TAM Dive
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maybe Seahunter knows or MDolson knows.???......Store has been around forever......
I thought someone mentioned something at the dinner on Saturday that it was having problems.
As I was sitting near Canuckdiver, OntarioDiver and jrtonkin it must have been one of them saying it.
As I was sitting near Canuckdiver, OntarioDiver and jrtonkin it must have been one of them saying it.
.....and it is a great new look from the last time I checked. With a great new link to the Peterborough shop featuring our own Mike Dolson.....
GTADiver
Contributor
Don't be shy. If your were there why not ask them whats up? You could more than likely start a thread like this on any store. Over the winter months I am sure a few of the stores have realized that you can't eat inventory. Its an interesting topic for your first post.
I talk to Mark regularly. TAM Dive is an institution in Toronto. I remember very well when it opened (long before Mark was involved) and the hard work that was put in to make it a household word in the scuba industry. Of the dozens of stores that have come and gone in the last 25 years, very few are remembered and fewer of those are remembered with fondness. Each brings it's own memories - Supreme, Argosy, Submariners, Underwater World, Canada Scuba, Penguin, The Wet Shop and so on. Long after Mark and I have gone from the scuba business, TAM Dive will be remembered for it's contribution to the growth of scuba diving in Ontario. Few if any, stores have given back so much to the divers.
I've not visited the store for some time. Nothing I say now is critical to or even necessarily applies to TAM. I can only address the concerns of any scuba retailer including myself.
It's the usual retailers dilema when they experience a slowdown in sales. You need stock to attract customers and to make money but, you must pay the rent. When you make a sale you must decide if you use that money to pay the rent or to buy more stock.
If you've made enough sales OR made enough profit on the sales (preferably both), you can re-invest some of the money into re-stocking. It's a hard decision and the wrong decision can decide the future of the store. It's particularly difficult for stores that cut prices. Discount outlets cannot survive lean times because they must have high sales volumes to produce enough profit to re-stock.
Just a few percentage points in mark-up makes very little impact on the cost to the customers but can make all the difference in the world to the survival of the store. A common mistake retailers make is to lower prices when sales are slow. At that time they need to make more money on less sales - not less on less sales! In lean times, a store must market better. Dropping prices to try to sell more is not marketing and is a sure sign of a failing business.
Divers don't always help. The discussion of the value of your LDS has been on this board and this forum before. I also shop for myself very carefully and if I have no loyalty to a store or area I'll buy a product wherever I get the best price BUT, if I frequent a particular store, if I need some service or services that store provides, if I enjoy some unique benefit at that store, if I get exceptional service or guarantees at that store, I'll buy there even if the price is a bit higher. I don't want that store to disappear. Contary to what you may have seen on this board, you cannot buy air on-line! There are many things a good LDS will do for you and other divers that are NOT available anywhere else and certainly not when it's convenient for you..
The current state of the scuba business in North America is pretty sad. The current issue of Diver Training's Retail Magazine writes that manufacturers are claiming a 13% drop in sales. Many dive stores try to exist on a 5% net return. They are 8% down right now. Canada is not quite so bad but there's no question that a store owner must work harder now to stay ahead. Some stores just can't do it and have already closed.
If all you care about is getting the last dollar out of the dive store owner, shop around the entire province, play the owners against one another, check the internet, shop in the last week of the month (rent's due) and while you're out there, check the price of a compressor. You may need one soon.
If you realize however, that the scuba store you frequent is trying to make your scuba diving better, more fun and easier and that it provides lots of things that you don't pay for and will miss, support them.
The divers of Ontario and Toronto owe a great deal to TAM Dive!
I've not visited the store for some time. Nothing I say now is critical to or even necessarily applies to TAM. I can only address the concerns of any scuba retailer including myself.
It's the usual retailers dilema when they experience a slowdown in sales. You need stock to attract customers and to make money but, you must pay the rent. When you make a sale you must decide if you use that money to pay the rent or to buy more stock.
