Coast Mountain vs. MEC

[PaulB]

Travis said:

Stores like 'Coast Mountain Sports' don't move a lot of guide books ..... (stuff deleted) .... I'd be willing to bet you could find out for sure w/ one phone call; assuming you get a store clerk who can find their ass with both hands.

I thought this quote from the Ice forum would be good for some discussion..... Travis' comment reminded me of an article in Friday's Vancouver Sun about MEC laying off (for the first time ever) some head office staff. One of the potential reasons cited was increased competition from CMS, and MEC having missed the boat marketing to the younger demographic.

 

I have to agree with Travis that the service at CMS usually sucks. On the other hand, I've been able to score some pretty sweet end of season deals on gear that I would have otherwise bought at MEC.

 

How do you folks view these two stores?

 

 

(This is obviously not a TR, so moderators please feel free to relocate it)

[Dru]

CMS is a fashion store and sells gear as an afterthought. i only shop there when people i know are working there and i can swing employee-discount bro deal. Nice place to buy Arcteryx if you cant get bro deal from the factory. Other than that, I wouldn't but plenty do.

 

MEC (sorry Don& fishstick) seems to miss the boat alot when it comes to clothing design eg. making the Composite jacket which accentuates all the negatives of Powershield, instead of making like Arcteryx and coming out with a Light version.

 

Then again MEC is a not-for-profit cooperative and makes decisions by collective decision process, yearly votes, etc.... the 1% of members who vote are not necessarily the ones who know the direction the store should be taking...

[Travis]

I've never found a deal at CMS, I do however shop for things like clothing there since MEC is a little thin on selection of non-MEC-brand items.

 

Funny how North Face and Patagonia spend all that money on developing products, and their own brand name, then MEC copies them, and spends zero on branding yet you can still find bootleg MEC-label pants on Khao San Road in Bangkok; right along side the fake Levis! I wonder if they just take the bootleg Patagonias and sew on an MEC label?

 

Greatest form of flattery; squared?

[Dru]

you gotta know a CMSlave to get a bro deal there. but they give the CMS employees like 25% off retail and an Arcteryx employee gets like 25% off wholseale which works out to 66% of retail or some shiz (0.75*0.5= 0.375 of retail price)

 

no wonder i picked up 3 goretex jackets, 2 softshell and 4 fleece when i worked for the bird. couldnt afford not to at that deal.

[allthumbs]

Dru, do you know Sig at the bird?

[skyclimb]

When it comes to cheap good gear nothing in my mind beats MEC. Lasts long, is on the level, and is cheap. Never been to CMS, however am intrusted to MEC. LIke broadway, good stores, but expensive. MEC is the score. By outerwear there, and layering garments, all MEC cheap.

[fern]

The Europe Bound guy once bought a whole load of MEC Couloir

jackets and just sewed a Europe Bound logo over the top and

sold them at a loss, I presume to distract traffic from MEC

into his own store. Didn't even pick off the MEC logo.

 

I have found the occasional steal at CMS, less since they

joined the Forzani group, but I got a Marmot Precip jkt at their

pre-Xmas sale for $60, nothing at MEC comes close to that

deal.

[Dru]

trask said:

Dru, do you know Sig at the bird?

 

trask I will tell you that if you tell me how you know Sig!

[jordop]

.

Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop

[PaulB]

jordop said:

Anyone looking for servie there will be frustrated at finding someone, ANYONE to help them.

 

The topper though is the way that CMS now holds past season merchandise at full price, far past the appropriate season, a big contradiction of manufacturer's aggreements. Time was seasonal clearance would be near cost.

I must have lucked out on seasonal clearances the first year after CMS got bought, 'cause I haven't seen any lately. As for service, a few months ago I noticed they had some Riva Z bindings laying around without any price tag. I couldn't find anyone who even knew that it was a ski binding, let alone figure out the price for it.

 

That being said, I once went into the MEC in Toronto to pick up some ice screws (it was August, but I needed it for a trip) and asked the heavily pierced gym rat behind the climbing counter if they had any in stock. His response was to turn around and ask his co-worker "Duude, what's an ice screw?".

 

[Rainierwon]

I haven't made a MEC trek for awhile . Has anybody had a problem getting back into WA with gear bought in BC ? ? I usually go climbing while up there and make it look like it's my gear, but short on time and long on orders from friends .

-J oh and I heard to take the passport

Edited March 14, 2003 by Rainierwon

[Dru]

Anmother option is Valhalla Pure. Lots of branches around. They have good stock and usually knowledegable staff altho it depends on the store a bit.... Or Climb-On in Squamish. although I basically never shop atr Coast I have bought lots of stuff from these latter 2 stores.

[Scott_J]

Coast Mountain is always worth a check to see what they have on sale. Bought a pair of Scarpa Matterhorns for 225CN, such a deal. MEC I never find a deal but I can find gear that I can't buy in the States.

[Geek_the_Greek]

Never had a problem bringing MEC stuff back to WA. Sometimes I would do stuff like buy it in two loads so I had two receipts (and could show one if asked) and silly stuff like that, but the border goons don't seem to care much. A friend once brought US$900 worth of stuff back, fully declared it, and was waved on through.

 

A cursory tour of google brought me HERE : it looks like if you're in BC for 48hours or more, you're good for US$800 worth (yikes, that's $1200 Canadian - a lot of MEC stuff...) once a month, but if only shopping for the day or something it's US$200.

[jordop]

.

Edited June 15, 2021 by jordop

[Dru]

mec does this too sometimes.....there was a famous incident where they sold a bunch of $215.00 crampons for $21.50 because of a misplaced decimal point on the price tag. of course the climbing desk staff knew all about it and made sure dirtbag friends got the "90% off" ones

[fern]

...or an entire box of bolts and hangers for the price of

one ($2). the purchaser even asked if they were sure that

was the right price, and yep.

[JoshK]

I was in BC this weekend and went in CMS for the first time. I was pretty disappointed. No good deals at all, except for a few pieces of women's clothing. I was really disappointed to see that arc'teryx adjusts their pricing for the home (canadian) market on their clothing, unlike on their packs. The packs are a great deal up there, cause I can get one for $200CDN, which would cost $200US. Basically a instant 35% off. Their clothing, however, has been ass-rape adjusted, so a nice shell is like $600CDN or some such crap.

 

On the other hand, the lightweight powershield jacket I got at MEC for $155CDN is a great deal. An equivilent arc'teryx piece would be $250US or so.

[PaulB]

JoshK said:

... I was really disappointed to see that arc'teryx adjusts their pricing for the home (canadian) market on their clothing, unlike on their packs.... Their clothing, however, has been ass-rape adjusted, so a nice shell is like $600CDN or some such crap.

In any case, people are laying down the $$$ for arc'teryx. I was at Whistler yesterday, and I couldn't believe how many people were wearing their jackets and pants. Granted, Whistler isn't the best example of "normal" consumer spending habits.

 

As for CMS, I picked up a pair of Scarpa Alphas for $300CDN this weekend, which I thought was a pretty good deal.