Opening A Dive Shop

[Lawman]

has a program to assist people going
into business. The CC where I am a
trustee has grant money that finances
our Small Business Development center.
They will help with the business plan, and
advise you on all of the taxes, inventory,
and other stuff you have to know to open
up and run a small business. It's dirt cheap
as well.

My other advice on how to suceed is to find
someone with a dive shop that has gone
bust, then don't do what they did!

 

[vnp514]

Genesis- I read the petition. I hope it passes. It would make things easier for both the shop owner and consumer.


MikeFerrara- Some more good info Mike-thanks! I kind of figured one of the major headaches would be dealing with the manufacturers. Also I was unaware of the policy that they (manufacturers) required me to be full service. I hadn't planned on teaching on the initial startup. I sure would like to talk to your "friend" and find out the skinny about how he got to be a dealer. Like you said, it's who you know.

chris_b- I sent a e-mail to the owners of Fill Express. They sound like they have the shop I'm thinking about opening. They ought to be able to supply a little info on how they got started. Thanks for the lead!!!

Lawman- Community college was a fantastic idea. I was planning on taking a course or two and my wife will be taking a few accounting classes.

Thanks again everybody for your replies and ideas!!

Pete

 

[MikeFerrara]

vnp514 once bubbled...

MikeFerrara- Some more good info Mike-thanks! I kind of figured one of the major headaches would be dealing with the manufacturers. Also I was unaware of the policy that they (manufacturers) required me to be full service. I hadn't planned on teaching on the initial startup. I sure would like to talk to your "friend" and find out the skinny about how he got to be a dealer. Like you said, it's who you know.



Pete

I should have explained how he is able to do it he sure didn't apply for a dealership through the regular channels. Being a long time tecg diver he knows everyone. He started out diving with the people most of us just read about.

You can get someone else to do the teaching.

 

[Norda]

Hey Pete,

Check this out!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11762&item=3104547454

Hope this posts ok, never tried to post a link. If it doesn't go to ebay, search for scuba and sort by price, this item will come to the top of the list.

Sounds very interesting

 

[Butch103]

Goes to prove you can buy anything on the "net" now.......

I think this is a great thread. Very educational and helpful for all to see..........Perhaps it will give the non-dive shop owners an insight on the restrictions of running a dive shop.......

 

[vnp514]

Norda- Thanks for the link. I think I'll stay in the United States for numerous reasons-family, lifestyle, personal freedoms(one of which is firearm ownership). Please don't take this as a flame-just the way I feel.

Pete

 

[seabass]

Running a business at breakeven is incredibly tough, most people end up losing money and go out of business. I personally would not want to spend my retirement with that kind of stress unless I had a ton of money. As someone mentioned you can get your fix working in a dive shop first, getting an instructor cert etc. It would really be a tragedy for you to invest a lot of money and time and then in one year realize that you hate it and have to sell everything at a loss, break leases etc.

If you do decide to go into business, you might want to purchase an existing business. It is a lot easier (and maybe even cheaper) to buy someone elses poorly run business with existing inventory etc. If they are losing money, they may sell everything at fire sale prices to be free of the burden.

 

[Norda]

Pete - no problem, I wasn't really serious. I just thought the timing was perfect for your post. Amazing what you can find on ebay.

I to have dreamed of having a small dive operation, but I know as all have posted before it is a lot of work and risk. Unless of course as Seabass suggests, you have a ton of money.

Bill.

 

[vnp514]

Ok Folks,
Again, thanks for your replys/ideas here. I've lurked on other boards before, getting ideas on diving in general and the scuba industry as a whole. I've seen a lot of flame jobs on those other boards but none here. It says something about the quality of the folks here.

As some of you have pointed out, there is a danger here that a person could lose his behind going into business(especially the scuba business). Another danger would be to lose my passion for diving by being so caught up in the industry portion of it and not taking time to actually enjoy the sport.

Sounds like I need a good battle plan here before/if I plan to do this. I have no problem doing some homework here. A wise suggestion was to work in a dive shop for a couple of years to get the feel of things. Again, I can't do anything for about 8 years and a lot of things can/will change in the industry by then. I'll be taking a small businees course too.

If you folks wouldn't mind prolonging this thread just a bit more, as consumers, what would you like to see in a dive shop? On my list already:

Competitive pricing
Customer service
Try gear before you buy
Rent to own program

Pete

 

[Genesis]

Competitive pricing
Customer service
Try gear before you buy
Rent to own program

While-you-wait fills, competitively priced
In-house, immediate warranty handling (no "we'll send it back" nonsense)
A good, solid stock level ("I want it now" is a big part of value-add)
Knowledgeable people who would rather not sell you anything than sell you something inappropriate just because they have it (and don't have the other!)
An in-shop pool would be nice (for the aforementioned try-outs)