I heard a story recently that MEC and REI were started by the same group of friends, who wanted to bring a European model of coop for outdoor gear to North America. Apparently when setting it up, they agreed to limit themselves each to their country (Canada and the US) in order to stay out of competition and to simplify things for the people who make this kind of specialty equipment. Whether true or not, they have certainly stuck to their corners and MEC remains a one stop shop for all kinds of specific outdoor gear at an always fair price. Plus, I love the people who work here. Gear nerds with none of the gear snobbery, totally happy to help you with whatever level you're at. In these Covid times, I took advantage of their website to order some baby outdoor gear (I am that mama, and I'm ok with it.) The website doesn't have everything you can find in store, or a ton of options in any category, but if you spend hours looking at life jackets online like I did, you'll come back here when you realize they have the only one you need. read more

Très pauvre service à la clientèle depuis que ce n'est plus une COOP. J'ai tenté d'échanger un thermarest qui s'est délaminé. Le directeur de MEC Montréal n'a pas voulu reconnaître que c'était un défaut de fabrication, même si j'en avais un deuxième identique, utilisé selon les mêmes conditions optimales. Très peu de jugement par rapport à la situation. J'ai décidé, après 40 ans, de ne plus être cliente étant donné le mauvais jugement à cet effet. read more

Large 2 story store with a really wide range of items to choose from. Nice cafe attached to the store. Only detraction for me was the lack of English signage. While I'm trying to learn French, the lack of English made it few less inclusive. read more

MEC Montréal - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Montreal, Quebec

Quality products, with occasionally noteworthy sales. Bought a pair of boots from them recently. Good selection of products.

MEC is heaven for outdoors enthusiasts. They sell tons of gear here for all kinds of activities like skiing, kayaking, camping, biking, etc and offer maintenance for equipment like bikes and skis. The selection and quality of the products is fantastic. I have bought lots of clothing, backpacks and so on here over the years and have always been impressed by how well everything holds up despite lots of use. Another feature worth mentioning is that you can rent gear here like snowshoes so if you're tempted to try a new outdoor activity but don't want to buy anything until you have tried it and know you want to commit to it consider renting. There are also a variety of other services like gear swaps and recycling of goods like bike tires and climbing ropes. Its one downfall is the location. It is not very accessible by public transit and Marche Centrale can be a zoo at times (especially on weekends). Navigating the parking lot and finding parking during these peak times can be annoying. If you can try and come during the week when it is quieter. You have to be a member to buy anything here since it is a coop. Membership is $5 (at least it was a few years ago when I joined) and is good for life so its not an expensive commitment at all. That tiny fee is well worth it though because you will definitely come back time and time again. read more

This place is not worth the effort..I'll tell you why 1. Their stores are always located in the middle of nowhere...where no man has ever gone before.. or simply where public transportation hardly goes, so if you don't have a car you'd better go somewhere else. 2 The items you see on their website are not the items they have in stock, regardless of what their website may say. 3 The items are not fully depicted in the website, so, for instance, if you are buying a backpack you'll never know how many compartments it has and details like that. 4. Some of the items are inexpensive, but at the end you get what you pay for. I checked their school backpacks and was not impressed. Checked several items and they were not in stock or the quality was not decent. 5. The employees make every effort possible to ignore the customers, especially if the customer needs some information about where to find a product or specifics about the product. I went today for the first time and left frustrated, rode on two Metro lines, waited 30 minutes for a bus on the way there and 20 on the way back just to buy nothing because I did not find the things I was looking for, and realized that what they sell is no better from the stuff I can buy at the dollar store or at any sport equipment in downtown Montreal...besides, the employees are not helpful at all, when they see you are going to ask for something they just look the other way and make every possible effort to ignore you. In conclusion: Don't waste either your time, or the 5 $ affiliation card. read more

Mountain Equipment is a very special place for outdoor enthusiasts in Canada. It's our version of REI or Eastern Mountain Sports (for Americans). Back in the late 90's and early 2000's it was the best place to come when the fleece jacket was gaining in popularity. If you ever visited the stores in Vancouver you could see that the store was part of the reason for feeding the West Coast lifestyle! Fast forward to 2014 and they have done an excellent job in keeping up with the times. You can find an excellent selection of camping, hiking, cycling and outdoor gear both name brand and the house MEC label variety. The MEC house brand was always known to be good quality of a very reasonable price (hence the co-op attitude). The store here is centred by a very large climbing wall at the back and has a great selection of anything hiking/camping. I've wanted to check out the cafe here but have yet to. Tonight it was closed so I'll save this for another visit. ***Keep in mind....You need to buy a membership to shop here, as it is a co-op. I bought mine so many moons ago I could not tell you how much they are now. read more

