West Marine

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Whatever their strategy... if it's got folks complaining publicly... might not be the best one. Is that rumour about them being under new ownership true?

I'd expect that an organization the size of WM will notice threads like this. They still have a good brand, many locations, purchasing clout... all the right ingredients to be strong in the marine market. If WM was my company, I'd beef up the e-commerce presence, leverage the physical locations for order pickups, use my purchasing power to be more price-competitive, rebuild a reputation for good instore advice and parts on-hand, launch some promotions and increase community visibility, and kick ass.

Well, they used to have good in store advice. In years past I knew plenty of knowledgeable boaters who worked at West Marine. However, this was before they bought "Boater's World" (right name?) which was staffed w folks who didnt know much and their typical small power boat crowd client knew even less.

Maybe WM saw the market shifting and went with it.

Be interesting to see how their financials have done. If they called it right and are doing well then a few of us whiney old sailors dont matter.

[sailjumanji]

Have purchased lots of B&G electronics at WM. Its priced retail everywhere - which is B&G Navico pricing policy. Purchased on triple points weekend at WM, which gives you 12% back. Best deal anywhere.

I bite the bullet and purchase at local WM when i want to hold it, see it, and install it now. Its what you pay for that opportunity.

[keyspc]

defender for me (FL,USA) would be 38.40. and would take over a week to get.
Not wanting to defend West by any means but, shipping has to be counted on online orders. Also like OP pointed out he wanted it immediately, next day shipping adds 32.16 !!
West if you wait for sales and do due diligence can some times be cheaper than defender.

[ChrisPuget]

Glad to read all the West Marine frustration. I was beginning to think it was just me....Grumpy old man syndrome! Funny but you all just made my day.

[OS2Dude]

In my experience, West Marine is not that far out of line with other MARINE retail stores. You can't compare them to Home Depot or Lowes. I've seen prices at West cheaper than Defender, and West is local. The supply problems resulting from the over-reactions to COVID are not their fault, even our local grocery runs out of basics now. Sure, if the safety of the crew or boat does not rely on the item I want/need I may go to Home Depot, but for REALLY important stuff I'll pay the extra for marine grade at West (or Defender).

[Group9]

I don't know if it is the chip shortage or what, but I've been trying to get a replacement Pro Mariner three bank battery charger from them (I bought the warranty) for two months now.

They literally don't have any in stock at the warehouse, or at any West store. And, don't seem to know when they will actually get one.

[Dr. D]

The staff at each store is different (obviously). At the WM in Tracys Landing, MD, I have found the staff to be both knowledgeable and helpful.

One of the best things about the staff is that if they don't know about a particular part, or topic, rather than try to BS about it, they will say (I have heard this several times), "I'm not sure. Bob knows a lot about this topic, let me get him for you." And Bob does, in fact, know a lot about the topic.

I know their prices are often higher than elsewhere, but with a good staff and within walking distance of my boat, it is hard to argue with buying there.

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

It's partly a supply chain problem due to Covid. If they have Awlgrip of any sort where you are, you're lucky.

We can't find any here in Toronto...
LittleWing77

LittleWing

I’m beginning to think that the supply chain thing is just an excuse to raise prices. If West Marine already had it on their shelf, I don’t think it’s a supply chain problem.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[CaptRory]

They used to be a marine chandlery. Now they are a "lifestyle" store. Clothes and toys and amenities for a shore side lifestyle. A bit of marine supplies on the side.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by Shrew

West Marine price matches.

If you read the West Marine policy you could have shown them the Defender price and they would have matched it. You might want to do a little research before taking to social media as a 'social justice warrior' attempting to publicly shame people or businesses despite failing to do you own due diligence.

A few weeks ago WM only price matched brick and mortar stores within a relatively small radius , 50 miles maybe. Perhaps this was a local store policy (Ft. Pierce).

[DLincoln3]

Originally Posted by keepondancin

West Marine update: Doing my eye splices, I decided to call West Marine, after seeing the product on their website for $11 less, which should have been the price in the store. During my discussion, I was told the West Marine was just bought out, and the new managment is going to try to be more in line with Amazon and other online suppliers, and that most everything is in limbo right now. The customer service rep wasn't sure how it was going to impact stores, but feels it will be a year for all the changes to happen. Wonder if this is the end like so many, like Sears, Toys R Us and many others that are bought with over leveridged buy outs. Their price match is only stores within 50 miles, and Amazon when it is a direct purchase from Amazon, not a different seller.

I did get a $11 credit, still price $10 more than other locations.

Maybe it was mentioned elsewhere in this thread, but they were bought out by a private equity firm, which is never a good sign. They're rarely in it to make a long-term run in a particular industry. Usually they have a two-year plan to wring whatever value they can out of the company (like the real estate of the retail locations), and then sell the scraps of whatever remains for whatever they can get. On the surface, this doesn't look like good news for WM, its customers, or its employees.

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Whatever their strategy... if it's got folks complaining publicly... might not be the best one. Is that rumour about them being under new ownership true?.

I could certainly be wrong, but I was of the understanding that West Marine was part of BoatUS and when boatUS was bought out by Geico that West Marine was part of the package.
Can anyone confirm or debunk this?
It may be one of those “I saw it on the Internet so it must be true“.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[DLincoln3]

I think West bought BoatUS's retail locations years ago, and that was the extent of the relationship. I don't think they're subsidiaries or anything. As to the recent buy-out, this is the link to the press release on West's website: https://www.westmarine.com/PressRoom/PR20170629

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by CaptRory

They used to be a marine chandlery. Now they are a "lifestyle" store. Clothes and toys and amenities for a shore side lifestyle. A bit of marine supplies on the side.

+1 on that!

I went into a West Marine store in Merritt Island, Florida a few years ago looking for a fuel filter. Simple item, everyone should have it. What I found was a whole store full of clothing, hats and fishing gear and almost no marine supplies.

The Ace hardware store and Titusville, FL has a much larger supply of Marine items the west marine, all the same brands and certainly much better prices.

BTW - the Ace Hardware store had my fuel filter.

Al, S/V Finlandia

[svfinlandia]

Originally Posted by DLincoln3

I think West bought BoatUS's retail locations years ago, and that was the extent of the relationship. I don't think they're subsidiaries or anything. As to the recent buy-out, this is the link to the press release on West's website: https://www.westmarine.com/PressRoom/PR20170629

DLincoln
Thanks for the link.
I guess my question now is who is Monomoy Capital Partners? Are they the parent company of Geico?
Sorry if we are hijacking the thread here, but I thought the subject was related.

Al, S/V Finlandia