If you've made enough sales OR made enough profit on the sales (preferably both), you can re-invest some of the money into re-stocking. It's a hard decision and the wrong decision can decide the future of the store. It's particularly difficult for stores that cut prices. Discount outlets cannot survive lean times because they must have high sales volumes to produce enough profit to re-stock.
Just a few percentage points in mark-up makes very little impact on the cost to the customers but can make all the difference in the world to the survival of the store. A common mistake retailers make is to lower prices when sales are slow. At that time they need to make more money on less sales - not less on less sales! In lean times, a store must market better. Dropping prices to try to sell more is not marketing and is a sure sign of a failing business.
Divers don't always help. The discussion of the value of your LDS has been on this board and this forum before. I also shop for myself very carefully and if I have no loyalty to a store or area I'll buy a product wherever I get the best price BUT, if I frequent a particular store, if I need some service or services that store provides, if I enjoy some unique benefit at that store, if I get exceptional service or guarantees at that store, I'll buy there even if the price is a bit higher. I don't want that store to disappear. Contary to what you may have seen on this board, you cannot buy air on-line! There are many things a good LDS will do for you and other divers that are NOT available anywhere else and certainly not when it's convenient for you..
The current state of the scuba business in North America is pretty sad. The current issue of Diver Training's Retail Magazine writes that manufacturers are claiming a 13% drop in sales. Many dive stores try to exist on a 5% net return. They are 8% down right now. Canada is not quite so bad but there's no question that a store owner must work harder now to stay ahead. Some stores just can't do it and have already closed.
If all you care about is getting the last dollar out of the dive store owner, shop around the entire province, play the owners against one another, check the internet, shop in the last week of the month (rent's due) and while you're out there, check the price of a compressor. You may need one soon.
If you realize however, that the scuba store you frequent is trying to make your scuba diving better, more fun and easier and that it provides lots of things that you don't pay for and will miss, support them.
The divers of Ontario and Toronto owe a great deal to TAM Dive!
..for your input.
I am not sure of the mark-up on scuba gear. I know in general the mark-up in retail is approx 100%, with an average of about 75%.
This may sound to those who are not in the know like a lot, but bear in mind we have wages, insurance, rent/taxes,heat, hydro, telephone etc to cover with these sales. And understand the insurance is more than triple your home insurance, the telephone is double for the store, rent/taxes again are at least double....and in many cases you have to purchases minumum amounts of stock from most distributers.
Retail in general is down this past year, so as Seahunter mention, and this is conjecture, perhaps Tam is doing as my wife , discounting everything to create cash flow to purchase fresh stock.....
I am not sure of the mark-up on scuba gear. I know in general the mark-up in retail is approx 100%, with an average of about 75%.
This may sound to those who are not in the know like a lot, but bear in mind we have wages, insurance, rent/taxes,heat, hydro, telephone etc to cover with these sales. And understand the insurance is more than triple your home insurance, the telephone is double for the store, rent/taxes again are at least double....and in many cases you have to purchases minumum amounts of stock from most distributers.
Retail in general is down this past year, so as Seahunter mention, and this is conjecture, perhaps Tam is doing as my wife , discounting everything to create cash flow to purchase fresh stock.....
IOW, you DON'T know. :blah:
Could have saved a lot of bandwidth, eh?!
~SubMariner~
Bad News!! I will apologize publicly if I'm mistaken but I've just been informed by a reliable source that TAM has closed!
Everything I said in my prior post stands! If true, we have lost another large piece of Ontario scuba history. Both the founder and the store cast a long shadow in our business and your sport.
Both are gone and I'll miss 'em!
Alec Peirce
Scuba 2000
Everything I said in my prior post stands! If true, we have lost another large piece of Ontario scuba history. Both the founder and the store cast a long shadow in our business and your sport.
Both are gone and I'll miss 'em!
Alec Peirce
Scuba 2000
sparky30
Contributor
Someone left a message on the Dan's Diveshop Message Board stating that TAM dive will close by the end of April 03..
http://www.dansdiveshop.ca/message/default.asp
http://www.dansdiveshop.ca/message/default.asp
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