Hmm. How do I value it? Let me count the ways, in no particular order: 1) Dive club, with interesting and informative monthly meetings, cookouts during the summer months, a Christmas Party with speakers like Gary Gentile and Ned Deloatch; trips organized by the shop to more distant places like Roatan, Bonaire, etc. as well as domestic charters to the Carolina Coast, trips to FL, to the Gulf to dive the Oriskany, etc; 2) Camaraderie and diving fellowship - a social experience. I periodically will drop by the shop, go next door to the Chinese restuarant and buy lunch, and bring it back to the shop to eat, with staff, and with fellow divers who drop by on their lunch hour, or to get fills, or gear service; I met my current dive buddy through the shop, a large number of good friends and diving colleagues through the shop, etc. We have informally created something of a birthday club, with a group of divers who dive through the LDS. Virtually every month we go out to dinner, ostensibly to celebrate a birthday, and talk about diving, politics, and business. 3) Training, including OW, AOW, DM, AI, IDC, plus Tec, Trimix, Gas Blender, etc. Actually, I didn't do regulator technician training there (rather, I did it through a 'competing' shop in town, with whom my LDS has an excellent relationship), but I attend seminars at DEMA as a shop 'staff member'. Oh, and I have a LDS owner who is happy to call PADI and expedite credentials applications at those rare times when that is required. 4) Service. Yes, I can service my own gear, but I am free to use the bench and instruments at the LDS, and get my parts at a discounted rate. I am free to blend my own nitrox and trimix fills, paying only for the gas, at a cost-based rate. (And I am more than happy to do gas fills for them on a busy Friday afternoon in the summer, if they are swamped and I am free. I enjoy the practice and the break from my 'real' work.); 5) Specialty needs, such as oxygen cleaning. I do some of the oxygen cleaning for the shop, and pay only a very discounted rate to do my own tanks, valves and regulators - with their equipment, reagents and supplies - because I am happy to also do cleaning on customer tanks at the same time; 6) Expanded contacts with the diving community. I have met a variety of people, at DAN, in PADI, divers with interesting credentials, etc, through the LDS and the shop owner, who is happy to introduce me and others associated with the shop whenever he runs into someone he knows. Maybe, I don't really need them. But it is great to use their IP gauge, their Magnahelic, their ultrasonic cleaning equipment, their eddycurrent testing equipment, their (rather sophisicated) gas management apparatus. They have the equipment. They have the regulator parts kits. They have helium, oxygen, OCA, nitrox premix, a great blending system. And, I can use it - because I have made an active point over the past 8 years, since my OW certification, of becoming a part of the LDS family through my patronage, participation in training, and involvement.
But, alas, there is certainly a downside. I am sure I must have obscenely overspent on gear, and my LDS is obviously taking advantage of me. I envy the really clever people, the ones who save a lot more money than I do. The ones who make the rounds of dive shops to get free consultation, perhaps even get free advice from SBers like Tobin at DSS, then boast about how MUCH they saved by going to LeisurePro or ScubaToys. I am sure they are saving lots of money, far more than I am. I get diving insights, service advice, and techincal information (as well as political observations, economic consultation, and social commentary). It is provided willingly and enthusiatically, possibly because I am a shop 'loyalist'. But, shops are in business to sell gear. So, what have I bought there? Wetsuits, drysuits, hoods, vests, regulators, fins, lights, computers (including my new X1), masks, two BCDs, gaiters, tanks, valves, tank bands, reels, weights, clips, and a bunch of other stuff. I have also been able to borrow and try out a lot of gear, Dive Rite and Halcyon backplates and harneses, different wings, tanks, fins, masks, etc. Through the LDS I have a directly available network of diving friends who loan me equipment, and to whom I loan equipment, readily and without hesitation. The LDS is even a drop point at times. Heck, the owner has even transported the gear at times, to facilitate transfer. Yes, I have also purchased a bit of used equipment on eBay, because of some of the knowledge I acquired through the shop (which doesn't sell used gear). Through the LDS, I have even been introduced to people outside the shop who have been kind enough to allow me to audit their courses at no charge.
Deluded as I must be, I have this strange and persistent sense that I just may have benefited tremendously from the relationship.
They've also got 2-tank boat dives on weekdays for $25, and that includes the tanks
can't beat that! All in all, a great shop with great customer service. 
