[MaciekA]

I think it's a bit unfair to characterize the Toronto Airsoft crew as careless or grossly incompetent, but mainly because I know many of them decently-well and think they deserve the chance to respond to their current challenges.

It's great that you've all found alternatives to Toronto Airsoft, and that speaks volumes to the growth of the airsoft market in Canada, but the fact of the matter remains that Toronto Airsoft handles a much larger volume of product than anyone else. I'm guessing far, far more than Mach1, if not just due to physical location, but also due to better visibility to Google, lower prices, a much larger catalogue when it comes to "parental visibility" (see below), and a well-designed web store that has actually paid attention to how commerce on the web is optimized.

As someone who actually works in internet media, I can tell you a place like Mach1 has a loonng way to go to improve their web presence. Their landing page is focused on all the wrong things: recruiting potential distributors, mentioning official supplier status, a wasteful giant logo graphic. The listing of product categories is way below the fold on most screens, and the area could be used by a product category listing is taken up by a twitter feed widget which to many consumers (i.e. parents, 90%+ of this business, and any retail business really, is done at Christmas shopping time) will be essentially incomprehensible. I won't get into the poor usability and design of the actual catalog itself, but it needs a lot of improvement to match the lean mean selling machine that is Toronto Airsoft.

The reason for mentioning the above is that even if Mach1 and TAS were identical stores with the same physical location, product range and the same people but next door to each other, Mach1 would handle lower volume of sales just due to their poor SEO and website. Thus, Mach1 has stacked the deck against themselves not only by physical location but other factors, and ironically enjoys the luxury of not being stuffed with random people and orders all day and therefore is able to offer better service. Not too surprising.

Why is this all important? Because Toronto Airsoft is a victim of its own success and can't easily be compared against other stores. It needs to be benchmarked against itself. They've been an important part of the airsoft community for quite some time. The reason why y'all oldskool guys don't see Frank much anymore is that he's busy running the business behind the curtain. It will be similarly difficult for Mach1 if and when they reach that scale. Retail ain't easy.

That said...

I think there are a few things Toronto Airsoft could do to improve the sales experience that might be doable. Making people take numbers has helped a LOT because now you always know where you stand with the lineup -- no ambiguity, no hoping to make eye contact with Louis or catch a glimpse of Frank.. Just take a number, chill out and admire the guns on the wall. On the other hand, there absolutely needs to be an express line for people who know what they want and just want to pay. The salesperson taking 23 minutes to explain airsoft to a doubtful father while 10 other customers wait impatiently needs to not be the same guy that works the cash.

These are scaling pains, and I think Toronto Airsoft needs to bring some of the automation and slickness of their website operation to their physical retail operation. When you go into the store on a Wednesday afternoon and nobody is there yet but you, it's at that moment that these guys are at their best and will patiently follow your every request, every question, and let you touch and try everything and even invite you to hang out for a bit. Now they just need to figure out how to copy a little more of the mid-Wednesday experience into the late-Friday.

For what it's worth, Toronto Airsoft is going to continue to get my business, warts and all. They've improved by leaps and bounds since I started shopping there, and will probably continue to.