West Marine SOLD....Time to Rejoice - Hopefully

West Marine- go in, cute chick but wouldn’t get her number, “I need THIS fresh water pump”. I’ll have to ask my manager”. Manager blond, nice tits, prolly an English major, “my boyfriend has a 19’ bow rider, I never seen that before”. Go home, make Jeff Bezos rich.
 
To make matter worse... it was 3M’s new quick release.... it was double sided and it looked like it had threads....when I got back to the boat I realized it...damn ....next day went back to WM....and they didn’t sell the adapter.... so couldn’t use the pad and ordered the quick release on line for $35.... so I have $110 into this shit show..... just in case you set the limit on the “go fund me” too low :)

Let me see if understand your logic here.... you paid $75 at West Marine for a $30 wool pad, then it needed an adapter, so you ordered a $35 adapter online and had to wait for it to ship so you could use your $75 pad??? I’m thinking maybe you could’ve returned the $75 pad to West Marine and bought the correct one online for $30 instead of buying the $35 adapter??

I’m afraid this says more about you than West Marine....
 
I’m afraid this says more about you than West Marine....
Wow tough crowd... I did pay a $30 premium for the pad. I have 3 other compounding pads that 2 are end of life... other has one more season. 3M is going quick disconnect so to me it made sense to keep it and buy the adapter and buy quick disconnect pads from now on.
 
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Blueone, I’m sorry you got all this attention. My comment was based on your post in a different thread. I thought it would be funny after hearing you tell how your pad lost half it’s wool. I guess we’re all cooped up waiting to go boating. That is us northern boaters.
 
I agree, their stock issue is a major problem. They are wasting valuable store real estate with all those empty shelves. And even at the same price, I'll try to order online instead of wait to buy from them due to the likelyhood they wont have it in stock. And it doesn't seem that difficult to correct. But it's been clear they need some renewed energy from new management.

Stock was/is a challenge for most vendors and will continue across most supply chains throughout this year. Not overly trying to sell West Marine but as others mentioned they do offer Amazon price matching and good customer service at least in my area. Did I mention both my kids work there which nets a good discount on many items.
 
While most of you complain.....just wait. Private Equity doesn't buy things that don't make money. I would bet out of 237 stores....there will be half that number in 18 months. WM is just a storefront and does not make anything which means their only profit comes from marking up what they sell.

On-line stores have decimated their business model. Why would you buy something from WM when you can get it from Amazon tomorrow or the next day for 30% less? The answer is: you need it now.

That value equation with today's technology is not sustainable. I expect the new owners to push their other discount brands into the stores but the strategy of having brick and mortar storefronts for the resale of other people's products is problematic.

In my opinion, they have the Radio Shack problem which suggests that they have a niche as long as music still plays. Personally, I would probably be more interested in their future if they shifted to a franchise model. That would allow the local stores to tune their inventory and business practices to build relationships.
 
Blueone, I’m sorry you got all this attention. My comment was based on your post in a different thread. I thought it would be funny after hearing you tell how your pad lost half it’s wool. I guess we’re all cooped up waiting to go boating. That is us northern boaters.
Oh I don't care...what ever makes someone happy... if its at my expense so be it.
 
While most of you complain.....just wait. Private Equity doesn't buy things that don't make money. I would bet out of 237 stores....there will be half that number in 18 months. WM is just a storefront and does not make anything which means their only profit comes from marking up what they sell.

On-line stores have decimated their business model. Why would you buy something from WM when you can get it from Amazon tomorrow or the next day for 30% less? The answer is: you need it now.

That value equation with today's technology is not sustainable. I expect the new owners to push their other discount brands into the stores but the strategy of having brick and mortar storefronts for the resale of other people's products is problematic.

In my opinion, they have the Radio Shack problem which suggests that they have a niche as long as music still plays. Personally, I would probably be more interested in their future if they shifted to a franchise model. That would allow the local stores to tune their inventory and business practices to build relationships.

In Indianapolis there is a WM that once was an awesome store for a land locked city. The price match combined with the appropriate inventory, and experienced caring staff made outfitting my first two vessels easy and reasonable. Then they hired a new CEO from JC Penney fame among others clothing type retailers. Then he suspended the price match that I used so much. Lost as a regular customer forever likely.

The manager, now retired, shared a great story that sheds light on the inventory issues we complain about at WM. He got a call from a graduating college senior, that was just hired to be a buyer, that wanted to hang out at the store, to see the retail side in action. The new hire had never had any boating experience in his life, but now had a job selecting the items available for boaters to purchase.

Is Amazon really the benchmark for the value? I do not think so. They have quantity advantages, they sell old product, and are also known to to often sell counterfeit items (had several friends find that out the hard expensive way). I would not be surprised if the 3M pads were counterfeit. WM vs NAPA seems a fairer comparison to me.
 
Tell ya why I hate WM, not that you care but bitching goes good with cold beer. Baltimore boaters might remember. We had Anchor Bay, mom & pop marine store, had everything, could answer any boat question, could get anything to the most obscure screw. WM comes to town and put them out of business. FK WM with a broomstick up their CEOs ass.
 
Back in the day in our area we had West Marine on one side of the street and Boaters World on the other. Between the two, you could usually find what you needed and both had knowledgeable people working there. Once Boaters World went "tango uniform", WM went downhill fast..I don't think I've even been in the place in almost 15 years.
Just out of curiosity, anybody remember ordering stuff from Goldbergs Marine?
 
There is a situation like that in St Clair shores Michigan where the two stores Mikes Marine Service and WM are right next door to one another.... same thing if you can’t find it in one you can the other and Mikes has a real parts counter with great people
 
Oh I don't care...what ever makes someone happy... if its at my expense so be it.
Blueone,

Make it a point to check out the hardware store in the same strip center as WM. The have a marine and rv department. Not sure about your wool pads, but they have been less than WM and Walmart on some of their polishes and waxes. They also have a good selection of stainless steel screws, bolts, nuts, etc.
 
Blueone,

Make it a point to check out the hardware store in the same strip center as WM. The have a marine and rv department. Not sure about your wool pads, but they have been less than WM and Walmart on some of their polishes and waxes. They also have a good selection of stainless steel screws, bolts, nuts, etc.
I always forget about Bassets ...I bought 4200 in there once and it was a good price... I wandered their hardware section a few weeks ago in their other location downtown... very impressive
 

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