Chilliwack’s loss is Langley’s delicious gain.
The well-loved Airport Coffee Shop that drew hundreds of recreational pilots from around the Pacific Northwest for the past three decades was forced to close down recently at the Chilliwack Airport.
But luckily for Langley, and all pie lovers, the Good sisters who own the cafe have landed at the Langley Airport.
It’s located right beside the Flight Museum at Hangar 3.
The Langley Airport Coffee Shop will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.
Judi Good is putting on the final touches, hanging model airplanes and getting the kitchen just the way she likes it to serve their custom pies, burgers, soups and coffee.
“We feel so welcomed here in Langley. It’s really feeling like home. Guy Miller [Langley airport manager] came and shook my hand and welcomed us,” said Judi.
“The guys at the museum are great neighbours to have. We are really excited to be here.”
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The Good sisters are confident their loyal customers, especially the pilots, will follow them to Langley.
“Pilots can park their planes on the grass right across from the coffee shop and there is also parking down the way for them.”
Already, longtime customer Werner Griesbeck made his way from Chilliwack, helping out and getting his daily bowl of soup.
“I’m here everyday. For years, my wife used to come to the coffee shop on her dinner breaks,” said Griesbeck, a retired traffic controller and recreational pilot.
With over 60 varieties of pies, including their ‘weekend’ pies, their ‘I Fly For Pie’ mugs and T-shirts, the coffee shop has been a tourist destination and hopes to become that too for Langley.
The patio they have in Langley will be a great spot in the summer to watch the planes take off and eat some of the Goods’ comfort food they offer on the menu.
But the Goods are still emotional about having to say goodbye to Chilliwack.
Crowds gathered for one last slice on Feb. 28.
The “I Fly for Pie” logo put Chilliwack on the map, they said.
But things were turbulent and after 36 years in operation, and a long and protracted dispute with management of the airport, the three Good sisters were told to be out by Feb. 28.
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Tracey said she is looking for a new location in Chlliwack.
“Because we feel it’s important to get another spot there, to stand tall for what we developed there. We put our heart and soul into this business,” she said.
“We have dusted ourselves off and after being here in Langley for a small time, it’s starting to feel like home,” said Judi.
The location in Langley is a bit small to be baking the pies on site, so they are still trying to figure out where to bake all the pies.
This while filling dozens of orders for their famous pies which include everything from lemon meringue, berry varieties, salted caramel, dark chocolate and their flapper pie, apple, coconut banana and keylime.
Thousands took to Facebook to share their fond memories of going to the Airport Coffee Shop as a child with their grandparent, or for how many times the Good sisters offered up their pies for charity, fetching thousands for various local causes.
With the Fox family being personal friends of theirs, they figure they have auctioned off around 700 pies and raised around $10,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation.
Many loyal followers of the Good sisters, including many pilots wrote the Chilliwack mayor asking them to step in and stop the forced closure.
Judi said they had some seniors in Chilliwack who ate three meals a day there.
“They were family. Now where do they go?” she asks.
But already, old and new customers are becoming family in Langley, and they hope they can fill that need for seniors here.
— With files from Chilliwack Progress