Hi Primdrumma,
Running a dive operation is just like any other business. It is business. Running a dive operation is like any other job. It is a job. That being said, it can be done correctly and many do. It can be economically rewarding, and many do it that way. But it is hard. Like all small businesses, the failure rate is gigantic. No matter how much you plan, you have no control over MANY of the elements that determine the success of a small business.
In the scuba industry, ALL of the start-up funds must be up-front, cash. Banks don't loan money to start-up scuba operations, manufacturers demand cash-up-front for starting inventory....most even require CERTIFIED CHECKS for the first several orders. They don't require this just to be ?&%holes....they, better than most, know what happens in the very first months to most scuba stores.
Opening a scuba store CANNOT be done on the cheap. Nor can any other type of retail business. You have to make a gigantic transition from being a consumer to being a store owner. Many people never learn to make that transition. Those that don't go bankrupt.....quickly.
Leisure Trends is the ONLY organization in America or the world that tracks OUT THE DOOR, RETAIL SALES in the scuba industry. They are revising their estimate on the number of retail scuba stores in the United States, down from the traditionally accepted number of 1800 to something like 13, 14 hundred. This is the result of the gigantic closing rate in 2005. Scuba is a growing sport in the United States (unlike what many assume or are led to believe), but the number of stores that serve the business are rapidly shrinking. Some months ago, I wrote a post that described why, but cannot find it to save my life.
NO PLANS you make today for a potential scuba operation "two or three" years from now will be any good when you need them. The scuba diving retail industry in the United States in 2010-2015 will not even resemble what it is today. The change that is on the horizon for this industry is as big as the change was for wagon wheel manufacturers in 1920 or for film camera manufacturers in 2004. Most of the retailers currently in the scuba business today will not even know what hit them. This isn't bad in general, but it will be (and already is, to an extent) very bad for the ones that will be blind-sided.
There will be a TON of potential for "new wave" scuba store owners in the future. And trust me, new wave does not mean simply a prosperous repair business, more personal service, developing a "niche", or any of the other things CONSUMERS of the scuba industry "think" is the secret. New wave is VOLUME, VOLUME, and more VOLUME. The old model of "very few customers and a large margin and large profit from each one" is dead. If not dead, it is on life support. The average scuba diving customer IS NOT the upper income, upper scale customer you hear about. It's the average joe, diving in rock quarries and rivers, with an occasional (but rare) trip out of the country. "New wave" means the lowest price available anywhere, plus EVERY OTHER ELEMENT OF GOOD BUSINESS in a radically changing market.
Hey, if you want to know more, give me a phone call. I don't know much about this business, but I will tell you everything I do know. There are no industry secrets. No way this industry could keep secrets. All this being said, I LOVE watching new people learn to scuba dive. I LOVE selling scuba gear to new divers. It is quite rewarding.
Anyway, just thought I would throw my 2 cents in. Good luck.
Phil Ellis
Dive Sports Online
www.divesports.com
(800) 601-DIVE
P.S. Don't listen to the major scuba companies executives when they tell you what it is all about to run a scuba operation. Most of them have NO IDEA! You could get better advice on running a scuba store by asking a random person on the street. When you ask them questions about the industry, they only quote you information they gained from the one or two visits they make each year to the FEW major stores in Chicago, Denver, Miami, and California. Those operations are SO FAR from what really happens in this industry, you would be shocked.
P.S.S MOST of the income from scuba equipment sales in the United States is made in INLAND scuba stores...not stores located near famous and popular diving sites. Approximately 75% of the top twenty-five largest scuba stores in the nation are MORE THAN five hours drive from the ocean.
