WAH! My LDS closed!

[oly5050user]

No, that's not the reality for the majority of divers who don't live in BFE at the mercy of the one LDS within a 60 mile radius. Most dive sites in this state have compressors on site, anyway.

This whole presumption that one must charge high gear prices to make up for classes, fills, and service is wrong. There are plenty of shops that have shown you can charge competitive prices on gear and provide all those other services and be profitable.

No thats your presumption that there will be a compressor at your "dive site".Not all states have that in their locale..My sites are anywhere from 1-20 off shore.I do not think there is an extension cord long enoughto supply the power for a compressor.Maybe in your state what you call "dive" sites are naturally/man made oversized pools,what you call a quarry.There are plenty more shops closing than opening for they have discovered that the pool of new customers is limited and if they do not sell gear at a profit the price of courses will have to go up.
What you are looking at is a very small example of stores that can survive by selling what you call competitive prices and be profitable.For most facilities everywhere that is difficult or impossible given the small amount of customers and new people to go around.The season in the northeast part of the country is short,realistically it is only from June-late June at that,to maybe mid September.Yes there is diving and classes going on in other months here,but for the most part that is the "sweet spot" here.
Rent/mortgages,electric bills,taxes,insurance,telephone,all these bills have to be paid in the off season ,if gear sales are gone and all this plus for most pool time rentals have to be paid how is a lds to survive ..Lets say a store does 100 ow students a year(typical ma and pa store).NO gear sales,the class costs $250. for the classroom and cw portion,thats only $25,000. a year..Out of that your rent,if you are lucky,is $2000. a month,thats $24000.a year. Double the amount of students and it still does not work.Still have all the other expenses.Lets say you sell m/f/s and you make $125.profit on each sale,thats only $12,500. a year..HOW DO YOU STAY IN BUSINESS if no gear sales from classes and they all go to online vendors???

 

[GlazierB]

This might be in bad taste but... Did you avoid the draw of cheaper prices online and actually support your local shop? I might pay more for what I have but I do my best to always support my local shops.

 

[ReefHound]

No thats your presumption that there will be a compressor at your "dive site".Not all states have that in their locale..

No it's not a presumption because I said nothing about other states, it's a factual statement based on firsthand experience in my state. Try looking up the definitions of words before using them.

If you need to support your local shop, then support your local shop. Of course, you can pay more money to support your shop and *still* find yourself orphaned when they close anyway.

I have little concern or respect for those who presume to tell *me* what's in *my* best interest in the long run despite my opinions to the contrary. Tens of thousands of divers are running their own consumer evaluations and deciding it's in their best interests to buy online. The free market will have the last word.

 

[texdiveguy]

Many dive sites I have visited don't have a fill station available....the key is the pack in the gas you will need in those situations. I persl. hate having to rely on unknonws for fills, particulary 'mix' gases.

 

[ReefHound]

Many dive sites I have visited don't have a fill station available....the key is the pack in the gas you will need in those situations. I persl. hate having to rely on unknonws for fills, particulary 'mix' gases.

You dive a lot in Oklahoma lakes, that ain't Texas. There are fills on site at CSSP, Canyon, Travis, and Amistad. Where else are you diving in Texas?

My point is that *I think* most divers are not in scuba purgatory where they have one shop within a 2 hour radius. I might be nervous if I was in that situation but I have a dozen air fill sources within 30 minutes. I see no reason to write charity checks to a shop to keep that from becoming 11. You were loyal to your shop, where did that get you?

 

[texdiveguy]

You dive a lot in Oklahoma lakes, that ain't Texas. There are fills on site at CSSP, Canyon, Travis, and Amistad. Where else are you diving in Texas?

My point is that *I think* most divers are not in scuba purgatory where they have one shop within a 2 hour radius. I might be nervous if I was in that situation but I have a dozen air fill sources within 30 minutes. I see no reason to write charity checks to a shop to keep that from becoming 11. You were loyal to your shop, where did that get you?

Heck I dive lots of places outside of Texas and a few in Texas that you did not mention... ...but I can tell you over this past year on only one occassion did I need a fill on the fly in 'Texas'... thats good planning and ample gear!

