MEC Vancouver

I picked up a new bike at MEC yesterday. Simarjit (the fellow who helped me) was knowledgeable and friendly. The others in the bike area were also pleasant and helpful. It was a good experience.

Extremely rude and unprofessional service from MEC's bike department. I am talking about the tall individual with brown hair and glasses. I purchased this bike at MEC less than a year ago and asked if he could do a quick adjustment on the rear brake. After 2 minutes he returned the bike but the issue remained. After I had told him the brakes still was not working, he became extremely irritated and condescending and started yelling at me for no reason. Usually, I don't write reviews if I had a negative experience however his behavior and attitude was abysmal. Sighing and throwing the tools as he was adjusting my bike the second time is unacceptable. A trip to your bike mechanic/shop should be a pleasant experience. I won't be returning for any of my bike needs and I don't recommend anyone here either. Visit your LBS instead or try TREK on Kingsway.

Very helpful in helping me find my size for ski boots safely and with lots of space in the store, happy to answer my questions about different options on different boots.

Good place. Kids stuff was a bit thin on selections and stock tho. But did get everything i needed

Friendly, professional, courteous, knowledgeable staff always ready to provide help. Store has lots of outdoor merchandise for different activities, and different seasons. Order online, pickup in store, or shop on the spot. They also have lots of type 2 EV charging stations (10+), although they are still not yet activated (as of this writing - 12/31/2020).

You guys used to have great quality, service, and the best guarantee but have absolutely dropped the ball. I've had so many items break or fall apart so quickly, and it's always a mess dealing with pick ups. Honestly not worth the price by a long shot anymore. Shop elsewhere as MEC is really barely a shell of what it used to be.

I have being shopping here for almost 3 years and I always had a good time shopping or talking to the crew.
All employee are super trained on each area of sport, in fact, a lot of them actually do a lot of sports like climbing, running, day hiking, kayaking, etc.

Some products are pricey but I still have all jackets, shirts, shorts, and shoes doing great! All MEC products brand.

As much as I love MEC, I increasingly wonder how much of a "co-op" this is anymore and what the benefits are. It's gotten quite expensive and I often find lower prices for the same or better items from different retailers (ie. North Face, Patagonia, Canadian Tire, Scouts Canada). I'll still go, but definitely not my go-to anymore.

We recieved exceptional and kind service in the very busy shoe department today. The gentleman who helped me and my 79 year old father doesn't normally work in that department. He went out of his way to help us.

You have to pay a $5 membership fee to shop there. The guy at the counter was a little rude when he asked for the $5 membership fee.

Great store with a wide selection of outdoor gear. I picked up a pair of hiking shoes from here a few years ago.

The shoes' soles wore out and MEC didn't honour their lifetime policy. My shoes survived through treacherously trying hikes, though.

Good retail store. Wide selection to choose from. Was able to find what I needed during multiple visits.

Just went in there with my partner to buy some bike parts including five 6” tent pegs, the long hair Asian lady at the one of check out desks (not to be racist since I’m an Asian woman as well) scanned it as the wrong item, when it’s pointed out she continued to charge us the wrong price tag and said we were wrong. So of course I had to go straight to customer service to fix this problem. There’s no reason for her to charge us more and she immediately put up her “closed” sign when we were done so clearly she just didn’t wanna take the time to fix her mistake. Anyways, I never have bad experience at mec so this was quite shocking.

Just posting a review here after having a few days to reflect on my experience at MEC (on broadway) this past Canada Day.

First off I'm a MEC evangelist (tell my friends to shop there), and have been shopping there for years. Their staff is first class and in general have always gone above and beyond in my visits there.

I had bought and paid for a new bike a couple days before Canada day, which I bought for my girlfriends birthday which is on Canada Day. I went into the store on Canada Day with my receipt to pick up the bike, since they had kept it over the weekend to give it a standard tightening/adjustment.

Upon receiving my bike from the service desk, I proceeded to walk to the cashier to pay for a separate small purchase I was making. It was then I was approached by another staff member. Summary of that experience which is the impetus for this review below. (trying to be objective as I can, but I may be a bit biased).

- heard in a loud tone something to the effect of 'excuse me, what are you doing with that bike' (in fairness the words may have been slightly different, but it was loud enough where I saw other customers looking at me. I felt embarrassed).

- I Indicated I was purchasing a water bottle holder, but the bike was mine as I had paid for it last week. I even had my work order with me to prove it.

- Staff member indicated that the tags should not be on my bike if I had purchased the bike. I didn't know how to respond to that, but just indicated that I had in fact purchased the bike and had just received it from the service desk a minute ago.

- I then suggested we go back to the service desk to talk with the man who helped me and started to walk back with the bike to the service desk.

- It was then the staff member indicated that I give him the bike and that he walk it back. I didn't understand why that was necessary. It was clear by his body language he did not feel comfortable with me having the bike in my hands. He indicated he believed me in that I bought the bike, but he will take the bike.again this was frustrating. I did not fight back.

- As expected it was cleared up by the service desk, and the tags were taken off. I received the bike back from the staff member, who indicated he was sorry for the confusion. I then left the store with the bike.

