Mac City Morning Show #2: Moe from Pacific Interiors

Name: Mac City Morning Show #2: Moe from Pacific Interiors
Uploaded: 2021-01-20T05:20:44+00:00
Duration: 18 min 49 s
Description: Moe Aoude with Pacific Interiors is our first official guest at the Mac City Morning Show! The team at Pacific Interiors are flooring installers you can trust!

Mac City Crew

January 20, 2021 June 1, 2021

Moe Aoude with Pacific Interiors is our first official guest at the Mac City Morning Show! The team at Pacific Interiors are flooring installers you can trust!

Below is a transcript of the episode, edited for readability. For more information on how to follow the show, see the links at the bottom of this post.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: My name is Elliott Pierre, once again, your temporary host of the Mac city morning show. Thank you for tuning in yesterday. Thank you for tuning in today. If you’re watching live, you’re the best. If you’re watching this recorded, you’re still the best. And if you’re watching the clips afterwards, you’re even better. I want to thank everybody that reached out to me yesterday. I appreciate the support. I gotta be honest. My mom and dad think I’m pretty cool and I hope you think I’m pretty cool as well. So first and foremost, elephant out of the room, we’re wearing masks. I’m hoping you are able to see our lips. We got some masks that are transparent. I’m hoping the sound is good as well. Um, but obviously I think everybody at home watching today knows why we have these on. So, you know, full bed, we’re doing the right thing and we’re trying not to get any fines. So now first guests really happy to have somebody sitting in the green couch. I’m horrible at introducing people. Although I know this gentleman quite well, I’m going to let him introduce himself.

MOE AOUDE: Not too bad. Thanks a lot Elliott. Oh yeah. I really think you are good at introducing people, but I will introduce myself. My name is Moe. I own Pacific interiors. Um, you obviously know Pacific interiors is a local flooring store down in Fort McMurray. Uh, we are located at eight one, two seven Fraser Avenue. And what we do is mostly flooring, but we do everything interiors. So like flooring, kitchens, cabinets, countertops, blinds, all that kind of stuff.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Okay. Now there’s one thing that you do that I went to a job a few weeks ago and I checked out was actually custom showers as well.

MOE AOUDE: Absolutely. That’s what, what, that’s actually what we specialize in. So we specialize in tile and module tiles and custom tile work and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, we, we do a lot of custom showers. Yeah.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: So obviously we have worked together. You’ve done jobs for me. I’ve seen the jobs that you’re doing in town. My main question, because there are different, uh, competitors that we people could go to. What makes you different than everybody else?

MOE AOUDE: It’s pretty simple. I hand out my phone number to my clients. I tell my clients, if you have a problem, come deal with me. You don’t need to just call the store. Whether it’s during the day, whether it’s at night, it doesn’t matter 24 seven. Call me when you have an issue. Or if you just want to talk about something or get an opinion on something, just give me a call. So I like to get involved more with the clients just to make them feel that they’re comfortable. You know, we’re, we’re working as a family here. Um, there’s no boss and employee kind of thing in our schedules, but, uh, yeah, so they, they, they appreciate it. Just like you, if you need flooring, you’re not going to call my store. You’re just probably going to call me right now.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: I’m never calling the store. I have your cell phone, all the, all the ladies at the store. I’ll be great. Yeah.

MOE AOUDE: Yeah. And they treat people with respect and they’re very good, but I mean, it’s just to a comfortable level, right? Yeah.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Yeah. So I know you’ve been in the community for a long time. Um, most of the time when you and me hanging out, it’s at a Thickwood barbershop, big shout out to, with barbershop next to the black horse. So you and Allie have something in common that I have no idea about. And you guys like to hunt?

MOE AOUDE: We love to hunt. We love to hunt. And, uh, one of the, uh, greatest hunts that we like to, uh, go to is elk. And, uh, so every year in September, September 17 rifle season opens for elk. And we actually drive for 11 hours down South to grand ferry, the spirit river. Um, we pull our trailers. We go there from probably September 16 to September 23, about a week to 10 days, roughly in the Bush. And, uh, yeah, it’s, uh, it’s a big, big difference. You know, like you’re doing something else, you know, hunting out. Cause it’s not like hunting deer. I’ll tell you that. So there is a big challenge. You are facing a big challenge and that’s, what’s probably the beauty of it, right aside from you’re with your friends, you’re in the Bush, you’re away from work. Uh, you’re away from stress and life and everything.