My LDS is still in operation and still affords me PRO level pricing and quick turn-around on gas fills....Thank God!

 

[ClamBake]

Of course, you can pay more money to support your shop and *still* find yourself orphaned when they close anyway. . . .Tens of thousands of divers are running their own consumer evaluations and deciding it's in their best interests to buy online. The free market will have the last word.

That's flawed logic. And the "tens of thousands" that you suggest are conducting "consumer evaluations" are FEEDING THE MONSTER. As has been suggested above, buying on-line today to save $75 bucks on a regulator, makes it that more likely you will be paying back that $75 bucks on your next on-line regulator purchase. The LDS you drove out of business will no longer be training new diver to fill the void of the divers who drop out of the sport every year. The market for ACME Scuba's next generation of regulators will have significantly diminished. Economies of scale will shrink. The wholesale cost of each next-gen regulator will cost that much more, and even the on-line retailers will be saddled by that increase. Which will be passed right onto you. See a pattern here?

Diving would not be where it is today without the LDS. And diving is unlikely to be a viable sport for my kids' generation if the LDS goes away.


Years ago, due in part to the financial support of Massachusetts LDS owners (who had a vested local and financial interest in the outcome), the Mass legislature passed the Beach Access Law stated below.

CHAPTER 91. WATERWAYS​

Chapter 91: Section 10D. Scuba divers and skin divers; access to Commonwealth tidelands​

Section 10D. No person shall be denied access during daylight hours to commonwealth tidelands across any land available to the public for swimming or recreation which is owned or controlled by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions for the purpose of scuba diving or skin diving which activities are hereby declared to be water dependent uses; provided, however, that if such tidelands are at any time closed to access by the general public, such access by such scuba diver or skin diver shall not be permitted.​

Show me where one of the major on-line retailers has done something similar to protect the future of diving and I am willing to reconsider my opinion of their long-term impact on the sport.

 

[PvtStash]

"Squawk! Your LDS is gonna close!! Squawk! You better support them or no Air for Joo!"




Maybe in BizzaroWorld.... not in a capitalist free-market State... SOMEONE will fill any Need gap... Entreprenuers... country's Full of 'em... ,and as a previous poster mentioned most dive sites in his state Already have air service (the same is true in My area as well, NW Ohio).

Its nothing but panic-stricken, fear-mongering when the naysayers preach their doom an gloom of the End of the LDS...

Maybe they forget that at one point in time... there were NO DIVE SHOPS AT ALL! yeah believe it or not there Didnt use to be half a dozen dive shops within' an hours drive... and guess what ? It didnt matter. The diving community (and I include those that wanted to get IN to the diving community) got their equiptment by mail-order and learned from a friend, or *cue ominous music* "On Their Own".

Maybe the real problem is that since the dive market IS relatively small the market simply wont Bear half a dozen shops in one area... maybe there's only enough business for 1 shop... so, is the problem "Cheap, Non-loyal customers?" or a BAD BUSINESS DECISION made from a lack of market/feasability research ?

With that said I am not totally insensitive to the idea of "supporting" my LDS, and I plan to do so if they can come within' 20-30% of the best price; I simply cant afford otherwise and I Wont be made to feel Guilty for it.

 

[captain]

HOW DO YOU STAY IN BUSINESS if no gear sales from classes and they all go to online vendors???

Sooner or later a real business man who wants to earn a living AND wants to sell diving equipment will realize he has to deversify into other related water sports such as sking. wake boarding, fishing, boating and possibly other non watersports sporting goods. How many other one sport stores do you see, not many and those are mainly sports with mass appeal such as golf. There are a few such stores in my area and they have prices pretty much equal to online.

 

[redacted]

Sorry to hear that. Sadly, this seems to be the industry trend. The core of your or any other LDS business plan usually isn't to make their money on fills or repairs, but when retail dollars are diverted to on-line shops the loss of those convenient fills are one of the consequences. Suddenly paying 15-20% more for a regulator, BC or tank doesn't sound so bad.

But when the difference is in the 50-100% range, you will likely find you are better off without him in the long run. If there were enough divers to support an LDS then there should be plenty to support a club. Good luck getting it organized.