Rich Keller
Contributor
I have seen this tried a couple of times over the decades but I have never seen it work other then for Sport Chalet. I have no personal experience with Sport Chalet, I am just going by what I have heard online as there are none on the east coast but it would be interesting to hear from some of their customers. If it works for Sport Chalet it might work for West Marine as well. They will not be able to do much for the more advanced divers but the new people who are about to start OW would probably be their biggest customer base. Unfortunately for the LDS new people are the ones who need the most equipment and are the most profitable segment of this market. The advantage the LDS has is their relationship with the customer, more advanced & diversified product knowledge and personal service that would be hard for a chain store to match.