I want to be careful here in presuming anything.but I am a visible minority and the above experience just felt like I had been profiled. I totally get people have likely stolen bikes in a similar fashion, so I undertstand the ask for verfiication. What I don't understand is the tone with which I was approached, the need to take the bike from me, and the refusal to look at my receipt. I was frustrated for most of the day afterwards.

I'm posting this review here with a dual purpose -
(1) to notify the MEC staff with the hopes that this will not happen to another individual.
(2) to vent my frustration, so that I can just let it go.

I have no further expectations beyond this thread, and nor am looking for any recompense.

Thank you for your time - Jamie.

Stove fuel that was 5$ 2 years ago is now 11$ for the exact same thing with a differnt label. This is not what MEC started like many years ago. The store is now empty. Not a single customer in sight in the middle of the afternoon. I hope whatever replaces MEC here dosnt follow the same path.

Staff not prepared to spend time helping. I had 2 staff show me where what I wanted was then just walked away. I wanted to purchase but walked away empty handed.

Love this store and everything in it! Great selection and anything you will ever need for any outdoor activity.

It was really disappointing when I tried to return the camping gear I rented before the end of the rental period and the store didn't return any amount of the money paid upfront or offered any compensation like store credit or change the period of rental. I didn't get the chance to use the gear because of other reasons and felt that my money was completed wasted.

My favorite place in the city to get outdoor gear for our summer camping trips. The staff are friendly, and helpful, and are easily approachable. Competitive prices and good online site too.

I've always loved shopping at MEC for my outdoor gear. Came here this time for climbing supplies and it did not disappoint.

They have an extensive selection of gear to select from and helpful staff to walk you through their products. MEC also has a mini climbing wall for you to test out your climbing shoes!

BONUS: They sell my favourite Chuao chocolate bars here. Stocked with wacky flavours like potato chip and churro chocolate.

A great place for outdoors equipment, and a really great place for top notch backpacks and other bags. Things here aren't cheap, even the cheaper in-house brand stuff can be pricey. But the quality and amount of use you get out of anything sold here is worth it.

Always love this place, great styles and return policy. The prices are little bit higher but the quality and durability reflects the slight premium.

I definitely went in on the wrong day. Saturday.way too busy to get any assistance out of the stop. Maybe this was a pay week and everyone was going and spending money.

When I finally did get to talk to staff they were very, very helpful

Consistently good place for outdoor enthusiasts. They have an emphasis on hiking, biking, rock climbing, camping, and trekking so their merchandise is selected accordingly. If you are a runner, they have a good selection of shoes and some accessories but it is not quite as extensive as speciallized stores. There is a good spread of nutrition items as well as literature and electronics so overall very well rounded. I can spend hours just drooling over stuff there and it is my favorite go-to places when in Vancouver.

The staff at rental were helpful and accommodating and understanding when i was in a bit of a tight situation getting the rentals back on time.

MEC is and has been going downhill. They have stopped carrying good outdoor brands in favour of urban clothing lines. Not a store for the avid adventurer anymore. Customer service is also terrible. I ordered a product shipped to their store for pick up. They are supposed to hang on to it for up to 21 days.but if was refunded without my knowledge 6 days later. I asked them to locate it for me, and they couldn't. I had to order it a second time! Absolutely no compensation or apologies were given for this terrible service. I would just recommend ordering online from retailers instead of MEC.

I like the place, but not enough staff on the floor.at least not on this Sunday visit. Overall staff are helpful and friendly.

Abundant friendly & knowledgeable staff. On a busy Saturday there was virtually no wait at customer service (where we returned some gear no questions asked that we had used but didn't meet our needs) or checkout (where we bought a bike, our choice over one at nearby Sports Junkies due in part to the sense of better quality and superior professionalism). MEC has earned our loyalty!

They have a great variety of products at fair prices. I got everything I needed under my budget. Furthermore, the company is ethically admirable, they support small countries like El Salvador and pulled brands associated with NRA.

Excellent service! I will start shopping here for all of my outdoor gear. I went in to exchange the size on a pair of climbing shoes - while in line I saw customer service agree to replace a backpack zipper on a bag that was over 6 years old! - unbelievable!

I've been a member of MEC since the early 80s, and in that time there have certainly been some changes. Those of us old-timers who remember when it used to better cater to actual mountaineers might feel a little disappointment when shopping there now. For example, I went to replace my old taped overmitt shells recently, only to learn that not only do they not even make them anymore, I couldn't get one from another manufacturer either. A quick look shows that even REI carries those, so that's disappointing. Just one of many examples of the little things I have to find elsewhere now.

It's still the case that we can rely on MEC to provide quality, affordable clothing and tools for exploring the outdoors, and the staff is still friendly and often knowledgeable. I'm still very grateful for MEC's presence in the city, and much of my discretionary income still ends up at MEC's tills. I do wish, however, that they did a better job of catering to those little details that I used to so appreciate – the item weight on every shelf label, for example, or ensuring that everything someone heading into the alpine could need would be available.

I look forward to the opening of the new store. Perhaps with more space, they'll ensure those gaps or filled. Or, as I fear will more likely be the case, they'll instead diversify even more, and I'll be forced more often to look elsewhere when I need something technical.