What do you think the gear a shop carries says about them ?

[TSandM]

Opening a business is a very expensive endeavor, and a big risk. A brand new shop with a limited repertoire of brands wouldn't bother me, although I might worry a little bit that they were undercapitalized and might not be there in the long run. But if the people were nice and the service was good, I would patronize them and try to help them survive.

 

[Hickdive]

New shops don't have a track record, so in addition to some brands only allowing one retailer in each area other brands won't extend a line of credit - meaning everything in the store has to be bought and paid for by the store, in advance.

That usually manifests itself in stock being largely lower-priced items and the shop telling you that if they don't stock something they can still get it for you in a couple of days.

 

[BVickery]

I wouldn't be to worried about it. If I know they are just starting out, and they overall offer great service, I would see what they could do for me. It takes time to create a customer base, and if you need something, see if they can order it for you. I am a firm believer that competition is a great thing, especially in the retail market, as it encourages competition in pricing.

I would always give the person the benefit of the doubt if I do not know the person personally, and they are starting up a business, especially in these economic times.

 

[Crewfish13]

Disclaimer: I'm a complete newb, OW certified with 5 dives logged.

Off the top of my head, the LDS I certified with basically carried Oceanic gear, and a few other "lower" brands (ScubaMax included). I think it's fine, as students looking to get their personal gear for OWS certification generally don't want to pay top dollar for their starter gear until they know they want to commit the big $$$ to diving.

I bought my personal gear from the shop without doing much research, taking the advice of the shop owner and my instructor. I ended up with a ScubaMax Spider Eye mask, ScubaMax dry snorkel, Oceanic Viper fins, and Deep See boots. After shelling out the money and checking out the gear online after the sale, I discovered that I'd gotten a 2009 ScubaLab Best Buy mask, 2007 ScubaLab Best Buy fins and highly rated Aqualung-family boots. The snorkel, well, is a snorkel. After completing my pool work and cert dives, I'm still very happy with all of it.

So, don't completely judge a shop on the gear they stock, and don't judge all gear by its brand name. I actually liked my mask enough that after losing it after completing my cert dives, I went out and bought the exact same mask.