Opening a dive shop

[KidK9]

When I first got certified...I was graduating undergrad 6 months early before starting veterinary school with 20 dives under my belt. I walked into Ocean Divers in Key Largo and said - I want to work for you full time and I want to be a divemaster. They were extremely polite to me and told me they would basically work the **** out of me, while bringing me up to divemaster training and I would have to sign a year contract and they would pay me about $25,000 (that's the equivalent of peanuts and corn for the Keys).

That, in my opinion, was extremely generous given my circumstances...but I had a college degree, and I guess they thought that was worth something.

I didnt take the job because I came to my senses and realized I needed to stick it out in Columbus, Ohio and wait for school to start. I ended up making on par around $55,000/year working for a valet company until school started.

I would have loved to live in the Keys. Might have been worth the deficit in money....but the point is....everyone has these dreams. Think it out before you put it all on the line.

 

[daniel f aleman]

First, no matter what, open your store in a place where divers dive. There is a huge difference in a shop that is located in Omaha and one that is located on the beach in Cancun.

Everything else is second.

The main thing is to become an instructor, especially PADI or NAUI; you want to be able to teach students with a well-known world-wide agency. You can make a decent living just teaching.

Also, one of the most important retail services that an LDS offers is the gas fills for tanks, and the necessary tank inspections. Learn this first. You'll need access to a pool, you can build your own or lease time at the local swim club (done at many shops), and you'll need access to open water.

If you want agency affiliation with PADI, NAUI, etc... they have rules for retailers.

If you want to sell equipment from the well-known brands... they have dealer rules.

Think in terms of service; go and work in an LDS for a while, and learn just how much you will have to deal with people - retail, service, students, dive club, etc. Start with your own instruction, get your Divemaster and Instructor ratings through an LDS, learn how it's done.

And, of course, be prepared to start with a decent amount of money that you might never see again, like all new retailers.

 

[Primdrumma]

Are there any restrictions manufacturers have about carrying their product along with one of their competitors? I used to work at a car dealership that carried Lincoln, Mercury, Chrysler, Jeep, and Daewoo. I don't plan on carrying the Daewoo of SCUBA equipment, but possibly two opposing manufacturers. For example can you carry Scubapro and Zeagle?

 

[Florabama]

First, no matter what, open your store in a place where divers dive. There is a huge difference in a shop that is located in Omaha and one that is located on the beach in Cancun.

Everything else is second.

The main thing is to become an instructor, especially PADI or NAUI; you want to be able to teach students with a well-known world-wide agency. You can make a decent living just teaching.

Also, one of the most important retail services that an LDS offers is the gas fills for tanks, and the necessary tank inspections. Learn this first. You'll need access to a pool, you can build your own or lease time at the local swim club (done at many shops), and you'll need access to open water.

If you want agency affiliation with PADI, NAUI, etc... they have rules for retailers.

If you want to sell equipment from the well-known brands... they have dealer rules.

Think in terms of service; go and work in an LDS for a while, and learn just how much you will have to deal with people - retail, service, students, dive club, etc. Start with your own instruction, get your Dvemaster and Instructor ratings through an LDS, learn how it's done.

And, of course, be prepared to start with a decent amount of money that you might never see again, like all new retailers.

How much money (generally) are you talking when you say instructors make "a decent living"? I have thought about it as a supplement to retirment when I get there.

 

[KidK9]

You need to check with each individual company.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Primdrumma,

Scubapro competes with Aqualung, in the old days you never saw the two in the same shop. After that, each company wants a certain amount of "shelf space" in your store.

Florabama,

Depends, as an unaffiliated instructor (not working at a shop) you can expect around $200 for an Open Water student, but you'll have to find them. One instructor that I know moved to a small college town and teaches students, around two or three a week during the school year, many of whom get academic credit for it. This is done nation-wide in the US. If you want to work for a shop you'll get paid less per student, but you may get more out of the affiliation in other opportunities (equipment, trips, etc.)

 

[amascuba]

If I were to open a dive shop it would need to be service oriented from what I've seen. You need to be a very good sales person and sell gear, sell advanced scuba classes, plan local and remote trips (local more often than remote), offer maintenance on gear and tanks, etc.

I've worked with a shop for almost two years as a side job so that I can dive more. I've thought on several occasions about owning my own dive shop or partnering up with the dive shop that I work with, but from what I've seen it is a nich market where I live and isn't very profitable. IMHO, where I live, to make the shop more profitable you would need to constantly pushing O/W classes, once the students get certified you would need to push for advanced classes and gear purchases, THEN to keep your "customers" involved in scuba (and in the store), then you would need to make sure that they are in the water, which means planning local trips to lakes, rivers, springs probably atleast once a month and planning 2 - 3 remote trips a year. To me, this is the only way to keep customers cycling through your store as well as keeping new customers.

So to me Your key points are:

1.) location (most people like tropical water diving, while others like to explore lakes, etc) - You want to live in an area with little to no competition and where people want to dive.
2.) advertise - whether it's word of mouth, newspapers, business cards on bulliten boards, getting local news stations to run a story about scuba diving, radio, running drawings for free classes, etc
3.) customer service - aka sales and service - upsale, keep the customer coming back as well as bring in new customers. Sell gear, plan trips, offer specialty classes, get people interested in diving in their local watering holes.