Have dealt with the Montreal store's customer service desk on a few occasions, now, and their warranty policy and level of service are the best I've ever encountered in retail. Have had broken stuff repaired or replaced without a murmur, and without charge. Makes the onerous drive to their absurdly-sited store worth every erg and curse word. read more

When I went out to a conference in Montreal, I braved not knowing the city and traveling all the way out to MEC on multiple transit systems and then walking way down some street to this place. It was worth it, perhaps for the nostalgia of "missing" MEC (the Canadian version of REI... or REI is the american MEC...). It's a great store, although their quality has slipped since I started going there so many years ago. This location has a couple floors, and generous section for shoes and apparel alongside the staple backpack/bag section. Staff was nice, including transferring over to English once they realized I was struggling. read more

I wouldn't normally go out of my way to review a big chain but this MEQ is far superior to any other I've frequented. I've gotten really useful recommendations from staff, which led among other purchases to me finally finding my favorite pair of hiking boots. No easy feat. Definately recommend checking them out if you aren't sure and want to try different options before buying. Its also big enough that you don't feel cooped up like at some of the other outdoor spots downtown. And if you avoid rush hour it's really easy to get to from the highway. read more

OH MY GOD! I feel like I was in heaven. If you are an outdoor sports person like I am, or like outdoor activities, adventures, you could basically spend hours or even an entire day here. They have everything in this location(only this one though, the one on St. Denis is not like the one at Marche Central at all). They have kayaks, any accessories related to any sports, skiing stuff, rentals, biking, camping, swimming... Do I even need to go one? Basically anything you could imagine. The good part is, you could also rent equipment! So if you need anything related to sports, this is the place to go. Just an fyi though, to buy something you need to become a member, and pay 5$(takes 2 min) but other than that it's a perfect fun place. read more

Love it. It's a solid MEC store. This store location is a bit out of the way but worth the trip. Another thing I like about MEC is how they don't rip you off, I like the fair price point for the quality. read more

The store is really great if looking for equipment for outdoor activities. But the store is really inconveniently placed in an area where it is difficult to get to if someone does not have a car and needs to take public transportation. The prices are not too bad; it is adequate and reasonable for the quality, size and type of equipment being displayed. But the reason I give this MEC store 3 stars is that despite an adequate/decent range of products they sell, the customer service is severely lacking. Whenever I go, there seems to be employees everywhere, but only when you don't need them or have any questions. Either that or if you ask an employee a question, they would tell you that they will get someone for you who specializes in that department, and no one would ever come afterwards. Almost as if they never called someone for you (empty promises) or they just plain forgot about the customers. One time, I rode my bike all the way to the store (one hour bike ride), so that I could buy and get bike baskets installed on my bike. I asked the bike installation/repairmen how the service would work, so they told me to choose what I liked, and consult them before buying. After choosing a basket, the employee was gone. When I asked another bike employee, he said that I had to unlock my bike from outside the store and bring it in-store for him to assess if he could install it for me. When I came back in with my bike, there were no employees again. When I asked a random employee passing by to help, he 'could not help because he did not know anything about bikes' but he would get me a specialist. After waiting 20 minutes, a bike specialist happened to come by and was unaware of my situation and was oblivious to the fact that there was a growing line of other customers who needed their own bikes to be fixed or get something installed behind me. When I asked him if he could help, he said that he was busy filling up an order and that I nor the other customers behind me was not his responsibility and walked off into the back employee room. After about another 15 minute wait and lots of complaining to non-bicycle specialist employees, a bike specialist employee finally came out from his break and just threw me a random product and told me to go install it at home myself. When I told him I would be willing to pay extra and wait for the store to install it for me, he said that the store already has too many jobs to complete and was already behind on everything. I was fed up at that point and eventually had to buy it and figure out how to do it myself. Honestly, as much as I love browsing around the store and looking at the the equipment, I would only visit the store for that purpose: browsing. I would not trust the store/employees for any services, because they are completely unreliable! Sometimes, I would be browsing their online website for products and I would be interested in seeing it in front of me. So I would call the store to make sure that the store had it (an item) in stock, sometimes the are in stock so I go out of my way to go to the store but I find that the employees I ask to locate the item for me has never even heard of it or the item has been out of stock for weeks. All in all, the store itself has a lot of potential but the people working for the company needs a serious regrouping or just plain replacement as a whole. read more

I love their products and their mentality. However, it'd be nice to have clothes that fit people that weigh over 145 pounds. With that being said, their high quality products and their decent prices are the reasons I keep coming back! read more