Rather than asking what shop owners “think” is killing their business, maybe the better question is to ask the scuba diving consumer why they’re not going into their LDS to spend their money. I think the industry is thinking about the “problem” from the wrong angle. Hence, the problem persists.
ding ding, that's why I posted some of my reasons.
My "local dive shops" for the last almost 10 years have been two that I have never been to, Northeast Scuba Supply and Dive Right in Scuba, and one that I hadn't been to until a couple years ago, Cave Adventurers. These shops have great service, price match, etc. and I want to support them. I have been lucky with free access to compressors so unless I'm travelling to go diving, I don't need to go into a shop for fills, but I will say that most of the ones outside of cave country that I have been into weren't exactly ones that I'd be itching to go back and support.... I have also been lucky that being an engineer and generally DIY oriented person, combined with guys like
@herman have helped me to learn to service my own stuff which removes the other real need for a LDS.
To get me to go into a LDS, it pretty much requires something I need "right now", or a social aspect that gets me to want to come in and hang out. It is not abnormal for me to go into a place like Gypsy with a 6-pack of beer and shoot the **** with the owner and some of the repair guys. At the shop here in Greenville, I've brought in food and beer and hung out for a bit, and that's pretty much SOP in cave country for us.
@boulderjohn that is the unfortunate beast with MAP's of some manufacturers actually being below dealer cost for a lot of items. Sad but true, but there is still nothing preventing them selling at a loss as a MAP agreement. See it far too regularly with small shops, but going back to my Raleigh paragraph. Is there really a need for that many shops in that area, or would consolidation of one of them into a much bigger shop with more buying power, better service support etc etc? Does it really have to be like having a separate car dealership for every brand in every city *which is what the industry is most unfortunately based on*, or are they better served by having one large dealership?