Where would you open a dive shop?

[bradlw]

I feel like a retail dive shop needs to be a pretty big one these days to have a chance of making it. It takes a large inventory to make it attractive to visit. I reckon you also would need to focus heavily on internet sales to get the volume up. I don't see how these tiny little strip mall shops can make it.

If I'm shopping for a mask for example, I'd want to go to the shop with the largest collection of brands and models for trying on. Not much point in going to a small shop without much variety. Ditto wetsuits. Most everything else that doesn't need to be tried on, can be ordered online, likely at a lower price.

Other than that, it seems to be that the only other focus a shop could have to make a good go of it would be tank fills &/or equipment service &/or training. For training, you need a deep pool.

 

[arew+4]

The guy who ran the shop were I got certified back in the 1990, closed not long ago. He seemed to make pretty descent living off of it. However, I'd wager the last decade or so it was mostly a "Hobby", giving the guy something to do aside from wasting away watching TV. Probably breaking even or a slow bleed.

 

[scubarob81]

I'd open a "Fill Truck" dive shop. The truck would have a complete fill station with 30ft long fill whips.

On Weekdays only, they would come to your house while you are at work. With the garage door code, fill your empty tanks, label them and close the garage. Billing, scheduling, rental tanks, trinkettes etc would all be done on a phone app. Then on weekends they would drive around boat ramps, marinas, dive sites playing ice cream truck music over a speaker, but it would be the song "Baby Shark do-do-daa" and all the divers would come running after it to get their tanks filled. Ohh yea, they would sell cans of beer too.

SOLID idea! I know I'd have bought a fill and a beer on many an occasion!

 

[34109411]

If you could open a shop anywhere in the continental US, where would you do it and why?

Near by the water for the convenience.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

Near by the water for the convenience.

You would think that, however the 2 most popular dive sites in Rhode Island used to have shops close by, but both have closed within the last 10 years. Now, the closest shops to either is 45 minutes to an hour. For the locals, no, I don’t count Anderson’s.

Erik

 

[Scubaguy610]

Honestly I would probably just partner with one that is somewhat established and the owner is thinking about selling so I can learn first then grow it to where I’d want. Probably be the state of Alabama, Georgia somewhere in there.

 

[DiveTucson]

This thread cracks me up. I would say if you are following modern business practices then it doesn’t really matter where you open. If you offer a superior service you will do just fine. If you try to open and do the same as what currently exists in your market you will fail. Online needs to be a big focus in addition to your local market. There is money to be made in the SCUBA industry despite people repeating the same tired lines about how to make a million start with two and such.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

If there are no dive shops in an area, there is probably a reason.
In our area there used to be four or five dive shops, now there is one.
The reason: a lot less divers than there used to be.
Not many new divers coming in to replace them.
Closure of abalone diving which was a world wide draw.
The internet.
Where to open a dive shop? I have no idea.
In think a dedicated dive shop is almost a thing of the past. A dive shop almost needs to be in the corner of a larger sporting goods store, maybe one that specializes more in aquatic leisure sports rather than terrestrial sports, or maybe both?

 

[arew+4]

How do you know he made a decent living off of his dive shop and that in recent years he was breaking even or losing money? Did he share his financials with you?

No Mr. Snark. He did not.
I know it was his sole source of income and allowed him to put his children thru college. I know from others who knew him better, and from the general decline in the industry that it was running at a fraction of the volume it used to in the years before he shut it down.

 

[went_postal]

This thread cracks me up. I would say if you are following modern business practices then it doesn’t really matter where you open. If you offer a superior service you will do just fine. If you try to open and do the same as what currently exists in your market you will fail. Online needs to be a big focus in addition to your local market. There is money to be made in the SCUBA industry despite people repeating the same tired lines about how to make a million start with two and such.

THIS

It's not about the size of the shop... it's about the people IN the shop.

We have a shop here that is NEVER open. They don't answer the phone. They don't open the door. They are supposedly still in business but in over 3 years that I've tried to deal with them... I've only ever gotten in the door twice.

IMHO... what a shop needs to do is cater to new divers (I am biased). You need staff that is into the sport AND they want to talk about it. When/if you walk into a shop where all the "experienced" divers look down on the newbs... it just doesn't go well. That leads to online dealers making money and people dropping out of the sport because what they bought online didn't work for them because they didn't understand what they REALLY needed and what they bought. (See every Harley Davidson that is 5 years old with 500 miles on it for sale)