Dive Business Dropping off.

[simbrooks]

Have dive shops ever closed before, just gone under for various reasons? I can understand people linking this to the hurricanes, but surely it would be too soon after those for anyone to truly be pushed to the wall if they werent already that way - IMO.

 

[fgray1]

Hope all you internet buyers are going to buy compressors and will be willing to send your regs out for service.
Your LDS can't survive without customers buying more than air. So I'm not surprised that alot will be closing.
SAD.
Fred

 

[The Chairman]

They were already stressed... the hurricanes were just the final straw. The internet sort of snuck up on a lot of them. It is still mistrusted and villified as the reason for their demise... not the canes.

 

[fgray1]

One good thing is, the ones that survive will do good.
Maybe Rick's trailer will become the wave of the future.
MDS (Mobile Dive Shop)
Fred

 

[simbrooks]

One good thing is, the ones that survive will do good.
Maybe Rick's trailer will become the wave of the future.
MDS (Mobile Dive Shop)

Pete - that is what you want behind your wife's minivan!! The ducks can have unlimited air right on tap And you dont have to deal with some of our LDS's that treat everyone like rubbish.

I still get almost all my rec stuff from divers direct here, air fills courtesy of scubaquest on OBT or other LDS's around the sites (inc Rick's trailer) i dive. Not many local stores carry what i am looking for anymore in the tech kind of way, one zeagle place, one dive-rite, but neither close to where i live or work, so DRE and 2nd hand are where i have been mostly lately.

 

[The Chairman]

Well, that IS what I want, but I am not sure I want to haul it! As soon as I figure how to deliver it via CAT5e, I will be set.

 

[DIVER_11]

where was this shop at. hope its not one i'v been going to.

 

[JRScuba]

It all comes down to numbers. No tourists - No Divers. As has been discussed many times in this forum, internet sales are hurting the dive shops also. You cannot buy air over the internet, get personal service, have your reg looked at for a quick fix of overhaul. From my observations of the internet, most of the prices after the shipping is added on is not much cheaper when purchase from a LDS.

On the other hand as, someone indicated, dive shops that give poor service are their own worst enemy.

Hopefully the decent shops can survive until the tourists come back in full force. Although there is no quick fix to this complex problem, maybe we'll see an upturn in the months to come.

Just my $.02.

Dive safe

Joe

 

[DennisS]

The Divers Discount in Sunrise moved to Dania, next to the Outdoor World shop. They took most of their employees with them.

My local dive shop, Coastal, has been around for about 40 years. It has a following of local divers and doesn't depend on the S Florida tourist market. September and October are always slow months for tourists down here. When the weather gets cold up north they will be here.

 

[MikeJacobs]

the LDS model doesn't seem to be very compatible with retail trends today. Customers are so much better informed and have so many alternatives that loyalty-for-service is no longer as important as it once was. If I were buying a new rig I'd probably check in here first. Then Id find an outlet for what I was intending to buy. It's not likely that I'd depend much on the guidance of a commissioned salesperson. There are exceptions of course; but I wonder if skilled and knowledgeable salespeople will be able to survive and for how long.