Support your Dive shop- Local or not

[Jim Lapenta]

He is. I just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago. Minor issue with an order that was corrected as we were speaking. You can't go wrong dealing with him. You are also not the first person he has done the drysuit try before you buy thing with. Good people.

 

[k ellis]

You guys are nudging around at the real problem with dive shops. There are too many of them and a large number of them are bad.

I'll go ahead and say it. There is a group of Dive shop owners who are terrible for the industry.

Some of them are new to the game, and some have been around for years. A potential diver walks in the door of their shops and they kill the desire by ignoring retail reality, making the dive community seem like a middle school lunch room, or spouting self-serving half truths. These shops are a huge reason that so many new divers quit the sport.

There are shop owners who open a place when no objective business analysis will say that the market can support another shop.

There are owners who offer $99 OW training and make the gear look so expensive that the cost is out of reach for too many people.

There are shops who have been around forever but cling to the gear lines that they think protects their obscene margins (and bad-mouth everything else).

There are owners who demand loyalty and expect customers to pretend that there is no diving or dive gear outside of what flows through their particular shop. They can't accept that the business isn't the same as it was 15 years ago.

There are plenty of reasons that owners act this way, but these are the people who are running new and old divers away from the sport. You can blame demographics, extreme sports, lazy kids, discount retailers or whatever you want. The facts are that I can't just tell someone who is interested in diving to walk down to their local shop without a long list or warnings and things to watch out for. There are just too many shops out there that will spout self-serving half truths, take advantage of their newbie status, and kill the experience for them.

Supporting these shops (as a manufacturer, fellow LDS owner, or a customer) only perpetuates the problem. Running them out of the industry is the only thing that will save it.

Wow now in the lines of overpricing items. I know several shops who only sale items that have minimum price settings. Aqua lung for example. No matter where you go they will be the same WAY WAY WAY overpriced items.

Now by price gouging the customer it guarantees that shop owners would in theory make a killing. What gets me is the guys who sale these wallet killers bash Leisurepro for selling the same item and the truth behind that is not that leisurepro is bad but they are STILL IN BUISNESS!

Slingshots are an example. MSRP is I think 198.99. Leisurepro sales them for 125 dollars. Obviously they are making a profit or they would have long since went out of buisness. This tells you LDS are making a min of 70 dollars per sale and most likely closer to 100 dollars a sale.

These shops that go with the anti free market campaign so many dealers pride themselves on are the ones telling you how bad buisness is but you can never find the owner because they are in Melbourne Australia for a month long dive trip or they have tons of warm water vacations on the walls for almost every month of the year.

I have been told how bad Zeagle is, I have been told how bad Mares is and many others yet I can walk in and purchase a good quality Mares piece of gear for OVER half what it cost for the big names and still enjoy the sport.

Ive been told I needed a wetsuit in the 200 dollar range and yet they make quality ones sometimes for less then 100 dollars.

I appreciate when you walk in and ask "What do you think of Zeagle?" And they give an answer like "Well its not my personal choice but they do offer some good deals" Not "You dont want that cause its junk but let me show you this new aqualung for only $1,000.00 and this is what YOU need"

Ive had people try to charge me 60 dollars or more for finger spools and then found the exact same name brand item on leisurepro for 12.95. Instead of the simple "Im planning on going to europe next month" They try to tell you how leisurepro is a dirty business.

 

[Stu S.]

"You dont want that cause its junk but let me show you this new aqualung for only $1,000.00 and this is what YOU need".

Exactly. I took my daughter dive shopping in 2005. The sales tactic at several retailers was: "We know diving, you don't, and this is what YOU need". They figured I was just guy with a teenage kid and a credit card. The topper was "Mares fins will give her leg cramps".

Well, I got my first set of Mares fins in 1965 (been SCUBA since '77) and know they are good fins. So I told that dude... fine I'll take those Mares fins, Model X-3. We purchased a few things locally, but after all that monkey biz, most items came from LP in New York.

 

[Nylorac]

Wow now in the lines of overpricing items. I know several shops who only sale items that have minimum price settings. Aqua lung for example. No matter where you go they will be the same WAY WAY WAY overpriced items.

Now by price gouging the customer it guarantees that shop owners would in theory make a killing. What gets me is the guys who sale these wallet killers bash Leisurepro for selling the same item and the truth behind that is not that leisurepro is bad but they are STILL IN BUISNESS!

Slingshots are an example. MSRP is I think 198.99. Leisurepro sales them for 125 dollars. Obviously they are making a profit or they would have long since went out of buisness. This tells you LDS are making a min of 70 dollars per sale and most likely closer to 100 dollars a sale.

These shops that go with the anti free market campaign so many dealers pride themselves on are the ones telling you how bad buisness is but you can never find the owner because they are in Melbourne Australia for a month long dive trip or they have tons of warm water vacations on the walls for almost every month of the year.

I have been told how bad Zeagle is, I have been told how bad Mares is and many others yet I can walk in and purchase a good quality Mares piece of gear for OVER half what it cost for the big names and still enjoy the sport.

Ive been told I needed a wetsuit in the 200 dollar range and yet they make quality ones sometimes for less then 100 dollars.

I appreciate when you walk in and ask "What do you think of Zeagle?" And they give an answer like "Well its not my personal choice but they do offer some good deals" Not "You dont want that cause its junk but let me show you this new aqualung for only $1,000.00 and this is what YOU need"

Ive had people try to charge me 60 dollars or more for finger spools and then found the exact same name brand item on leisurepro for 12.95. Instead of the simple "Im planning on going to europe next month" They try to tell you how leisurepro is a dirty business.

I am happy to have a great Local Dive Shop (REX in CT) - they are always equal or better than on-line prices while giving really great, legitimate advice. It took more than one take to find the best local shop so I get that some really suck - but if possible you really should support your local shop. The good ones support continuing education and (important to me because I want to Dive!!) local diving.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Rex Scuba is a first class operation, and I am glad you discovered them!