[MaciekA]

I've defended this store a lot in the past but that's becoming much harder, especially now that there are better airsoft retail experiences in the GTA. That, and I've had a string of bad experiences stemming from the same problem: the current design/flow of retail store is not working out.

It has become impossible to walk into the store and buy actually something. I used to be able to just drop by the store and pick up a couple of quick items (I always come with a list). That was well over a year ago. My last few visits ended with me leaving empty-handed because I could either not talk to an employee and ran out of time, or got a terse response and a walk-away.

They implemented a take-a-number system. I thought that would help, but it only serves to illuminate the problem more than solving it.

Typical examples of visiting the store:

Arrive with my buddy TANNER, who is looking to pick up an AK. The store is packed as usual. We take a number, wait for ages, finally our number comes up. We get a salesperson (I think his name is Kevin) calling our name. "Can we take a quick look at the such-and-such AK XYZ?". He doesn't know if it's in stock, seems uninterested in checking. "Well, do you have any brand XYZ AKs in stock?". He's not sure, looks at the wall a bit, and abandons us. We leave empty handed.

A weekend or two ago, I swing by in hopes of picking up a couple things including BBs for chrono'ing. I get to the store and it is packed with people. There are two sales people at the counter talking to a customer each, one of whom is agonizing over whether to buy the lowest-end MP5K they sell (one of the cheapest guns in the store), the other is trying to figure out whether he can use all of these american express gift cards (or whatever they were). The rest of the store is packed with confused people trying to figure out how to get the attention of the sales people. Finally someone realizes there is a take-a-number system. The number machine has no tickets in it, and it's empty. Frank's parents are standing by the cash machine watching over everything like hawks, and correct one of the salespeople's price quotes as he gives it to a customer.

I watch this circus of bottlenecks for a while, stand near the cash hoping to just get my BBs and go, but can't get anyone's attention. The take-a-number system is completely off the rails at that point and nobody seems to mind. Frank's parents stand around like they've never even considered checking if anyone wants to come over here and just cash out. Nope, it's apparently more important to stare down the customers and sales people. WTF? How hard is it to say the words "does anybody know exactly what they want and just want to pay? Line up over here!"

As a person who spends a lot of my day job optimizing processes, it is hard for me to accept that someone who is involved in the ownership of a retail operation can just idly stand by and watch $150-200 of business hold back many hundreds standing right behind it, or for that matter a quick flow of impulse / drop-by purchases. Decouple sales from cash.

As the original number one fan, I can't believe I'm finally saying this, but I am not sure I'll be going back to the store any time soon.