Pilot Mall Retail Store

NHWannabe

Line Up and Wait
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Jul 31, 2015
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New Hampshire
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NHWannabe
Will be going to Florida in the next few months to visit my brother who just moved outside of Sarasota. It looks to be about an hour drive from his house to Lakeland and was thinking of planning a day trip, is the Pilot Mall retail store worth checking out?
 
Depends on what you're expecting. Pilot Mall sets up a nice big retail store during Sun-N-Fun, but the rest of the year it's mostly a counter, a couple of display cases and some tshirt racks, and a large warehouse.

I live nearby, in Haines City, and my daughter lives in Lakeland, so I've visited the store outside of SNF week.

It's not great for browsing, but if you're looking for something specific it's fine. When I was shopping for a headset for my wife, we went to the store and the sales person hauled out a bunch of headsets for her to try on. (Naturally, she wasn't comfortable in anything costing less than an AMU, but that's another thread....)

If you want to wander around looking at aviation trinkets, leafing through books, pawing through clothing, twisting knobs on radios, etc., it's not so good.
 
Depends on what you're expecting. Pilot Mall sets up a nice big retail store during Sun-N-Fun, but the rest of the year it's mostly a counter, a couple of display cases and some tshirt racks, and a large warehouse.

I live nearby, in Haines City, and my daughter lives in Lakeland, so I've visited the store outside of SNF week.

It's not great for browsing, but if you're looking for something specific it's fine. When I was shopping for a headset for my wife, we went to the store and the sales person hauled out a bunch of headsets for her to try on. (Naturally, she wasn't comfortable in anything costing less than an AMU, but that's another thread....)

If you want to wander around looking at aviation trinkets, leafing through books, pawing through clothing, twisting knobs on radios, etc., it's not so good.

Thanks Half! This is exactly the pirep I was looking for, appreciate the tip.
 
If you're looking for an aviation day trip, you might consider Kermit Weeks' place, Fantasy of Flight. It's not what it used to be, but he still opens the museum on some weekends. Check ahead. https://www.fantasyofflight.com/collection/

The Florida Air Museum is also good and is within walking distance of Pilot Mall. https://www.floridaairmuseum.org/

Valiant Air Command (warbird museum) is excellent if you want to drive all the way to Titusville. https://www.valiantaircommand.com/ They're closed for COVID right now, so check to see if they've reopened before going.
 
Trained at KLAL and loved having the shop right on the field! Found tons of stuff that I didn't even know I needed!

Shop is one of the better size retail shops I have seen and worth a stop if you are in the area via car or plane but not sure it is worth half a day adventure just for a visit there unless you have time to kill.
 
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