LDS or Walmart????

[1RUSTYRIG]

I do a lot of shopping at Wal*Mart. They have great prices on a lot of great products. Obviously you have to watch what you are putting in your basket, but isn't Right Guard deoderant Right Guard deoderant no matter where you buy it?

My week is not complete without 2-3 trips to Home Depot/Lowes. Though I do have a small hardware shop I like going to for odds and ends. They carry a great selection of oddball stuff you don't normally find in a "big box" store.

My LDS is impossible to get to, staffed with morons, overpriced, limited selection...and did I mention staffed with morons? I took a year off from them which resulted in scuba.com getting a little over $3K in business from me. When I went back to the LDS before my Belize trip in June it was business as usual. Poor service and a complete nimrod behind the counter.

 

[GrierHPharmD]

For some reason in the title I thought this was going to be about Mormons.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thought that. And I thought it in both English and Espanol...

As for the subject - I buy most of my gear from my LDS. I'm lucky enough to have a couple of great shops nearby and, with Instructor pricing, it's very easy to get some amazing deals on top-of-the-line equipment. That being said, there are times when, for one reason or another, the online option is pretty attractive.

Case in point. Due to Scubapro's marketing policies, my shop doesn't carry their gear. To get a pair of Jet Fins, I had to go elsewhere. Found a used pair in great condition on eBay for $27. The spring straps were $48.

I've also bought non-life-support gear at local shops. Signal mirrors for $5 at Bass Pro. 3mm shorty wetsuits at Sam's Club for $29. Artifact hunting gear at Home Depot. Knee Pads for river diving in the skateboard section at, yes, Walmart - $9.

Wouldn't it be nice if the shops were able to expand their merchandising to include other watersports with wider markets? Then they could improve their margins and still offer quality scuba gear, training and service. I know it's not a popular opinion, but that's what World Watersports in FL has done, and I find myself shopping there for non-diving items pretty often when I'm in the area. And I think it would be nice to try and bring in the folks that are out there shopping for waterskis and SeaDoos to our world. But then again, I like to share diving with everybody I meet.

Just a few thoughts on a Monday after a wonderful dive weekend off of SC.

Safe ascents to all,
Grier

 

[erparamedic]

I ONLY buy from my LDS... The owner of my LDS is great... he's a wealth of knowledge and all my scuba related purchases are done thru him. I would just rather see my $$ help to support the LDS... as they are falling wayside to often these days. Not to mention, I don't think I could ever buy anything online, I have to try everything on first.

 

[Stu S.]

Wal-Mart? Not a crazy as it sounds. Costo has had scuba gear at selected stores. I purchased a regulator from a discount store called Best Products in Maryland, and used it from 1977 until I started using the 3500 psi. tanks in 2005. The dive shops and discount stores co-existed back then, and they could again today.

 

[gangrel441]

I will give another example of when I go somewhere other than local. If I go to my local lumber yard to buy a 2x4 I pay $4 each for them because I am not a contractor if I go to Lowes or Menards I pay $2.50 for the same 2x4. So I wouldn't mind paying $2.75 for the 2x4 but $4????? I like to buy locally but I do not like getting ripped off locally.

...and that 2x4 you get from Menards is only warped bad enough that it forms a semicircle. Not quite completely curled over yet.... :shakehead

No thanks, I'll spend the money to get the quality goods, thank you very much...

 

[1RUSTYRIG]

...and that 2x4 you get from Menards is only warped bad enough that it forms a semicircle. Not quite completely curled over yet.... :shakehead

No thanks, I'll spend the money to get the quality goods, thank you very much...

While some of the wood is a little green, if you look hard enough you can get straight lumber at Lowes or Home Depot. Especially when you are dealing with pressure treated lumber.

Lets expand the discussion to include all "big box" stores. What do you feel about Best Buy? I shudder at the thought of the 'old days' where you had your local mom and pop electronics store. They sold junk at inflated prices. At least now you have selection and attractive pricing.

 

[letterboy]

they may have a selection but have you ever tried to get decent people to talk to you there. . . sometime ago it was easy now it is like trying to get milk from a bull. . . not saying were i work doesn't have the same problem but when another store says you have something that will fix the customers issues and you have to go to the big blue and yellow boxes own web site because you know have searched your own website and don't carry it . . . print out there page from there website send the customer back over there to get the right widget. . . Then said customer comes back and thanks you for finding said widget for there 900.00 HDD camcorder and external DVD burner. . . THAT WE DON'T EVEN SELL!!!!

Maybe i should have just put this over in the whine and cheese section. . .

 

[gangrel441]

It is a rare occasion that I walk out of a Home Depot anything other than disappointed. I come from a family that has made its bread and butter in the electrical supplies and lighting industry. When I am doing a project, I rarely find supplies I need in a pinch at Home Depot. Their conduit is usually bent to hell, the boxes are non-standard, and the staff is completely unknowledgable. I have caught them repeatedly giving advice to myself and other customers that is completely out of local building codes. No wonder every time a friend of mine buys a house and something in the house had been remodeled, the electrical job in the remodeled section is a complete Charlie Foxtrot at best, and a fire hazzard at worst!

As for Best Buy, I don't need top-of-the-line in electronics, so Best Buy does the trick for me. But don't fool yourself into thinking that the stuff at Best Buy is the best the electronics industry has to offer. For that, you have to go to them ma and pop shops that you slammed back there in your post. Maybe that wasn't the case 10 years ago, but here in Chicago, the place to go for electronics isn't Best Buy, it is The Little Guys. Look it up yourself.

 

[Mafiaman]

Larger LDS like world water sports or Divers discount to name a couple will meat or beat on-line prices, so you can have the best of both worlds. In free market we don't owe the LDS a living, but they do deserve a shot. Ask your LDS to meet your prices and see what they can do. Many will. They do buy from the same venders and manufactuers as on-line stores so if LDS has an issue with pricing they need to look towards the venders to make the competitive, not to us to pay more.

 

[marusso]

hahahaha, that would be awesome!