Atmosphere

I’ve been here a couple times to pick up outdoor gear. It’s always been a positive experience. The staff are avid outdoorsy people themselves and can offer some solid advice; many of them actually use the products they sell. The store has a decent selection of stuff but is limited by their space (they are relatively smaller compared to their competition like Sail, MEC, etc.). Their prices may also tend to be slightly higher (Sail tends to offer deeper sales/​promos/​discounts, while MEC generally has lower prices when not considering any promos), so make sure you cross-​shop. A minus is that these guys don’t have any sort of online facility to check their inventory (when will they get out of the stone age?). The nice thing is that these guys will sometimes do friends & family sales, coinciding with SportChek’s, and you can save 20% on almost anything in store, which is something you don’t really get at any of their competitors.

I made my first purchase at this store of a pair of Black Diamond headlamps, bit less than 2 years ago. The switch on one stopped working reliably. Sort of a bummer when you’re on a climb at night and your headlamp is unreliable. I went back to the store to ask them to exchange /​send back to BD. The store assistant manager first told me it depended on the manufactures warranty. Then he made no offer of looking up. I asked «How long do you expect I’ll need to wait for you to look that up?» Then he went to look it up. He came back later and told me that the BD policy is that the customer needs to contact BD and deal with them directly. He told me that Atmosphere’s purchase from BD was probably a «limited buy» so that «they don’t deal with warranty repairs themselves» that they «likely don’t still carry the model I purchased» etc, etc. I told him this was my first purchase at his store and I asked which brands they stood behind completely. He told me some of the larger brands they carry — Arcteryx, Columbia — they have a full relationship with. Again I confirmed that they were telling me I would need to deal with contacting BD and figuring out the repair myself. I found this very surprising as I’ve never had such an experience with problematic outdoor gear at other outdoor stores. So, I come home and look up the Black Diamond guarantee. The statement verbatim from their website for headlamps is as follows: «For headlamps our warranty is for three years. If Buyer discovers a covered defect, Buyer should return the Product to the place of purchase.» I don’t know where the assistant manager was getting his information — perhaps it’s Atmosphere’s internal policy that contradicts Black Diamonds — or if he was just trying to get rid of me, but the fact that what he stated is in direct contradiction of BD’s policy makes me rate this store’s willingness to stand behind their products as one star.

I’ve been to 2 locations and bought a couple items. It’s very similar to MEC, but a little smaller. I love the brands they offer. My main gripe is their return policy. Apparently, purchases from Atmosphere stores outside of Quebec CANNOT be fixed, returned, exchanged, etc. in Quebec stores. SO, I bought a pair of sunglasses from Atmosphere in Toronto that broke easily within a couple days from taking them off my head. I returned to Quebec and they told me they couldn’t do much about it except possibly return it to the manufacturer to see if they are defective and if so, I could have them mail me a replacement with shipping being $ 20+tax. BOO on company policies. I would rather shop at MEC or at REI in the US.

This store is awesome (Eaton Centre, Toronto). Not because it offers anything extremely special, you can find the stuff that they sell in other places, but the staff over there is great (understatement).
They are very, very helpful, they are not pushy, and they know their stuff. They are always there if you need help and they will price match an item in a heart beat, they will give you full refund on return without a fuss and if it happens that an item you found had a wrong tag on it with price lower than it should be, they will honor the lower price again without any issues.
All of this I mentioned above I experienced first hand. It’s a great experience and definitely made this particular shop my number 1 stop for anything outdoors.
The other day I ended up buying a jacket I didn’t really plan on buying because the guy was super helpful and they did a price match on the item on the spot.
Kudos to everyone that works there, you guys are great.

I write this from a kind of retail limbo.
Truth be told, I’m not sure if Atmosphere is open or closed, or in the process of relocating to tonier digs within the Eaton Centre.
First christened Coast Mountain Sports, Atmosphere opened when Sportchek (née Collegiate) took over the space formerly held by Tower Records.
A bigger, glitzier version of MEC or Sporting Life, it anchored the corner of Queen and Yonge, and filled downtown suits with the promise of nature red in tooth and claw.
A fair selection of name-​brand outerwear competed withunmemorable house brands; but the usual suspects were well-​represented. Columbia for the newbies, Helly Hansen and The North Face for weekend warriors, snugger-​fitting jackets by Marmot and Arc’teryx for extreme dog-​walkers. A great selection of hiking boots and hippie-​style sandals, too; all patrolled by staffers who ranged from gnarly disinterest to bitchin’ helpfulness.
On a good day, service would warrant four stars; most days it would be undermined by poor backstock, and ludicrous policies that did not facilitate transfers between stores, back orders, or refunds without a restocking charge (I will personally lead a campaign to make ‘restocking charges’ illegal. Biggest ripoff ever).
A birthday gift purchased for my brother once went horribly wrong. I never shopped there again.
Since I love me a windproof, waterproof, breatheable jacket, I hope the Scvhroedinger’s Cat in the Atmosphere box is still alive. I also hope that when the store receives its facelift, a personality transplant is in the works as well.

Coast Mountain Sports is an outdoor clothing and gear store that sits somewhere between Europe Bound (aka Worst Store Ever) and MEC (aka Best Store Ever). If you’re looking to outfit yourself for a serious outdoor mission, go to MEC (
). If you just want to pick up a cool Gore-​Tex jacket to wear around the city, Coast Mountain should serve you well.
The store is well laid out and organized. The outerwear section has a great selection of brands: Arc’Teryx, North Face, Marmot, Smart Wool, and all many others. Prices are high, but the truth is there are only a few places in town that sell this stuff and most of them are also pricey (e.g. Sporting Life).
If you’re looking to buy outdoor gear like tents, water filters, or packs, I wouldn’t bother with Coast Mountain; go to MEC instead. Coast Mountain is over priced and I don’t feel the staff are all that knowledgeable. Also, nothing compares to MEC’s ridiculously good customer service and return policy.

if you’re looking to find info on Coast Mountain Sports online, there’s few and far between. Unlike their competition, MEC, Coast Mountain Sports does not have a good website where you can look or buy stuff online. Just as well though. You can find some pretty good deals, a large part of the second level is devoted to «clearance» items. It requires some scavenging through the racks and racks, but if you find something, it may be well worth it.
They sell a lot of Columbia, The North Face and HH. I was looking for a rain/​wind jacket while there. All the staff were extremely helpful and seemed to know their stuff (and their way around the store).
If you aren’t entering CMS from the outside entrance (off yonge, on Queen Street), you have to go through Sports Chek, to the second level. It’s a bit of a maze, and it’s sorta hidden, but if you see the bikes you’re on the right track.