Not my experience. I'm sure it depends on the item. I saved a bundle on two
Marine items I bought there last year. When I visited their store in Wisconsin,
I
did see a lot of expensive clothes, but who shops for clothes in a sport's
store, unless
it is high tech gear, and I have several other choices locally to find that.

Scotty wrote:

Most people complain that Cabelas is overpriced.

SV

"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I think you have a real find there. Marina stores
traditionally charge much
more than
anyone else, maybe because of the convenience factor. I
just got the good news
that
a Cabelas Sport Store is moving into my area. I bought a
Garelick outboard
bracket from them this year at almost half of what West
Marine was asking. I
don't
think West would have bargained down that much, so I
didn't even ask. I hope
more will follow, especially those with a good selection
of sailboat hardware.

Sherwin D.

Jere Lull wrote:

In article
. com,
"boomerswims" wrote:

I'm really sorry that so many of you have had bad
experiences with west
marine. I'm probably going to get my lashes by
mentioning this, but I'm
going to. I work for west marine.

What I complain about is of no fault of yours.

My complaints mostly center around dramatically
increased prices for
things that they stock, and far fewer stocked items than
in past years.

I used to be able to get my Maxprop zincs at the
Delaware BOAT/U.S. No
longer.

Last year, the West Marine stores had Spade anchors.
This year (when I
went to get one) NOT. I probably would have ordered from
Glenn anyway,
but I checked in case there was a price differential.

So many times, things that had been in the stores are
missing now.

Independent marine stores will match West's prices and
usually beat
them. Repeat customers get an even better deal. When
they don't have an
item, they'll dig around in the manufacturers' catalogs
and order
directly. West can't or won't do that.

West seems to think they've created a monopoly and
increased prices
accordingly, but that ain't true in my area. My marina's
store gives me
better prices and service.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics)
http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 00:01:16 -0500, in message

sherwindu wrote:

Not my experience. I'm sure it depends on the item. I saved a bundle on two
Marine items I bought there last year. When I visited their store in Wisconsin,
I
did see a lot of expensive clothes, but who shops for clothes in a sport's
store, unless
it is high tech gear, and I have several other choices locally to find that.

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

Ryk

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

I needed to replace the nicad batteries in two Nicro Solar Day/Night
vents. WM wanted $15 for a "C" sized nicad.
I bought a pack of two at Radio Shack for $7.

Ryk wrote:

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 00:01:16 -0500, in message

sherwindu wrote:

Not my experience. I'm sure it depends on the item. I saved a bundle on two
Marine items I bought there last year. When I visited their store in Wisconsin,
I
did see a lot of expensive clothes, but who shops for clothes in a sport's
store, unless
it is high tech gear, and I have several other choices locally to find that.

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

Ryk

This is a typical problem with boating stores, in general. They sell common use
products at inflated prices, and put special labels on them to make them look like

specialty boating items. I'm curious who did this comparison shopping you talk
about. I shop for a lot of marine supplies, and my results are to the contrary.
WM
is not cutting as deep as I think they should, mainly because there are not enough

competitive stores available to force them to do so. In our economy, you can't
depend
on the good will of these companies to keep prices down. They are in business to
make
the biggest profit they can get from the customer. I shop at WM when I'm in a
bind for
time and need something quickly. Otherwise, it's the Internet for me, especially
on big
ticket items. There are also speciallized items which they don't carry in the
stores and
cannot order, for whatever reason.

Sherwin D.

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:08:56 -0500, in message

sherwindu wrote:



Ryk wrote:

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

Ryk

This is a typical problem with boating stores, in general. They sell common use
products at inflated prices, and put special labels on them to make them look like

specialty boating items. I'm curious who did this comparison shopping you talk
about. I shop for a lot of marine supplies, and my results are to the contrary.
WM
is not cutting as deep as I think they should, mainly because there are not enough

competitive stores available to force them to do so. In our economy, you can't
depend
on the good will of these companies to keep prices down.

Maybe I should have said as deeply they *have to* I have a great local
independent supplier. His prices are generally better than West,
except on the big ticket items where West knows people will compare.

Note that I said they were doing a great job of *marketing*, not a
great job of getting the best prices for the consumer.

Ryk