MOE AOUDE: But, uh, knowing that you want to come home with a group of success, you know, like with an elk or, you know, you just don’t want to come empty. And if one does it, then we all did it. And we came back as a team, we succeeded, we had fun. We enjoyed that’s the, uh, that’s the beauty of it, right. It can be very challenging. It can be a lot of kilometers that you’re walking in the Bush. You’re, you know, you’re they say, you’re going out for a vacation when you go hunting, but it’s small. You’re actually exhausting yourself. Right? You’re talking, you’re probably walking about five miles a day. And the, you know, like you’re coming back to the campsite that tired. You’re not a, it’s not that easy, but it’s enjoyable.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Okay. Now let’s talk about what you just said. And it’s the campsite, because this blew my mind in regards to you can’t handle yourself without a shower for 10 days. That’s exactly it. That’s exactly it. All right. So no.

MOE AOUDE: So we pull our trailers with us, right? So we, we would shower once every, either a day or two and a spirit river is nice because you can actually drive your camper for 20 minutes and go fill it up. Or you can get a thousand liter, you know? Uh, and he would show for alley. He always pulls his thousand liter can with him and tank with him and we just fill it out and it lasts us for, you know, about a week. So yeah, you don’t, you don’t want to be in the Bush for seven days without a shower.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Oh, you do way far away. Yeah. Your guys’ hunting stories are quite amusing one. Yeah.

MOE AOUDE: Just like, uh, you know, there’s, there’s a lot of nice stuff about this stuff happens when you’re hunting. Right. And uh, well, he fell, you know, we fell asleep on a tree, stand me and him like, so yeah. You just go up to the tree and you’re, you know, back in the days, I can’t remember what year this was. And uh, we’re sitting on a tree stand across from each other. Right. And we’re just hoping Nogle pass. And then just, you know, the wind was going right and left and we just fell asleep. And then we woke up the elk, I fleet cross rate under us. And we didn’t even know cause we were sleeping.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Because those are some long days.

MOE AOUDE: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I mean your day starts at probably like four or five, maybe six in the morning and depends on, you know, you can come back at one, take a break from one to three or one to four and then head back out into the Bush. So there they’re tiring. They’re tiring. But the moment you get back at night and you sat next to camp and you smoke your Hocus and you fire up and you just forget about everything. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And I think, uh, people that live in communities like this, like for McNary where it’s all work, work, work. They need that. Aside from that, they need it for themselves. They need it for their people as well. Right. Because it’s like, you re unionize, like you’re going out with your friends. You’re having that relation again. You know, everything is, you know, like throughout the whole year, when do you go out with your friend? Fort McMurray? Probably once or twice, but then we just wait for hunting season because that’s when every weekend or every month we’ll go camping. We’ll forget about it. We’ll rejoin all our group. And sometimes we take our families all together. Like we go camping for three days. So all the kids and everybody, so it’s, it’s actually fun. It’s nice. Cause other than that in Fort McMurray, buddy, you’re just working right right now. And that’s it. Yeah.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: And it’s a nice little, what I love about your guys’ stories is like the sense of community. When you guys are out there, like you were describing like me and the boys grown up here, a lot of what we do is just hang out and garages have a few drinks, maybe go to a bar. Um, but it sounds like when you guys go out there, it’s just like the census community. There’s no intoxicants whatsoever. It’s just you guys out there. Yeah.

MOE AOUDE: We don’t smoke. We don’t do drugs. Like right. So we own smoker, hookahs, which is fine. But like most of our time out is mostly social and talking and you know, cause you’re not going to be in the Bush on your phone. Right. So you’re going to be, we’re going to be talking about work. Believe it or not. I believe you’re in the Bush. You’re running away from work, but you go there and you actually talk about work. Right. But just because it’s, it’s something that you want to share ideas with, you know, you want to get opinions on and when’s the best time to talk when you’re in a Bush and there’s no sound around you and there is nothing. And you know, or we’re going to talk about, you know, how much miss our families or we’re going to talk about if we’re going to be successful tomorrow, we’re going to talk about what’s the future of Fort McMurray. You wouldn’t, you think, you know, where is, you know, where’s this economy leading us to.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: You just literally dovetailed right into the question that I was going to ask you next in regards to, when you’re talking about work as a business owner here in town, um, we know that there’s a bunch of struggles going on right now. Um, maybe because of the economy or because of pandemic, um, as a business owner in town, where do you see the economy going and what are kind of the struggles that you find yourself in?

