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This is a all true but sad story. Had the same thing happen to a local dive shop here and in a small town it makes it even harder to get air fills or even to find some one to service equipment. I now have to travel to Seattle Washington (300 mile trip) or to Spokane Washington 110 mile trip) for service or repairs and at a much high cost. Thanks internet and PADI isn’t helping with on line open water classes that take the money away from the local shops!!
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Sorry to see any dive shop close. But 31 years is a long time. Time to retire for some well deserved vacations. Here in the Chgo. area far away from any warm water diving. There are plenty of dive shops around. The new dive shop in town is booked all the way till the end of the year with OW classes. The 2nd dive shop is tripling its size with an indoor training pool to boot. Another 3rd dive shop that opened this spring seems to be doing just fine. With great website and internet skills they could increase sales more then what goes out the front door. More then likely a diveshop will have a new owner instead of closing up. It’ll be someone elses dream for the next 31 years. There is still hope for you to get a good air fill.
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The shop has been there for 31 years but not all of us have. Most of us got in it about 10 years ago and the original owner (who is still with us) has a shop in Florida too. We had years of life left. We had great customers and many friends but the new folks that were coming in aren’t as shop loyal nor as dedicated to the sport. Plus they are internet savvy. While many vendors do not sell their products online but only through reputable shops many of their products appear as seconds or resells by shops that close or shadier sites. New classes are the life blood of any shop and the online stuff is brutal. The new students want something for nothing or close to it as they get and they are also not willing to listen when they are not up to speed. The idea of class time was to show the student equipment and maybe sell some. It is hard to run a business when all you do is instructional and checkoff dives to student s that come in with all their gear already. You can’t pay any salaries that way. We had at one time in this area over a dozen dive shops in this area. Now there are three or four, another may be closing in the near future, they are currently for sale. It is just sad and tough. But you are right about one thing for sure. Plenty of time for more diving. Later
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Greg - 11/10/2012 9:32 AM 
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Greg - 11/10/2012 9:35 AM
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Here> http://northeastscubasupply.com/store/index.php?PHPSESSID=3edb89f2eac39700fb05f55d561788b8
is a great local shop with PERSONAL service and strong internet sales. And John treats you with the same gratitude when you buy a $10.00 piece of used gear as when you spend big money.
And he can’t find enough room in his building to keep up with the growing inventory and customer base.
I think his secret is he started with competitive pricing, friendly service, and honesty.
Even though as a new diver I made purchases from other vendors, did all my training in the Caribbean, and pestered him with a million question he was happy to supply with the services I need from him, Things like, tanks air fills,
a hundred small items, and some great dives off New Jersey on the shop’s very own boat.
He even refused to accept payment when. at the very last minute minute before leaving for the Caribbean I rushed in for a computer battery, telling me "enjoy your vacation". So I found something in the shop to buy.
And now that his line includes MARES, I give him my annual service.
So if your looking for the personal touch, locally or online give John a call. Where ever you may live it;s only a phone call or UPS shipment away.
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It’s unfortunate that it is so common these days given the economy and internet competition.
I really disturbs me that some areas lose any nearby means to recieve service and forces divers to dive less.I do however believe in most cases it is ultimately good for the industry as a whole to have the same competition as other industries. It promotes a leaner shop more ready and willing to service the customer. Eventually it will also force manufacturers to consider their business models and make changes.
I hope to see all manufacturers take on a MAP instead of MARP model that allows retailers to set the final price. At the same time the manufacturers must decide if the tiered pricing structure that allows larger customers to discount more heavily is truely constructive to sales of their brand.
I for one steer away from MARP brands and the shops that push sales of them. I believe their is profit to be made with a modernized business model but many shops yearn for the easy money of yesteryear before internet competition.
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I know there are two sides to the story, but this reminds me of the sign some employees posted as the local Borders bookstore was closing. "Sorry, no more bathrooms or lattes. Try Amazon.com."
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No real second story. We did well with our customers and came close to giving away things at times to keep happy customers. But generally you will find that after a customer has all of his basic gear he doesn’t make large ticket purchases. Frequently we were finding ourselves to be a "I want to try it on before I buy it off the internet kind of place" and then a "It doesn’t work like it should can’t ya’ll fix it" place. There are no business models for sustaining in that kind of economy. You have to generate new customers that are willing to shop with you and in our area the economy is not all that good. Just a good business decision but a sad one in closing.
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Sorry to see a LDS go but I don’t see the internet connection. A good reg last decades, my 40 year old Conshelf is still serving on my pony, wet suits 5-10 years, my son is still using my 20 year old BC. Even if I bought all our gear in a LDS divided up over the years it’s not enough to feed a dive shop crew. I love NESS too, wish it was closer, bought BP&W hardware there, two regs and SPG’s and they have a better selection and prices than most internet shops plus they sell used gear, don’t even think about buy used gear on Craigs List!
What LDS need to do to stay in business is customer service, trips both local and vacation, classes, info nights, old dive related movies nights just to get traffic in the shop, a dive club to keep their divers active and again generate traffic in the shop. Discover Scuba, a not so LDS I sometimes use has a Discover Scuba night at a school pool where certified divers can use the deep end to practice skills, check equipment or just get wet. They put out a spread and it’s amazing how many divers show up when there is food involved :) Offer Discover Scuba classes to Boy/Girl Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, etc., these are the kids coming into our sport.
Clean up dives, invite local groups to help with shore support and this introduses them to diving. The more your divers dive the more they come to the shop for service to more they see impulse items for sale, things they hadn’t thought they needed until they saw it and it’s right there, no need to search online.
The LDS needs to become a place in your life like Cheers where everyone knows your name and you stop by every week just to see what’s going on!
If I had a shop I would set aside an area for local service and enviromental groups to get their message out, send pictures with a story to the local media each time the display changes, this brings non divers into the shop, the same type of people who become divers :)
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