Supporting your local Dive Shop

[miketsp]

Agreed, any lds needs to have good service, another point though, if people dont support their lds then whee will they get their fills for their tanks for example? ow many divers have their own compessor? Cant do that on the internet and an lds cant survive on the money from fills alone.

Where I am I'd say that all the lds I know make 60% of their money from organizing dive trips, 30% from courses and only 10% from equipment sales & service.

They all organise at least one out of state trip every month for a coach load of divers, international trips every one or two months, in state outings every weekend.

The LDS I mainly frequent, sometimes has to use two coaches ( 2 x 40 divers) for a long weekend and charter several boats to cover the various levels of skill.

Needless to say this generates quite a social atmosphere.

Every month they organize a barbeque/pizza event ( guys take drinks, gals take food) in a covered space at the back of the shop to celebrate the birthdays of the month. Minimum investment on the part of the LDS but generates a lot of loyalty.

After every trip they arrange an evening outing to a pizza place so people can exchange photos & stories.

So, I spend a lot of money with them on trips because they get group prices and charge me less than I can do the trip individually and still make a nice profit.

But I spend almost nothing with them on gear because they are way overpriced.

 

[Keysdrifter454]

No offense to the online guys as i appreciate and use online options plenty but its not the same thing IMO.

A good LDS isn't just a place to buy gas, gear or training. Its a gathering place to meet and socialize with like minded people. A place to have a drink with buddies and tell lies after your dive or to talk about the next dive or learn about new sites or plan the next trip or to argue about gear, technique, etc.

Sure you can do some of that online (like on SB ) but it ain't the same thing as face to face IMO. I feel sorry for those who have never had a LDS like that. You don't know what your missing.

Before the internet, its all there was and it was cool if you had a good LDS. We spent major portions of our lives just hanging out like bums at the LDS. If we weren't diving, chances are we were at the LDS telling lies about diving.

The internet has changed that to some degree for most of us who were diving before the internet was even a twinkle in Mr Gores' eye.

At my LDS, there's Friday night fills, and usually a dinner trip on Saturday night.

If you help with classes, there's free diving.

My average purchase is 30 off list.

Inner circle can do their own fills, for the cost of gas.

And there's always a VIP or a reg to helpl with.

Hard to beat a place like that.

 

[Buoyant1]

As far as my main gear, I wouldn't have it any other way..I'll be purchasing my BC and reg/gauges from the LDS since I know that they can fix and do the yearly maintenance... No matter where I dive locally, I'm sure that I'll be renting any gear from them that I don't have until I buy it, and getting my tanks from them

I bought my computer from LP, but at the time, the shop didn't carry what I wanted (they started carrying them about 2 weeks after I bought it) but I'm not too concerned about it...

I bought my wetsuit from LP mainly because they didn't carry my size, and I wasn't going to rent from the quarry for $40. per day for my OW dives! I had my LDS looking, but found one in my size at LP and picked it up for $100.

I bought all of my personal gear from my LDS in Florida (when I'm down there) which is Divers Direct/World Watersports...Initially, my LDS wasn't opened yet last year (they just opened this past May) when I DID buy that stuff, and they didn't have the mask I wanted when I replaced mine this past July....


So to answer your initial question... Yes, support them! but there ARE other places to do business. The one thing I hate to hear is people that go to the LDS, try out their equipment, then order it from another outlet... that's kind of rude! If you have no intention of buying from them, stay the _____ out of the store!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Agreed, any lds needs to have good service, another point though, if people dont support their lds then whee will they get their fills for their tanks for example? ow many divers have their own compessor? Cant do that on the internet and an lds cant survive on the money from fills alone.

But wait! Now you can.

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/etherfill.shtml

 

[WileEDiver]

But wait! Now you can.

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/etherfill.shtml

But only if you have a broadband connection. It would take too long on dial-up!

 

[nshon]

I would like to find out everyones feeling on supporting their local dive shop. Do people not care or is it important?

I'd like to try buy they are 100% more expensive than non-local DS (e.g-I paid US$62 for the Ikelite PC Lite which retails at around $30 in most online shops).....the joys of living in Malaysia I guess.

 

[pilot fish]

I would like to find out everyones feeling on supporting their local dive shop. Do people not care or is it important?

I think it is a must to buy your essential, life support, dive gear from an authroized LDS so if there is a problem with it it will be warrantied by mfg. I also like to buy from my LDS because they are divers that can give you advice on the gear, since they know how it works from their dive experience. As an example, I bought an Oceanic spg yesterday and paid $99 for it. I'm sure I could have gotten something similar from a grey market but I wouldn't have gotten a mfg warranty with it, or the good advice I got from the DM that sold it to me, that has thousands of dives. Saving $35 was not importnat to me.

 

[Kim]

Well I suppose living in Japan tends to make LDS mean Long Distance Service wherever I buy from, so it doesn't matter much.

 

[pilot fish]

Well I suppose living in Japan tends to make LDS mean Long Distance Service wherever I buy from, so it doesn't matter much.

wow, what's the diving like there?

 

[Kim]

Check out the Zen Divers club forum. There are some site reports there.