Kevin Horton
Well Known Member
Aircraft Spruce Canada had their grand opening on Dec. 2nd. Yesterday RV-7A builder Steve Hurlburt and I visited their site in Mississauga. They have a spot in an industrial area just SW of Toronto Pearson airport, right next door to the Kitplane Builders assistance centre, which is owned by the same people. We browsed the aisles of the retail store part, and I found quite a few items that I didn't even know I needed. I was shopping like a woman. Had to sneak all that stuff into the house.
Their web site doesn't do a very good job of explaining what they are doing. They have a retail store and warehouse with several hundred of the most popular items from the ACS catalog. If you call ACS Canada, and the items you want are in stock, they pack and ship it from Mississauga. If you need something they don't have, it gets put in the weekly truck that leaves every Tuesday from the ACS warehouse in Georgia. The truck arrives in Mississauga on Friday, and your order goes out either Friday night or Monday. This probably isn't any quicker than ordering from the USA, but it simplifies the customs issues, and they can provide hazardous goods that can't be shipped across the border.
Eventually, once they have built up the business, they plan to open a better stocked warehouse at a general aviation airport in the Toronto area.
I had a couple of bad experiences with ACS where they shipped the wrong items. Nothing expensive, just little hardware items, but it meant I had to wait to get the parts I needed. I stopped using ACS and went to Wicks. But, I'll try ACS Canada, as it is a completely different bunch of people doing the work, so maybe they can do it better.
One small issue - for the moment their 1-877-795-2278 number is going to ACS in Georgia. They are trying to get the number rerouted to go to Mississauga, but so far Bell has managed to avoid doing that. You need to contact ACS Canada at 905-795-2278 until they get the phone issues resolved.
Their web site doesn't do a very good job of explaining what they are doing. They have a retail store and warehouse with several hundred of the most popular items from the ACS catalog. If you call ACS Canada, and the items you want are in stock, they pack and ship it from Mississauga. If you need something they don't have, it gets put in the weekly truck that leaves every Tuesday from the ACS warehouse in Georgia. The truck arrives in Mississauga on Friday, and your order goes out either Friday night or Monday. This probably isn't any quicker than ordering from the USA, but it simplifies the customs issues, and they can provide hazardous goods that can't be shipped across the border.
Eventually, once they have built up the business, they plan to open a better stocked warehouse at a general aviation airport in the Toronto area.
I had a couple of bad experiences with ACS where they shipped the wrong items. Nothing expensive, just little hardware items, but it meant I had to wait to get the parts I needed. I stopped using ACS and went to Wicks. But, I'll try ACS Canada, as it is a completely different bunch of people doing the work, so maybe they can do it better.
One small issue - for the moment their 1-877-795-2278 number is going to ACS in Georgia. They are trying to get the number rerouted to go to Mississauga, but so far Bell has managed to avoid doing that. You need to contact ACS Canada at 905-795-2278 until they get the phone issues resolved.
