good or bad time to buy a dive shop?

[Al Mialkovsky]

The good thing about your potential business is that it also has a dive boat and it's located at a popular dive location. I think the shop you are interested in is in the monterey area? An area with a fair amount of high income people, which is important.

After 9/11 many shops and charters went belly up at resort areas that required air transportation to access. But places like Maui have now gotten busy again.

My area in Oregon has seen several shops close. They can't compete with the internet and we are low income. Local diving sucks.

I suggest diving with the boat that you are considering purchasing. Talk to the customers onboard and get their opinions.

Shops selling these days are usually selling to get out. There is a reason that there are some pretty discounted prices on dive operations. Buy cheap or buy at the bankruptcy sale.

 

[jasondbaker]

gbrandon once bubbled...


And The rich keep getting richer, and the poor stay poor and the middle class get poor'er.

Not to turn this into a political discussion, but PUH-LEESE. Um, I wonder how many "poor" people were heavily invested in the stock market a couple years ago. The rich got slaughtered my friend.

I don't like the idea of buying a slumping business in a soft economy without knowing more details about this specific shop. I would be most concerned about the reputation of the business and your ability to retain clients after the purchase. Maybe the charter business is the real gem. Can you buy just that piece? Do you need a diveshop to operate a successful charter in your area?