White Star Quarry under new management?

[wb416]

Has anyone heard anymore on this? I heard rumor last night that Mike at Gilboa was going to take it over. I don't dive Gilboa much or know Mike, but the source was pretty decent.

There's nothing more to hear... as per my first post Divers, Inc won the bid to manage the dive ops at White Star.

 

[wb416]

Rich Synowiec's responses to the questions are in blue font.

"I heard today that Divers Inc out of Michigan won the bid to manage the diving operations for Sandusky County Park District at White Star Quarry.

Yes, we won the bid and will be managing the scuba operations for the rest of 2007 and into 2008.


Curious to see how that will change things.

At first you will not see any changes other than maybe the air fills will be done a little slower.



The Staff of Divers Incorporated are very professional and love to dive, and also understand that divers are happy with most of the aspects of White Star Quarry and the operations of the quarry so far. It is our hope that the change at first will be seamless. The envelope system will remain the same, the platforms will remain the same, and it is our goal to start up operations in May with no major changes. We are planning on re-launching the “free diving for instructors with students” program shortly (with a couple of changes in the application procedure) and we will not be raising pricing until we have a reason to. It is in the plan that sometime this summer we will be offering nitrox at the quarry, rentals for those people who need it, and a concession with pop, drinks, t-shirts, and those minor things people often break or forget. We are also planning on offering winter hours, weather permitting, and ice diving on select weekends this winter. We already have a couple of new underwater sights slated for sinking, and will be adding platforms as they are needed.


Anyone know anything about Divers Inc or worked with them before?
Hopefully you can answer this is a positive manner yourself. J Just like any other dive center I am sure that there are people who are not as happy with me as they are with others. That is the nature of the business. I hope that most people find me and my staff to be honest, hardworking and enthusiastic about scuba diving. We have made a number of changes to Divers Incorporated – Ann Arbor over the past three years and they are all for the better. We are constantly evaluating our level of customer service and making improvements to our store. We ask that people give us feedback so we can improve.


Was curious if other dive shops would take issue to a dive shop managing the quarry?"

I am sure that at least two will be disappointed with Divers Incorporated managing the quarry. Before putting the bid in, I had discussions with a few dive shop owners and discussed the possibility of Divers Incorporated running the quarry. All of them, without exception, were pretty pleased with the idea. White Star Quarry will have to be run separately, as a separate entity. Our customers are now the dive centers, clubs, independent instructors, and manufacturers, along with those divers coming down to White Star just to dive. If I make a decision that is not in the best interest of other dive centers and independent instructors, I would just be hurting myself. I would hope that anyone with issues with the idea would contact me directly at rich@diversinc.com in order for me to address their concerns rather than look at rumors.



True? Most definitely! Any insight I can forward to limit gossip? Just the above… thank you very much!

Thanks for digging into this Paula!

 

[diver_paula]

You are most welcome Bob. & as I said before Rich is a good business man and an even better person. I'm sure this will work out for the best.

 

[GoalieManPat]

Ill second what Paula said. Rick is the person who answered all my questions when I went in to get signed up for OW and then got me signed up. Helped me pick out and explain the difference in starter gear (mask,fins,snorkel,boots). He also was the instructor for our first class. Seems to be a honest top notch guy who loves diving.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Haigh Doesn't have one. I suggested it. No luck yet.

It looks like that almost every quarry diving sites have a season pass option except IN......

 

[RPanick]

So long as I can get my between dive Snickers Bar and a hot dog, I'm cool with it. I must say the people running previosly were nice people, and I will miss them.

 

[Riverrat Dave]

I have only met Rich a couple of times but I do know he supports our local dive club and does a bunch to educate and keep the sport safe...
Thanks for taking this on Rich, we'll see you this summer.

 

[wb416]

No matter what shop was managing White Star, I think I would be concerned that they are building a mailing list of divers, one diver registration at a time. Most shops wouldn't dream of giving their mailing list to another shop, yet everytime an LDS takes a new diver to the quarry, someone else is getting their address to solicit for gear sales. Potential loss of gear sales or trip revenues could be crippling to the LDS taking students to Whitestar.

You'd like to think that someone wouldn't do this, but if things got tough financially, and you had a list of active or new divers, then human nature might kick in and you'd see if you could tap the new source. People buy mailing lists all the time... only the future will tell if this is any different.

Just a thought....

 

[Tiny Bubbles]

Rich Synowiec's responses to the questions are in blue font.

..... We already have a couple of new underwater sights slated for sinking, ....

Hopefully they won't sink too much "junk". One thing I liked about White Star is that the bottom isn't littered with old junk cars, vending machines, and other garbage like the other quarries.

 

[M_Bipartitus]

Interesting to see how this turns out, as most serious divers I know in Ann Arbor aren't fans of either Ann Arbor shop.