I agree with you to the extent that I don't like to see big corporate
operators dominate a market and drive smaller retailers out of business, but
in Panama City, FL, I haven't seen that to be the case, as we have at least
five other marine supply retailers beside West, and one of them has two
stores (Panama Marine). I also agree that their prices often seem to be
significantly higher than those of the competition, even after taking out
the BoatUS 15% rebate. But if they were trying to drive out the locals,
wouldn't they use the Wal-Mart tactic of lowballing their prices to undercut
the smaller operators?

On the other hand, I have found them to be friendly, helpful, and
knowledgeable, and they seem to carry a pretty good selection of products.
In one recent case, they were willing to special-order a specific product I
wanted that one of the local retailers wasn't interested in getting for me.
They are also open Saturday and Sunday and stay open later weekdays than
anyone else. I think your blanket criticism of West Marine is mostly
unjustified.

Steve H.


"nospam" wrote in message
...
Now they have driven all the small operations out of business and
consolidated their monopoly by buying Boats U.S. can West Marine
possibly get any worse?