LDS Disparaging Other Shops and Brands of Scuba Shops

[Doc]

I love diving, I’m going to open a dive shop.

it’s one of the very few hobbies where that can happen.

No business experience required. No business plan, no requirement to understand why that might be a good idea. No salesmanship skills, no business acumen.

In the past, it used to occasionally work.

As was mentioned, badmouthing others is the result of insecurity- either financial or emotional. Failure likely follows.

 

[Bigbella]

A fellow who I worked with, some years back, had been diving since the early 1960s; and recalled a time when dedicated dive shops were not yet the norm; that he bought his first regulator, a Voit Avalon, from a large sporting goods store, along with a pamphlet on its proper use, next to a cage of basketballs; and that he obtained airfills from a retired ConEd guy, with an air fill station, fitted in his laundry room -- a far cry from the glorified travel agencies that we have today.

He was always a bit amazed that dive shops were ever a viable business . . .

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

No business experience required. No business plan, no requirement to understand why that might be a good idea. No salesmanship skills, no business acumen.

A guy I used to teach with is looking at opening a dive shop. I've asked him what he's going to do differently as in the past 5 years, 3 shops within 10 miles closed down. A chain of I believe 10 stores (before my time, definitely at least 8) is down to 6.

The shops that I consider healthy provide good customer service, look after their customer's actual needs (including talking them out of buying something), charge a little more for training but also have smaller class sizes. Is that still sustainable with the current environment? Scuba diving isn't cheap, a lot of people have been out of work, so spending money on diving is going to be cut except by the most dedicated divers. Travel, one of the revenue streams for shops is way down, and not going to return to the pre-Covid19 levels for quite a while.

And sometimes commercial property owners do crazy things like jack up the lease. One of the oldest bars in Seattle (going back to the late 1800s) is closing down due to the downturn btrought by Covid19 with the final straw being a lease going up by over 25%.

 

[rjack321]

Always been a toxic existence between the shops here.

Same here, although most of negativity is verbal so they have plausible deniability.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

...And sometimes commercial property owners do crazy things like jack up the lease. One of the oldest bars in Seattle (going back to the late 1800s) is closing down due to the downturn btrought by Covid19 with the final straw being a lease going up by over 25%.

A lot or most of those commercial properties are owned and managed by large investment firms. All they want is their money, they could care less what the tenant is going through. The landlords answer to the banks and the banks could care less what the property owner is going through with their tenants, they just want their money.
In my area all the commercial property owners are leasing to the pot growers and wineries. Pot growers have a guaranteed healthy money stream and will pay top dollar per square ft and sign long leases, but the downside is there are some security risks and if they move out the cleaning is brutal to try and get the stench out that permeates the entire building. Wineries will also pay top dollar and sign very long leases. Landlords especially like wineries because they pay top dollar and wine barrels will sit inside quietly aging for years with very little impact to the property and infrastructure of the building and no customer traffic.

Dive shops have to be one of the worst and most unpredictable tenants in this day and age. Raising the rent 25% is probably just a way to get them to move out. Why would you rent a space to someone who can barely afford to pay $1.00 a ft when others are lined up ready to pay $2.00 ft?

 

[soonerwink]

This is one of the reasons we started the Oklahoma Aquanauts dive club. We don't allow anyone to say or post anything negative about another dive shop, instructor, or agency. We support all the dive shops in Oklahoma and even allow them to post specials, trips and promotions on our page. It used to be bad in the Tulsa area also. But the dive shops in Tulsa, under new ownership now support each other. They have come to realize that the more divers we have in our area, the more business they will get. I know in the OKC area there are some shops that the owners used to work at some of the other shops and they didn't depart on good terms. But for the most part, most get along pretty well and some even share their pool with some of the others. Also remember every shop wants you to buy the brands that they sell and service. They should just tell you why they think their brands are the best, and not try to trash others. I have found that every shop has some positives, and negatives compared to the others. It could be service, air fills, gear in stock, rental gear, or even a pool on site to let you try out gear. I have also come to realize that through the years that brands is the least reason for buying. Everyone thinks their gear is the best or their training methods are the best. You will even see it a lot here on SB.

 

[greeniguana]

A large portion of the dive shops in my vicinity are becomming "combo" stores. One doubles as a paintball range/batting cage, one doubles as an archery shop, another is also a gun dealer. IMO, if you're doing a bunch of things, you're less likely to do any one thing well. None of the three above examples is what I would call a great dive shop. It is always a crap shoot whether the employee there any given day would be the archery dude or the diver dude. The paintball place was always swarming with rug rats. I must admit that the gun store dive shop was pretty cool, but I think they finally quit selling guns due to the paperwork and ATF compliance hhassle. I definitely wouldn't want to disparage a dive shop with lots of guns.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Why would you rent a space to someone who can barely afford to pay $1.00 a ft when others are lined up ready to pay $2.00 ft?

Oh I understand that. But with business being way down for everyone except those selling/manufacturing PPE and hand sanitizer, I don't see anyone jumping in to move in. I could be wrong as that isn't my field. My gut feeling isn't exactly qualified.

 

[pauldw]

Not a fan of the idea that saying anything negative is bad. That just guarantees that mediocrity and worse continues to plague the unwitting. That said, there's a difference between just bad mouthing competitors, and being fair, factual, and accurate in response to questions. I visited a few dive shops in a far different area of my state last year while at a conference, and no one was bad mouthing the other shops, but one owner gave what seemed to me a reasonably neutral history of each of the shops in town, and a description of their business culture. There was one comment about one shop that could be taken positively or negatively, depending on your outlook, and I was glad to know it because it was a negative for me. The solution for bad speech is not quashing speech, it's more speech. In a vigorous marketplace of ideas, the truth comes out.

 

[Colliam7]

The solution for bad speech is not quashing speech, it's more speech. In a vigorous marketplace of ideas, the truth comes out.

I am far more comfortable telling people why my particular course is GOOD. I seldom say it is somehow 'BETTER THAN' another specific course, although that is tempting. I have no problem saying, 'We think what we offer is very good, because . . .'. Note, I do not say 'better than '. . . .', only that what we offer is very good, because . . .

I take particular pains to point out that, among major manufacturers such as Scubapro, Aqualung, Halcyon, Dive Rite, etc., etc., the quality of gear is both similar and admirable. I want people to buy what we sell because it is good, but mainly because buying from us is convenient and there is local customer support. If we sell an Apeks 30 lb wing , and another shop sells a Halcyon 30lb wing, I have real trouble saying the Apeks is somehow conspicuously better (or, looking at the reverse, that the Halcyon is somehow conspicuously better. BOTH wings are very good.

If the potential student / customer is thoughtful and intelligent, they will understand.