I wish you well with your business, I really do! But let's put the blame where it really lies (in my view as a customer) and that is partially with the LDS and mostly with the manufacturers. This MAP idea kills competition. Everybody wants to sell the same SP reg for $600 when, in a fair market, the thing is worth, maybe, $200. Come on, it's just a piece of plastic!
As long as the manufacturer and LDS conspire to keep prices artificially high, customers are going to get their gear elsewhere. Price fixing comes to mind. I wonder why the manufacturers haven't been sued? If scuba wasn't such a tiny market, they probably would have.
Back to the LDS - the real culprit in this issue. On the shelf there are some fine products (AL, SP, etc) all tagged with their MSRP including an obscene markup for the LDS. I walk past the counter, shudder at the price and buy it from LP. That's because I don't like to negotiate; I find it distasteful. In fact, I won't negotiate. If the posted price is more than I'm will to consider, I don't consider. But the laughable part is that the shop doesn't expect to sell it for that price either. They will often offer deep discounts - if you beg. I don't do "Sit up and beg". So, here we stand, on opposite sides of the counter with no way to do business. I have the money, the LDS has the product, and we can't even get started.
Sometimes the discounted price, while still higher than LP, is within the realm of reason and worth considering simply to help support the LDS. But you have to negotiate and one customer will get a lower price than another. I always figure that I am getting the benefit of a higher price than another customer because I don't like to negotiate. So I don't even ask. In fact, I find the entire process so distasteful that many times I don't even go to the LDS to look. I just order it on line.
I like ordering on line. There's a product, a price that's the same for everyone, sales tax and shipping. I know exactly what I am getting and exactly what I should pay for it. I can comparison shop to find the lowest total price and place an order. I don't have to wonder if the sales clerk is laughing his a** off as I walk out the door with my under-discounted widget. "Boy, we really stung him!".
What is really obscene is an LDS that also has a web presence selling the same product in their store for more than advertised on their web site. And unless you call them on it, you get the benefit of the higher store price. Sure, you save the shipping but that's not the point. They have the product, sitting in a box and ready to ship, and yet they expect to sell it for more over the counter than if they have to call UPS to pick it up. The difference isn't always trivial. Sometimes it is 30% or so. That's the way to build a relationship!
What the LDS does have is the training and a somewhat captive audience for some initial equipment purchase. I would imagine most people buy their personal equipment from the LDS when they sign up for a class. That's the time for the LDS to start cultivating a long term relationship. Without pushing to sell, explain that while the MSRP is posted, equipment is typically sold at some discount. Don't wait for the customer to ask about pricing, explain how it works before the customer decides to go elsewhere.
Most of all, give the customer a little respect. Just because they don't flinch when they pay the bill doesn't mean they don't know they've been had. It simply means that, for this one transaction, they are willing to put up with it because it isn't worth the hassle. Perhaps timing is more important than money, this one time. Most customers know exactly what things cost elsewhere.
If the LDS closes whatever will we do about refills? I envision a smaller shop selling just fills. It could be a part time business, open for a couple of hours in the evening and selling no equipment. Just fills and maybe VIs. Maybe, for a significant extra cost, deal with getting tanks hydro'd. Maybe not, it's too much hassle.
There are a lot of small store-front businesses selling things like bottled water, prepaid cell phones, tobacco products, fake jewelry, etc. It shouldn't take much to start a small refill station.
Training? I have always thought that diver training should be like driver training. It is a separate, for-profit, operation completely independent of manufacturers and retailers. Car dealerships don't offer training and neither does DMV. But if the total number of divers declines over time, what difference does it make? Scuba manufacturers aren't exempt from the realities of a market and an economy. Resorts will come up with a different approach and life will move on.
The LDSs are going to die! Well, to take Dick Cheney's retort out of context, "So?".
Richard