Boaters World going out of business sale

[Evergreen]

I just have to put in a good word for Hamilton Marine, in Maine.

I have always received top notch products and personalized customer service from them!!!

Being that they are geared a little more towards sales of products for commercial watermen, as well as the recreational boaters, they offer a variety of products that can't be found other places (ie: top quality mooring components, & high tensile shackles, etc.).

I strongly support (both financially and verbally) both Defender and Hamilton.

[Troy Scott]

I've bought a lot of stuff from Defender. The prices are usually right on the mark. My only complaint is that their online catalog search and ordering system just doesn't work very well compared to many I've experienced.

[winthrop fisher]

defender only sells in a very small area......

what about the rest of the u.s. ????????

they are stuck with west marine,

higher prices $$$$$$$

west marine will grew bigger ?????

defender will not last,

you don't get it,

ever thing will go up in $$$$$$

think ahead.....

[mahalocd36]

Umm...Defender does most of it's business mail order. I don't think they are going anywhere any time soon.

Have to say I'm not really sorry nor surprised to see Boater's World go. At least from my experiences at the Portland, ME store. But I guess we are spoiled by having Hamilton right here.

[Neil Gordon]

If you consider just two factors, (i) increasing cost of ownership and (ii) declining economy, it's no surprise that the weakest retailers will fail. Fewer boats are driving fewer miles.

Walk the aisles of West Marine and you find "need to have" items, "nice to have" items and "no need to have but I'm here so what the heck" items.

New boat owners (especially first boat!) buy all of the above. The rest of us buy "need to" items only as replacements and "nice to" items as replacements or as technology changes. Many of the "nice to" items can wait until next year.

When the economy recovers, there won't be replacement retailers to replace the ones that fail now. I suspect we'll end up with one major brick and mortar retailer per market and a large enough handfull of e-retailers to keep them somewhat competitive on price.

[Markst95]

Went today to their yearly warehouse sale (Defender). It was Packed!!!

[Troy Scott]

Winthrop,

I very rarely buy anything other than groceries in a store. I order everything online, from whoever has the best combination of price, service and user-friendly website. It rarely occurs to me to consider where the company actually is. I think most folks buying boating equipment probably do it this way. My guess is that most (maybe ALL) of the major marine suppliers do the majority of their selling online. If I'm guessing correctly, Defender's survivability is probably pretty good.

West Marine is generally overpriced, but they usually have knowledgeable people, and there's no denying that their catalog is great. I often go to WM to learn about something, but I usually buy it from another company with a more reasonable price. In contrast, I've never learned anything from Boater's World catalogs or from their people. Despite these observations, I'm sorry for their misfortune.

[Maine Sail]

defender only sells in a very small area......

what about the rest of the u.s. ????????

they are stuck with west marine,

higher prices $$$$$$$

west marine will grew bigger ?????

defender will not last,

you don't get it,

ever thing will go up in $$$$$$

think ahead.....

Stephan Lance & his family (Defender) are doing just fine despite the economy. So is Wayne Hamilton. Both have very solid business models and will be here for the long haul. Hamilton Marine was busier this winter than I've ever seen it.


By the way here is a direct quote from Stephan Lance the owner of Defender from today.

Quote Stephan lance:

"It was pretty busy today. Probably more people than we've had on Thursday in previous years. Even with added space for 40+ cars in our parking lot and our neighbor-across-the-street allowing us to his one of his lots (100 cars) the Defender lot was packed.

If this is any indication of how the economy is doing (though I'm not sure I can connect the dots there)......then the economy is looking pretty damned healthy. People were buying...a lot.

Stephan"

[Neil Gordon]

>>I often go to WM to learn about something, but I usually buy it from another company with a more reasonable price.<<

That's part of the dilema of brick and mortar retailers competing in an online world. Price is easy to compare and it's easy to buy, so we go for the lowest price, which is often online. But in advance of that, we use the resources of higher priced retailers to educate ourselves.

West has a low price guarantee. What if we reverse the process... do price comparisons online first, use West and others for in person touching, but at least give the store providing the service a chance to match the otherwise best available price.

[Joe Myerson]

Don't worry about Defender, folks.

Their latest monthly sales report indicates that they are doing better, month to month, than they were during the same period last year, and the same holds for the year before.

Of course, that relates to sales, not profit. As a privately held company, they don't have to reveal that number.

And as for Wayne Hamilton, he's a former commercial fisherman, a working pilot and a businessman who understands boaters. He even answers the phone at the Searsport store sometimes (he did when I called once). I only wish his stores were closer to me.

--Joe

[Chris L]

I have ordered supplies from Jamestown Distributors and have been happy with service and cost. I thought that they cater more toward boat builders but with my last order I received their "big book" of over 1000 pages of marine and woodworking supplies. Prices for some items are better than defender. I can't speak to their physical store as I have never been there.

I also frequently use defender and hamilton marine.

[Troy Scott]

Neil,

I've always found "price matching" to be somewhat creepy. I'm annoyed when a retailer or a car dealer offers to match any price. If it's a very small dealer offering to match the price from a huge company, I can maybe sympathize. But when a huge retailer (Walmart, for instance) does it, it just looks like the big guy trying to stamp out the competition. I can't help but wonder why they don't just advertise the "right" price to start with. Rebates, discounts, "sales", Green Stamps, etc. are similarly annoying, if traditional. I just find this game tiresome. I resent being forced to jump through hoops just to buy a new windlass or toilet at the right price. I guess I just don't want to haggle. I guess this makes me seem boring to folks who enjoy this game. I'd rather spend the time finishing up my boat project, sailing, making music or whatever.

OK, I see that I need to add a smile to this post, because it sounds snarly and I don't mean it to be. Here it is

[Troy Scott]

Chris,

I like Jamestown too. Excellent service. Good Catalog.

[winthrop fisher]

i understand what you are saying,

but, most boaters for power boats or sailors want to see and feel what they are buying,

the % of the people buying on line is around 3% to 5% and growing,

most people still want to go to the marine stores and most states do not have good marine stores and the staff.

thats just the way it is in the mid west that covers 1/3 of the U.S.

but, i trained my staff and we were in the top 2% of the company out of 130 stores,

most stores including west and boat U.S. train there people on ever thing in the catalog...

thats how i get them more money $$ in there pocket...

my store did 3.75 million dollars a year on the ave....

for the size of the store thats allot of money...

sorry, i love what i do and now all there is here is sporting goods stores and they are letting people go....

so my second love is genealogy & history, european & scandinavian, thats what i am doing right now, some months i make 1000 to 3500 beaning self employed....

sorry, i only work four to five hours a day and its doesn't keep me busy....
winthrop

[Troy Scott]

Winthrop,

I wish I had been in a position to shop in your store! I'm sure I would have gotten a much better impression of the company.

I'm surprised to see that you believe that such a small percentage of boat purchases are made online. Can anyone else comment on this? I suspect that, industry-wide, the percentage is huge.