I Don't Understand Dive Shops

[Davidkrug]

Yeah, I was thinking that coastline wouldn't be ideal for shore diving. Perhaps all those shops inland on the interstate are catering to those diving lakes and quarries (are there many of those)? Either way, those inland shops don't seem to me to be very convenient to anyone. Especially if you lived on the coast, but even if you lived along the interstate and had to drive 20-30 miles to one of them, then go to a road to the coast and drive another bunch of miles round trip.

There are a few good lake dives, some of which are altitude dives, and many are cold enough to be considered drysuit only by sane people. On the eastern side of the Cascades, there are some lakes that are decently diveable, I don't think there is much to see in them though.

Most Oregon dive shops are naturally close to population centers, so for most people in the state, they can pick up gear at the shop 15 minutes away and then go.

I think a lot of people pick up their rental gear/get tanks filled on Friday, then drive 2.5-3 hours up to Puget sound for diving on Saturday. If people dive over a couple days, there are close by dive shops there to get your tank fills.

Oh, and there is this site:
Oregon Dive Sites - A catalog of SCUBA diving sites in Oregon

 

[pauldw]

Thanks again for the insights from everyone. I have a lot better feel for the dive industry now, and why things are the way they are. And I'm putting my head to a possible solution, but it's slow in coming.

BTW, today I have treated myself to some new dive gear from a local dive shop, which had a surprisingly good sale on a good package. Current plan for when I get back to the coast to visit my old stomping grounds is to use a big steel tank, nitrox, and a dive computer to be able to do multiple exploratory dives on rocky areas along the Oregon coast, provided the surf is down (which is usually not the case, but sometimes I get lucky when I'm visiting), seeing as there won't be many places for air fills. (In saying this, I don't mean to suggest that everyone should just show up at the west coast and dive someday. It's usually awful and dangerous. But on the rare good day, it's a wonder.)

 

[Davidkrug]

 

[Zef]

Lack of visibility adds to the mystique of the dive...you never know what is lurking just ahead.


-Z

 

[admikar]

Lack of visibility adds to the mystique of the dive...you never know what is lurking just ahead.


-Z

Something like this?

 

[pauldw]

Found these threads, which provide some historical insight into dive shop issues in recent decades for people finding this thread in the future; page 4 of the first one is especially interesting:
Quality Question
Should a dive shop match prices?
BUYING FROM LEISURE PRO vs. THE LOCAL DIVE SHOP

 

[Zef]

Was at my local dive shop last night...they have a new sign on the wall that states that one has to pay 20 euros to try on a suit (wet or dry) and it is reduced from the cost of the suit if purchased.

I kind of understand why they are doing that, since they mentioned that the internet is hurting their business, but I commented to my daughter on the way home that this is not a customer focused practice and may drive business away since it increases the onus on the customer without offering any value to them.

Oh well, luckily we are not in the market for new suits and the shop has good prices on si-tech silicone seals...cheaper than I can buy on the internet at 30 euros for a pair of wrist seals and 30 euros for a neck seal.

-Z

 

[cerich]

Was at my local dive shop last night...they have a new sign on the wall that states that one has to pay 20 euros to try on a suit (wet or dry) and it is reduced from the cost of the suit if purchased.

I kind of understand why they are doing that, since they mentioned that the internet is hurting their business, but I commented to my daughter on the way home that this is not a customer focused practice and may drive business away since it increases the onus on the customer without offering any value to them.

Oh well, luckily we are not in the market for new suits and the shop has good prices on si-tech silicone seals...cheaper than I can buy on the internet at 30 euros for a pair of wrist seals and 30 euros for a neck seal.

-Z

yeah that won't work.

 

[TMHeimer]

Was at my local dive shop last night...they have a new sign on the wall that states that one has to pay 20 euros to try on a suit (wet or dry) and it is reduced from the cost of the suit if purchased.

I kind of understand why they are doing that, since they mentioned that the internet is hurting their business, but I commented to my daughter on the way home that this is not a customer focused practice and may drive business away since it increases the onus on the customer without offering any value to them.

Oh well, luckily we are not in the market for new suits and the shop has good prices on si-tech silicone seals...cheaper than I can buy on the internet at 30 euros for a pair of wrist seals and 30 euros for a neck seal.

-Z

I'll mention the place---Vortex Spring on FL panhandle, 2006. Rented a wetsuit from them for $11 when I was a noob. Asked if I could purchase it--they had to check to see if that were possible. Yes, but they didn't deduct my $11 rental from the $75 price.
Cheap. You do stuff like that just once, and here I am talking about it 12 years later.

 

[ScubaBearMan]

This is a very interesting thread... I've been visiting local shops in the Portland area and while there are three shops within 30 min of where I live, I just haven't been impressed. I prefer to buy locally, but a part of that means getting value, saving time, and building a relationship with that business. I've spent close to 5k at a local appliance shop because they offered me a competitive price, continued support, and made it easy to get the actual delivery and installation taken care of without arranging it all myself. I will continue to buy from them when possible. I buy my backpacking gear from locally owned gear shops because I can get good equipment, at a fair price, with knowledgeable staff. On the other hand... the dive shops I visited varied from having very little, clearly old stock, uninterested and odd employees, and a truly awful online presence -or- a limited stock, informed and engaged employees, and slightly less terrible online presence, but with a refusal to sell certain products and a very, very heavy sell. Not to mention their extreme anti online retailer perspective. And maybe it's in my head a bit, but as a younger person, I just feel out of touch with these places. Maybe I'm just in the habit of feeling like a place has to earn my business instead of being entitled to it because they happen to be in my state.

I've spoken to each shop about dive opportunities and received little more than an offer to sign me up to their mailing list and some questions about trips to the tropics. No real engagement on trips to local spots, no offers to set up a dive trip, not even any books on diving in Oregon! Barely any knowledge about the local clubs even! So I buy a lot of my gear online and receive absolutely phenomenal service, great equipment and a sense of guilt because while I'd like to buy everything from local shops, it feels like charity instead of business.

I'll keep going to shops and buying what I can get locally but man, they are not making it easy. I can't help but feel there is a lot of blame being placed on online retailers when they aren't making a serious attempt to get into that market or build a community of customers.