Biggest thing killing dive shops?

[Trailboss123]

My local theater has beer and wine, real butter on the popcorn, and home made cookies. The teenagers are not made to feel comfortable there, as I don't enjoy a sticky floor. The multiplex in town has been closed since Irma, they may not open. I am a member at the local theater, so I can get in for less than 11 bucks, so I can spend $40 at the snack bar buying my wine and popcorn. I'm just happy the teenagers can't afford to go.

Get off my lawn, damn kids.

I so needed to hear this today! Still laughing out loud!

 

[Saboteur]

I actually looked into this. Forget Disney - it needs top be a serious aqua-facility. With a restaurant and LDS. It is hugely expensive to run. Heating costs (in the NE) and insurance are killer. The Italian one uses a natural fed warm spring to keep the temps up. Yes, I think that it could work but you need serious investment $ and a very carefully constructed business plan. If implemented well, you would put all the LDSs around you out of business unless an agreement was established with them. I could talk endlessly about this. SSI will allow you to do the first few dives of OW checkout etc. etc. This would steal 3/4 of the Dutch pleasure divers away in a heartbeat.
Think of the of the possible extra training you could offer: discover scuba to 40 feet, discover/intro courses for night diving, deco diving, deep diving, free diving, lift bag use, deep dSMB deployment. Public safety divers could use it for training. You could do demos of various products at depth to really get a feel for them. An open visitor gallery could entice non divers to come in and see what it is like. If indoor skydiving can work I think an indoor dive faciltity would as well.

 

[runsongas]

I dont know how online sales will ever replace my LDS.
There is no way an online retailer can do a tank fill.
Or hydro. Or inspection. Or regulator overhaul.

Right guys?

I saw the writing on the wall - online retailers grabbing a lot of those dive dollar$ though.
This was about 2002 and Seattle had something like 20 dive shops.
There's just no way a town of this size could keep them all humming along. It was over saturated.

Some of these shops closed for other reasons, besides loss of customers/ $ but here you go:

UW sports in Kirkland - closed.
UW sports in Everett - closed
Scuba Set in Federal Way - closed
NWSD - in Kenmore, moved to Lynnwood, then closed.
Bubbles Below in Woodinville - closed
Smokey Point dive center- closed

The shops that are still here...well...some of them are a dump.
The shop itself is kind of gross, or the staff is extremely young and not very well paid. Or informed.

I've been in shops that were so pushy, and so weird that I wasn't buying
a rebreather - that they couldn't be bothered with me.

I've been in shops that were constantly undercutting MSRP on gear - just to make that sale- and getting caught by the manufacturer - who then pulled their line from that shop altogether.
I would love to see the data on how many shops that do that.

Hydro can be done at the fire extinguisher company, a compressor and toolbench in a garage covers the rest.

 

[tridacna]

Hydro can be done at the fire extinguisher company, a compressor and toolbench in a garage covers the rest.

Add Airtech or DRIS or Scubatoys for reg maintenance if you don’t want to do it yourself.

 

[scubafanatic]

Another possibility (not sure if it's been mentioned yet in 800+ posts so far) is the sad and ever declining condition of the sea and sea life overall globally. The vast majority of 'divers' are certified for an upcoming vacation, and trying scuba is on the trip bucket list. As the saying goes. 'you don't get a second chance to make a first impression', I'd venture that the sorry state of the common 'discover scuba' type sites for the average Joe is very underwhelming and discourages any future efforts in the scuba direction.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Eventually everything will balance out. There will always be an LDS somewhere, but there will be many that have or will close up. The ones on the fringes will most likely be the first to go.
The ones in more populated areas that have great friendly service and a decent selection of the gear people actually want at a fair price will be the ones that survive. After the others close up, business will drift over to the remaining shop and they’ll do fine.
I’m just seeing an overall decline in diving, especially local diving. It’s not really anybody’s fault, it’s just a fact and a new reality.
I’m already putting out feelers on starting an air club. A buddy has possession of a compressor so that’s about all we need, but we need funding for maintenance and power so a club with dues will be in order. I have a whole network of friends for service, and online shopping is just a click away, so we’re set.
I have feeling restricted parts will be easier and easier to get eventually.

 

[tursiops]

Another possibility (not sure if it's been mentioned yet in 800+ posts so far) is the sad and ever declining condition of the sea and sea life overall globally. The vast majority of 'divers' are certified for an upcoming vacation, and trying scuba is on the trip bucket list. As the saying goes. 'you don't get a second chance to make a first impression', I'd venture that the sorry state of the common 'discover scuba' type sites for the average Joe is very underwhelming and discourages any future efforts in the scuba direction.

New divers are not aware of the changing baseline. What they see is amazing and exciting to them. I've watched lots of Discover Scuba and OW folks come back from their first dives; their most common response is "Awesome!" even in a quarry with two bluegills and a lot of algae.

 

[scubafanatic]

New divers are not aware of the changing baseline. What they see is amazing and exciting to them. I've watched lots of Discover Scuba and OW folks come back from their first dives; their most common response is "Awesome!" even in a quarry with two bluegills and a lot of algae.

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with ya there. Compare a nice NatGeo or Discovery channel documentary footage with the typical dive reality, many folks are severely disappointed.

 

[Steve_C]

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with ya there. Compare a nice NatGeo or Discovery channel documentary footage with the typical dive reality, many folks are severely disappointed.

I have seen many a diver all excited by their first quarry or certification dive. They are on a new adventure rush. It is on dives 3 or 4 .... where the novelty is wearing off that some get severely disappointed. This is often not due to any declining of quality it is the reality of diving. Some days the ocean is rough. Some days the viz is not good. Some days you spend some money for a hotel room and the boat does not go out.

 

[tursiops]

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with ya there. Compare a nice NatGeo or Discovery channel documentary footage with the typical dive reality, many folks are severely disappointed.

Hey, I'm disappointed too in what I see compared to high-end documentaries!
Yes, I've seen some incredible stuff, but not everywhere and not every time.