The cycle shops are coming back … but as specialty upmarket brands catering to dedicated hobbyists.
In my closest town the new cycle shop specializes in an upmarket Italian brand. Carbon fibre frames etc., etc. No children's bikes! And on weekends the country lanes are infested with MAMILs (Middle Aged Men In Lycra) all wearing gaudy billboard clothing resembling the Tour de France. A nightmare to overtake a line of 20 near-retired cyclists, especially on the hills. But a great way for them to maintain their fitness that's easier on the joints than running. And in scenery more beautiful than the gym offers.
Bicycling in my area is huge. It never really went away even during the recession because most of the people doing it probably already had their bikes and gear and the participants are generally fairly well off proffessionals with higher incomes. Sonoma County is known world wide as an epicenter for Tour De France training because of the mountains and the elevation climbs, the windy bumpy back roads and the weather. It's very close in many aspects to France.
Yes, I know about the hoards of "team" bicyclists clogging up the roads here!..and I feel your pain brother.
Getting back to our local diving, I'd much rather own a local bike shop here than an LDS if making money was the key. The biking is great here, but many people think the diving is not. It's cold, low vis, rough, rocky, no dive charters, very isolated and desolate, totally unpredictable weather, the list goes on. Man it's a tough sale for sure.
But there is a group of us that loves it.
I'm used to it enough so that I would be the type to take all my dive gear to east coast like Maine and do a total DIY dive somewhere from the shore, or anywhere else that's not considered a "dive destination".
I would ask around and gather enough info to pull it off. To me that's fun and an adventure. Some of my most interesting dives were in the darndest places that nobody ever would have considered.
I don't need warm water, someone to put my gear together for me, and a fully catered dive to be happy.