Have a chat and a laugh with Rhonda and Courtney

Rhonda Reid, with business, humour and energy in her blood, has been the Airways General Store owner/operator since 1999.

The Prince Township store is unique because it is one of the few remaining independently owned convenience store/gas stations left in the Sault and area.

But it’s more than that reason alone which makes the Airways General Store unique.

“I describe it as ‘homey,’” said Courtney Walker, store assistant, speaking to SooToday.

“Most of the people who come in are regulars, it’s like a family. Everyone who works here lives in the area, and the staff are my friends, which makes it a really easy place to work.”

Courtney, who already has a busy schedule as a recently-hired Sault Area Hospital nurse, still enjoys working at ‘the Airways.’

“I’ve been here for four years and Rhonda became like a second Mom, and it’s like my second home. I honestly love this place.”

“People come in and ask me about my new job, and I know about their kids and what’s going on in their lives too. It’s a social place. The guys from the Sault Airport will come in and buy some pizza and chit chat with us,” Courtney said.

“The customers know our names and we know theirs, and even if they’re new, we’ll all go out of our way and say ‘I haven’t seen you in here before’ and we’ll say ‘welcome!’”

“When people come in we want them to come back, so we want to chat with them,” Rhonda said.

“They’ve invested in us, so we invest in them.”

That’s a business philosophy Airways employees obviously like, as Rhonda said “when I get staff, they keep coming back year after year until they get another career or full time job.”

“All of the kids who have worked for me, I’ve watched them grow. They all became ‘my kids.’ Courtney’s a great ambassador for the store.”

The store offers the usual corner store merchandise and gasoline at the pumps, along with pizza, pumpkins, butter tarts, honey and other items from Prince Township vendors, as well as casual-yet-stylish outdoors clothing.

Prior to Rhonda’s era as owner, the store’s area included not only a store but an ice cream parlour, a hairstyle salon and an office space, but the store expanded when gas pumps were installed on the east side of the building.

Rhonda grew up in the convenience store business, with her parents (Ron and Carol Simms), the former owners of The Trading Post on Great Northern Road.

“I saw them working it, I worked it, I Ioved it, I loved the atmosphere. Then I came here, it was a natural extension. It’s in my blood.”

The Airways employs six people, that number going up to nine in the summer months.   

In her spare time, Rhonda enjoys spending time with her granddaughter, golfing and going to camp.

When in high school, Courtney was a vocalist with Korah Collegiate’s Mustang Sally and also sang backup vocals with a group of fellow students for Heart when the rock group played at GFL Memorial Gardens in 2014.

Courtney still sings at karaoke events, and occasionally, for Airways customers, she said with a laugh.

So if you’re a ‘city slicker’ from the Sault and need some cheering up, it’s worth your while to drive to Prince Township's Airways General Store for a chat and a laugh.