Buying Gear in Prince George

[Scooter]

If you're shopping for planting gear in PG, consider trying out Commercial Solutions. They're located at 3420 Opie Crescent, sort of by the big East Indian temple that's near the Pine Centre Mall and the McDonald's and the auto parts place. They're right on the corner, so one of the very closest businesses to the temple.

Hours are: 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Not open on weekends unfortunately, so you'd have to go to IRL on Saturdays. IRL's hours are 8am-5pm M-F, and 9:30am to 4pm Saturdays.

Commercial Solutions has been pretty cooperative and helpful, and their prices are good. Tell them that Scooter from Folklore sent you. You might get a slight additional discount. I'm not positive about that, but I kind of got the impression that they were trying to really be accommodating to planters. Even if you don't get a discount, their prices are competitive.

[Pebbles]

Our camp has pretty much switched from IRL to buying exclusively from those guys. In anticipation of the season our 18 pack has already placed orders on bags/tape/gloves. I find that besides a more convenient location than IRL, the tape CS sells is easier to tear and does not stretch like IRL stuff does. Not to mention their traveling hockey puck display hehe.

[Scooter]

Well, to put it into perspective, on one purchase today: 13 pairs of gloves and two plots cords, $44 with tax. Those gloves are about $5 each everywhere else. And a set of four-baggers was only $90 + tax. My last set down on the Island was $110 + tax.

Caution: they don't have four-baggers in stock, but can order them to arrive within about three days (unless BushPro itself runs out of stock).

[CampMeeting]

They once opened the store for me on a Sunday so I could buy ~$40 worth of gear. I approve of CS.

[bdbrown]

that atmosphere has deals for years.. just TAKE my money

[Scooter]

[deleted]

They have lots of gloves though. I bought a pack of 10 pairs and I think it came to about $21 including tax.

Edit: I was in at Commercial Solutions again this afternoon and I stand corrected, they have tons of planting gear there right now. Lots of 3-baggers. Lots of D-handle shovels. Lots of silvicool inserts. They aren't normally open on weekends, but they open at 8am weekdays.

[Scooter]

Ok, there's been a big change at Commercial Solutions. They've been bought out. They're no longer located in the same place.

They do exist, but they're in transition. I don't know what this will mean for the next spring planting season. I'll find out more in the spring and post here. For now, they say that they're still going to carry lots of planting gear, but they also suggested that it might be easier in many cases to order in advance, and then just come pick up the gear (or possibly have it shipped, although I didn't ask that).

I do know that I already envision a couple of big drawbacks with this change:
1. Their new location is not obvious. I drove around for a bit and finally went into a building to ask if they'd ever heard of Commercial Solutions moving onto the street somewhere, and the girl said, "yes, they're right here." But it looks like the place that bought them might be more of a larger-scale industrial supplier/channels operation that deals with specialty equipment for the most part.
2. Their new location has no "showroom" or displays. Customers are restricted to a small counter space, ask for specific items, and then the person behind the counter goes out back to get the items.
3. They don't take debit. I'm guessing that they might not even take cash, but I forgot to ask that too. Credit cards appear to be the preferred (and perhaps only) method of payment.

The new location is at this address:
#101 880 Great Street, Prince George, BC, V2N 5R7. (250) 563-0452.
It's a big stone building with windows. Great Street is easy to find. If you're in PG and you start heading south on 97 towards Quesnel/Vancouver, you'll cross the bridge and you're immediately in an industrial area. The weigh scales used to be right there on the right side, and if you went a little further, you'll go up a big hill and Ritchie Brothers used to be at the top of that hill on the left, years ago, and it's now a big camper/trailer/RV place. Anyway, as soon as you cross the bridge and pass the old scale location, take that first right and then again take the first right at Goode Eats. You'll be on Great Street at this point, and it's about a block down, at the end of the street, left hand side. No obvious advertising/sign out front at the moment, although the street address is on the building.

I was concerned about possible price increases. I bought another package of gloves (Nitri-Dex 10-pack) and it cost me $19.50 plus tax for a total of $21.84. So the prices, as of a week or so ago, were still good.

Again, I'll try to find out more in the spring. It seems like this might still be the best bet for foremen who are purchasing gear in bulk for crews, or for an individual planter who wants to call them up in advance, order gear, and can pay with a credit card. However, the thought of a dozen individual customers coming in to buy stuff could take some time for the staff to pick the items off the shelves and deal with accepting payment. It seemed like taking a credit card was a difficult process, and I suspect that they don't have a lot of customers who come in off the streets.

[Scooter]

Commercial Solutions has been absorbed by Motion Industries and now goes by that name.

Their address is 880 Great Street. Heading south on highway 97, if you go over the big bridge over the Fraser, you take an immediate right (curving around where the weigh-scale was up until a few years ago) and then another immediate right. That's Great Street. Go down to the end of the street, where there's a little cul-de-sac (because if you went much further, you'd be back in the river) and Motion Industries is on the left side. I've attached a photo.

They are open Mondays through Fridays from 7:30am to 5pm.

They accept Visa/MC and Cash. They DO NOT accept debit cards! Be prepared.

They have quite a bit of planting stuff in stock. Generally slightly lower prices than at IRL (based on past years, I didn't have time to do a direct comparison this year) although they mostly focus on the main items (BushPro speed spade, 3-baggers, silvicool inserts, plot cords) instead of having tons of the esoteric equipment available in-store. It's more of a counter location than a browse-through retail store.

If your company is going to be buying a lot of stuff, talk to them and they'll probably be able to arrange for a slight discount from their over-the-counter rates. I've found them to be very easy to work with.