MOE AOUDE: I think there is no positive without a negative. And I think, you know, there is no in Fort McMurray in particular, I believe in this town, I believe in, in oil, I believe in, uh, the future of, of, of Alberta basically. And, and I just think it’s it’s, it has to be the way it is right now for the economy to be equal. Right? So you have your Canada, you have the West and the East, and then you can’t have the Western, the East equal, unless you have one higher than the other when it comes to economy. So what that means is that, all right, we’re going to give the East terrors of great economy, great support and everything. After that, we’re going to give the West another 10 years because then there’s demand. And then once there’s demands, there’s more jobs. There’s everything. So speaking about Fort McMurray in particular, I mean every sign out there is negative, you know, like Bob Biden.

And the first thing he wants to do was canceled that pipeline. Right. And it’s like, really? And then you see everybody going out there and be like, no, no, no, no, well, he could do it. You probably won’t do it. You know, it depends on his agreements with also Saudi Arabia, right? Is he going to get more oil from them? Is he not? If he’s an author and he’s going to need our oil rates. So you look at it in a way. And a lot of people talk about the topic where, you know, there is no more market for oil today. Everything is electrical and everything is more technology and solar and everything. Yeah. But you have 500 elements that need oil. You know, it’s not just gas and it’s not just diesel. It’s not just, so I think that Fort Memorial will come back on the demand for oil will come back.

I think we just have to wait until June 20th, January 20th. We’ll have to see what’s going to happen, you know, after the transition between Trump and Biden. And then, uh, and then, uh, we’ll see. But as a business owner myself, I always have hope. I mean, look at us. Yeah. You know, we went through the wildfire, we went through the floods, we went through a recession. We’re still alive. We’re still doing a lot better than a lot of people are doing. Right. Yeah, for sure. But the question is, why is that? And this is what I believe in my community. This community loves something called challenges. They will, this community will take up any challenge. You know, look at what happened during the flood. My house flooded. I just found out that all my neighbors are, you know, in front of my door trying to help. And everybody’s trying to help us and work together. And this community loves challenges. And when you have a community that likes a challenge, likes to take risks and does not surrender in tough times, what does that mean? Something is going to be created. Something positive is going to be created out of that community. That’s why I believe that Fort Macquarie will come.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Uh, the sense of community here is like no other, uh, there’s no doubt about that. Like neighbors helping neighbors. I find, um, everybody’s from somewhere different in Fort McMurray. And so you have the same story of like, I’m starting new, I’m trying to survive. And so, because you were in that position, just like your neighbor was you come together. Cause there’s that, that understanding and you’re completely right. It’s an amazing thing to see. Um, when this community does have adversity, how we really do pull together to get through it. Correct? Yeah.

MOE AOUDE: Yeah. I mean, one hand doesn’t clap. Right? That’s what they say.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: There you go.

MOE AOUDE: And enforcement very particular. I mean, people are here to help people. Right. And they’re just, you know, there’s, there’s the people that work on site. There’s the people that have businesses and then there’s the employees and then there’s the families. And then you just, you just look at it. It’s a great mixture and a great combination of everything. So that’s why it just works out. Perfect.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Yeah. Yeah. Now my next one, um, I know you’re a modest guy, so you’re not going to kind of say this without prompting. So I’m going to ask, um, outside of you picking up the phone calls for all of the clients that want to call you like me, I call you after hours. What else puts you on a different level than your competitors?

