LDS Closing - Dang It!!

[snagel]

Stopped by my LDS and was told that as of January 1st, they are shutting the doors. Dang It....the next LDS for me is 60-80 miles away. Sucks for me getting air!

The owner told me he might try and open a little on Saturdays to help out with getting air to people, but I suspect this will be short lived if it happens at all.

Just couldn't make ends meet and really didn't make money at it. Now the fun has went away and he decided it was time to close the doors. I certainly understand and always tried to spend money in the shop just so this doesn't happen.

Just in case your from around mid-Missouri. The dive shop is called Scuba Down Under and located in Sedalia, MO.

Snagel

[WV Diver]

Too bad, I have three shops in my area. They are all a 2 hour drive in different directions. I know how hard it is for these little shops to stay in business. Even if they have the best customer service it is hard to make enough money around here to keep the doors open.

One of these shops is only open part of the time and is really more of a side business than anything. One is new and has only been around about a year. I have only seen them at the lake with students so I am not even sure what type of shop they have. The third has been around several years and I do my best to throw what I can their way knowing how hard it is is for them to stay open.

I have a lot of gear that they service for me that is all work related gear. It would be way too impractical to think about shipping all that gear out to someone to service. Just tanks alone would be a nightmare.

I feel your pain but I think it is a trend that we will see grow over the years to come. At least in these small towns that are out of the way of main stream diving.

Goos luck.

[Shenanigan]

I was actually pleasantly surprised at the number of dive shops in the DFW area ... being from Cali, and strictly blue water before moving here, I didn't realize the amount of lake diving done in these parts! But with ST being such a great store, wondering if we'll see other LDSs that are not so customer service oriented closing.

[JCAT]

This is a very interesting subject. A old diver once told me the way to make a million bucks operating a dive shop was to start out with two million.

To me, Scuba is unique in the small business world. Not only do you need to run a shop with stocked equipment to sale, you have to teach classes, build your customer base, and most importantly imho, you gotta have a 'Hook'

For my LDS, one of the 'Hooks' is they run three boats every other weekend to the local water. Another, is they have on-site pool and do individual pool work based on customers schedule, not the shop.

It's a business model that may not work everywhere, but for my local LDS, it's been working for 25+ years. Of course, the customer service is outstanding as well. Walking into the shop is like walking into the bar where everyone knows your name.

Some things I buy local and other equipment I buy from Scuba Toys. The only two shops I will spend money at.

Joe and Larry could write a very interesting book on this subject, I'm pretty sure.

cheers

[Shenanigan]

Originally Posted by JCAT

Joe and Larry could write a very interesting book on this subject, I'm pretty sure.

cheers

I'm sure you're right. I had the priviledge of hearing Larry give a very good presentation about the history of all the scuba brands and how inter-related they really are. Very informative, with a lot of humor thrown in.

[fisheater]

That sounds great. He should record that put the video up on the ST website.

[Shenanigan]

It would certainly rank as one of the most viewed. Better than banging the tanks.

[mrm777]

I feel your pain......we lost our LDS several years ago and it's easier to order from ST than try to get to the closest one at 65 or 82 miles.

[in_cavediver]

The LDS where I am at went out 5 years ago. I've since joined the volunteer fire dept (free air) and now service all of my own stuff.

My take is that you'll see more and more go out unless they have something special - IE, on a dive site or in a huge market or running thier own charters. I just can't see the small shops staying any other way.

[snagel]

To expand on the story....

The shop was owned by 4 partners. This in itself tells you that they were not going to make money. The primary owner is also the only full instructor. I've had several talks with them over the last couple years about the shop and was real concerned last winter because they had a very hard time making enough to pay the basic bills.

The shop offered basic scuba supplies and also sold paint ball equipment along with filling paint ball cartriges and of course scuba tanks. Yesterday when talking to them they mentioned trying to open a little on Saturdays to keep filling tanks and paint ball tanks. I don't think this will last long - the compressor is for sale. I asked them how much they wanted for the compressor and they stated they had over $6000 invested in it. (This is way out of my budget for something to fill tanks at home)

The instructor told me he is burned out on teaching. He has been doing it for so many years that he can't enjoy any trips anymore because he is always teaching a class. If they put together a trip there is always somebody that wants to take a class and the instructors trip is spent teaching. Basically, he is burned out.

This really was not a full-time shop. It was open Thurs, Fri, and Sat morning. All the owners have other jobs and did this on the side. Being in central Missouri, there really is no local dive spot. Classes were held in a private quarry. So, there really was/is no opportunity to make money through diving, just equipment and classes.

Actually, they did have pretty good prices on equipment. I purchased all my basic gear through them and many odds and ends throughout the years. Problem for them is I think they discounted the prices so much that they didn't make money off the equipment.

Bottom line, it's tough to make a go at a specialty shop such as scuba and especially in these economic times.

Snagel