 3 weeks ago and it looked pretty normal. Sure, their shelves have always been poorly stocked, but the electronics were there along with the usual maps, bags, and everything else.

I've also never seen any hot girls working behind the counter. I should look for her next-door next time I'm there.

[snoopy]

Also I was planning on going there to get some charts like VTA and VMC and a new CFS, does anybody happen to know if they have enough up-to-date merchandise in the chart section? Since I don't have a car it would be quite a mission to get out there I'd like to avoid going there just for the sake of speaking to non-canadians like myself

Both Aviation World and VIP Pilot supply will ship right to your door - usually comes expedited Canada Post (well, depending where you live, I guess they don't deliver to your door anymore... LOL). You can check for the latest version/revision date by going here: http://www.navcanada.ca/navcanada.asp?c ... efault.xml and searching for the product you intend to purchase. Not only will you be assured of the latest information, you can time your purchase of time-cycle publications such as CFS and CAP.

I shop at both places, however in general I find the "foreigners" in Quebec to give much better service in general and their pricing is usually better. Sometimes you can negotiate a corporate discount as well.

If you're in YYC, I don't think I've ever gone into Calgary Pilot Supply and seen an empty shelf. They ALWAYS have a great selection of Canada/US-wide charts for IFR and VFR.

Cheers,
Kirsten B.

[MIQ]

Thanks a lot for the information, Kirsten. The shipping sounds like a good idea, I'm sure they would ship from Pearson to Downtown Toronto
Also the navcanada link is very helpful, seems like it's worth waiting a few more days before buying a CFS.
I've heard a lot of good things about Calgary Pilot Supply so far, I hope I get to visit Calgary soon.

[PAJ]

I just bought a new Zulu2 headset from http://www.unikpilotshop.com/.
Competitive price and free shipping - can't go wrong with that.
The front page of their website says free shipping on Aeronautical & Enroute Charts.
Not sure about their stock or other stuff but worth checking out.

PAJ

[CL-Skadoo!]

I just bought a new Zulu2 headset from http://www.unikpilotshop.com/.
Competitive price and free shipping - can't go wrong with that.
The front page of their website says free shipping on Aeronautical & Enroute Charts.
Not sure about their stock or other stuff but worth checking out.

PAJ

Finally a shop for us eunuch pilots.

[Gino Under]

Whenever I'm in Amsterdam I always try to visit one of the best aviation stores in the world.

http://www.aviationmegastore.com

Aviation Mega Store owned by a KLM pilot. Give it a look.

Gino

[TheBigC]

I do not know if it's because I'm in maintenance or what but when I went in for a AME Logbook they had forgotten about me twice but were jumping on regular customers who were coming into the store or anyone looking at flight maps etc ... yet when it came to helping me it took about 45 minutes to actually get what I was looking for. A bit ridiculous if you ask me ..

[Cough Syrup]

Every time I've been there there's been a smoking hot girl behind the counter. Always seem to forget what I went in for, but leave an hour later.

You didn't happen to go in the building behind by mistake did you??

(an hour later with an empty wallet;)

[sheephunter]

Don't live near any of the pilot supply stores so rely on buying from this chair and so far am really impressed with how fast aircraft spruce can get stuff to my door. It's almost like they knew I was going to order it and had it shipped before I even called. Like last year I ordered filters in the afternoon and had them the next afternoon??? Might have been a fluke, but better than having to wait for ever. Also, had good luck with oredering stuff from VIP. Been in the Calgary Pilot supply place many years ago and still wear the Ray-Bans I got there. Seemed like a nice store from what I remember. Now I shop a lot on Kijiji.

[Jastapilot]

I was in Aviation world about 2 months ago, and I'm still waiting for them to call me when my replacement headphone cushions arrived. Not expecting a call.

It was annoying when after about 1/2 an hour in there, I couldn't find anything I was looking for, because they hadn't restocked the 'popular selling' stuff, as they phrased it. The place in Calgary had it all, I'll be going there from now on, or buying online.

[loopa]

The Vancouver base is full of not so many "canadian" staff but they rule in their customer service abilities. I thought as a group of pilots we recognized multiculturalism as a whole?

[avworld]

I would like to apologize to anyone who feels they had a less than positive experience in our Toronto store (or any of our stores for that matter). I'll be the first to admit we've had issues with maintaining strong inventory levels, and we've had a few of our staff leave for flying jobs recently (most still work for us occasionally) so the employees encountered may still have been receiving training (although I assure you ALL employees of Aviation World are fully entitled to work in Canada and are most likely all Canadian citizens).
We also had an issue with our heating unit as of late, and experienced a long delay in replacement due to the need for the GTAA to issue a NOTAM and shut down the runway in order to allow the crane in to install the new heating unit.
The downside of having a store located under the approach path I suppose.
For the record, Aviation World is still under its original ownership (Len Neath, a former AC 747 Captain), and the business isn't going anywhere.
Two years ago AW opened our third store, our first in the United States, in Chicago.
Due in large part to the state of the economy in the US, this store has been a considerable struggle to support and our inventory levels in the Canadian business have suffered.
We have made some corrections to our business and ensure you that over the next few months we will be returning to the strong stock levels and customer service that built this business.
Thank you to everyone for the feedback - it's appreciated.
Sincerely,
Stephen Neath
Ops Manager
Aviation World Canada Inc.