MOE AOUDE: Couple of things are maybe even few things. Um, first of all, I’m the type of person that I like to follow up on my work. I like to get involved. I like to go with the job sites. I like to see what’s going on. I like to know if everything is done right. If it’s done on a timely matter. Um, the second thing is I like to get my opinion a lot with when it comes to, uh, choosing race. So we have a lot of clients that come down to our store and it’s like, when you go and you smell a perfume, you try to choose a perfume. It’s hard, you know, you get confused and it gets mixed up. And same thing with flooring. You know, you go, you look at 30, you know, samples of tile, like you’re going to get confused. So when it comes down to that, I like to give my own opinion just based on my experience and help them out.

And uh, and I think when the, when they see a business owner, part of a whole team, when they see that the business owner, he’s the one onsite he’s with his employees, he’s giving his opinions, he’s invoicing, he’s doing all that kind of stuff. All of course, with the help of his team. Right. Then they just, I think they appreciate that and they get more comfortable and they like dealing with, um, and one thing that, uh, I’ve always had since I was a kid and my dad taught me, it is that you don’t never leave your customer question, always follow up with your customer. Always make sure they’re happy. You know, no matter what it is, make sure there’s a real solution. So that’s, you know, that’s a strategy I use and it works and people like it. And I like it. And I just think it, uh, it puts us in a very comfortable zone. Okay.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Love it. Okay. Now we’re going to put you a little bit on the spot. Now this is a part of the show. And for everybody at home, this is a segment that we have, um, that we’re going to have, and it’s called the Mac city minute. So this is where the man behind the camera there. Tanner is going to rattle off a bunch of questions within a minute or less. And we just want you to rapid fire answer the questions. Just a quick five for you. It’s a quick five today. Cause you’re, you’re the, you’re the Guinea pig on this one. All right. All right. So he’s got five questions. Just answer them as quickly as you can. So Tanner, you ready? All alright. Are you ready? Yeah. Yes. Let’s. Let’s see how it turns out.

TANNER HADFIELD: This question I have here for you today is what do you think is the best part of being a local for you?

MOE AOUDE: Friends and family and the community.

TANNER HADFIELD: Alrighty. Second question. When you’ve had a long night out at one of Fort McMurray’s local establishments, what do you think the best way to get some relaxation and recovery is or hunting? Alrighty. When you’re craving some local eats, what’s your go-to meal, theaters, shawarma, shawarma, any specific, uh, what do you think people of Fort McMurray are better at than any other place in Alberta or even Canada communicating. And last question, describe Fort McMurray in five words.

MOE AOUDE: Five words. It is the best town in Canada.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: Canada. Yes, definitely the best for sure. Best town in Canada. Yeah. It’s down in Canada. Okay. There we go. So you actually put me on his phone and you got gotta next time. Let me know you didn’t send me a text. Well, we’re going to do a set of questions for people at home and for future guests, those are not going to be the same five questions. Every time it’s a new five questions or a combination in different orders. So we get the real feel from the guests over there. Put them a little bit on edge. So now, because we put them on edge though, we’re at the part of the show where winding down, this is opportunity my man for you to plug your business. So first and foremost, thanks for coming in, but this is all you having me here. So let me hear about your business. Tell the people at home where they can find you once again, what you do.

MOE AOUDE: All right. So Pacific interiors is a locally owned and operated business. We are a small business in Fort McMurray. We are located at eight one, two seven Fraser Avenue, right next to the old toot bank. What we do is we sell flooring. We install flooring, we sell kitchen cabinets, countertops and blondes. So basically you can say everything interior. So it kind of, when it comes to remodeling your house, upgrading your house, renovating your house, we are here for you. We are the experts. We also give you, you know, free advice for DIY. So if you have a project that you want to do yourself, don’t worry, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’ll guide you. We’ll advise you. And then we’ll let you know, um, you know, a few tips and tricks about the project. So we’re here to work with you. Um, we do have the best service in town, best pricing in town, best quality in town, price matching guaranteed. Come down, check us out and you will not regret it.

ELLIOTT PIERRE: There we go. All right. Awesome. That was sweet, man. You practice that at home. I’m still on the one minute spot. Great. All right, everybody, once again, this is the Mac city morning show. I am your temporary host Elliott, Pierre. I want to thank you guys for tuning in today. I want to thank Moe for showing up. Really appreciate it. And we will see you tomorrow. Same time, same place. Peace.