From what I've seen, it's ALLOT of work and I've seen the perspective of two different shops. It can be done and done well though with proper thought though.

I saw that some people offering multiple store fronts within the shop. I've seen this as well and it's a good idea. It brings in a wide range of people and might get somebody interested in scuba, who otherwise wouldn't come into the store.

my 2 cents.

 

[Fred R.]

Well said, since I already had this written,

Hi Guys,

Since I do know more than a little about this subject, I thought I would toss my two cents in;

First of all, while a dive shop can be a great life, it is not a great living. That’s been said, I know. I do own a dive op, my reason was the love of the life, I had already tried being a rep, a manufacturer, retail sales, a travel agency and decided I wanted to dive.

If I were looking at businesses to open strictly from a business point of view, I would never open a dive op. The work is hard, the hours are long and the return on investment is nowhere near as good as you could do otherwise.

Having done it anyway, you should know;
First and foremost, in my opinion, you need to be a GREAT salesman.
Secondly, you need to be a decent businessman.
Bookkeeping skills are a must, accounting skills are better.
In no special order;
You need to be a scuba equipment technician
You need to be a scuba instructor
You need to be a compressor technician, along with all the other compressed air and tank skills.

If a boat is part of your operation;
You need to be a captain
You need to be a mechanic, at least for the type of engine you have
You need to be able to do fiberglass repairs. (if your boat is wood, you don’t need to go any further, you’ll go broke in short order) (if your boat is metal, there is another whole range of skills needed)

Any of these skills you don’t have, you will have to hire, and you probably won’t be able to afford it. Any skill you hire, might become unavailable or unaffordable at any time, usually just when you need it most.

You will need much more money than you think, or calculate.
The ‘Field of Dreams’ business plan rarely works, just cause you build it, doesn’t mean they’ll come.

Some other points to ponder;
Be very wary of buying a business that is going under. There is usually a reason and by the time you figure it out, you’re sunk too.
Same token, be very wary of buying used equipment from anyone going under. Scheduled maintenance is the first thing skipped when money is tight.
Marketing is going to be a much bigger expense than you think. ReefRaff’s numbers in general are a pretty good starting point, but just a trip to DEMA could burn up much of that 10 K in his marketing line item.

If you are really interested in opening up a dive shop, PM me and we can talk.

 

[mike_s]

Primdrumma,

Scubapro competes with Aqualung, in the old days you never saw the two in the same shop. After that, each company wants a certain amount of "shelf space" in your store.

In addition to that, some manufacturers don't allow more than X number of dealers within a certain radius of other dealers or in the same zip codes. Almost like they have an exclusive territory. Scuba manufacturers are still somewhat loyal to the brick and motor shops and don't want to loose them. Expecially certain ones like Aqualung and Scubapro which don't allow internet sales.

Some manufacturers also have certain amounts of minimum orders or miniums per year. If you don't meet your minimum order per year, you might loose your dealership...

It's an odd business, especially with the internet involved. You have to have low prices to compete, but you've got to have larger volumes in order to keep your prices low. Hard to do.

Within my area, there have been three dive shops "go under" since this past summer. Some of that is just the economy of an area, some of it is that divers remember poor customer service, some if it is that they don't want to pay for full list price for stuff, some of it's a combination of poor service and high prices. A lot of it also is that I think some dive shop owners are just not good businessmen. It's a hard business to be in....

 

[carldarl]

There are some basic, fundamental things you must do in any business to be successful. Most have been covered above but here are a some basic recommendations:

Attend continuing education classes at a local college on small business management. (very inexpensive)

Check into SBA classes and seminars locally. (usually free and affiliated with local college)... some sba lenders may require it.

CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN. A good detailed one will answer 99% of your questions. (again the fundamentals are universal)

Take your estimated advertising budget and DOUBLE IT. Set it aside and touch it ONLY for advertising. (find a trusted advisor in advertising. NOT an ad salesman)

Plan on NOT taking any money out of the business for yourself for the first three years.

LOCATION - LOCATION - LOCATION (Cheap rent is that for a reason)

Plan your busines and follow your plan.

Be willing to risk your home (Banks like that... )

I have started, run and sold (very profitably) 2 businesses during the startup of the cell-phone craze. It can be done but plan on lots of work. Every day you are not there you are paying someone else to do your job and they are probably "slightly less than honest" all the time. (reality)

In Reno probably half the business owners I used to work with as a consultant also worked "other jobs" to help support their businesses. I found it strange they would pay a manager $40k per year to run their store and work at a $30k-$50k job to support it.

Oh yea... I forgot probably one of the most important things. Conduct a very thorough feasability study to see if a dive shop is needed, and wanted in the area "you" have in mind.

Most business that fail are (1 under-capitalized) (2 under-funded) (3 under-financed) (under-planned)

There is definately a trend

Good luck and I hope it works for you.