Posted by Kendall Raine on October 24, 2000 at 16:24:21:
In Reply to: Sport Chalet- salesforce information posted by MHK on October 23, 2000 at 15:35:31:
Two themes come through from the posts over the last day: 1) SC dive staff are ignorant of diving concepts and gear, and 2) they sometimes have good prices. Seems to me the temptation is to frequent SC when you know exactly what you're looking for and are patient enough to put up with the buffoonery. I've got another angle for you: the bargains aren't worth the crap. Put another way: support your local independent dive store. I've yet to meet someone who has figured out how to make any real money in the recreational dive business and the independent guys' prices are often pretty competitive-particularly if you seek packages and frequent customer discounts e.g. Reefseekers Reefsaver program. I'm not in the dive business and have no axe. I do know, however, that trying to arbitrage dive gear with places like SC just hurts the guys who you really need-the independent who invests enough in his gear selection, staff education and service to deliver a quality product. Yus reaps what yus sows.