West Marine Inventory

[Scott T-Bird]

Having a convenient store location is no longer convenient. There is nothing convenient about wandering into a local store and not finding anything that you need. Shopping has changed dramatically. We all research products on line. Recently, I bought an outboard motor from Defender. Their brick & mortar store is at least 200 miles away and I thought it would be an ok trip to pick it up there and do a little shopping. Best price, check. Manufacturer's rebate, check. FREE SHIPPING, double check! I ordered it on a Tuesday afternoon and it arrived at my garage door on Thursday BEFORE 10 am! I was leaving for the boat that afternoon and I figured I wouldn't see it until after the weekend. Pleasant surprise!

That's how retail works these days. There is a very good and well-stocked WM store in Brick, NJ, which is a fairly convenient location from my marina. I'm pretty sure they had the same outboard at very similar pricing. They still lost the sale. Perhaps they lost their reputation and I'm biased because of it. I think mostly it was the free shipping that Defender made known to me that triggered the sale. The rebate was a bonus I didn't expect and I marveled at the delivery schedule. Everything about the transaction reinforced my purchase decision.

BTW, I checked other local Mercury dealers in my area (there are numerous because of the small lakes around us) and the locals were at least $300 more expensive.

 

[Foswick]

I don't think they're dead yet. I was stuck in Tacoma for a couple of weeks making repairs. Package delivery wasn't really an option. Made several trips to the nearby West Marine. They had everything I needed that I expected them to have. Without them, plan B would have been a huge hassle and/or expensive.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I don't think they're dead yet. I was stuck in Tacoma for a couple of weeks making repairs. Package delivery wasn't really an option. Made several trips to the nearby West Marine. They had everything I needed that I expected them to have. Without them, plan B would have been a huge hassle and/or expensive.

Thanks for this. What it means to me is that there still are good WM stores, just a lot fewer good ones and it's a pleasure when you find one.
Like Scotty and and the rest of you, I do quality comparative pricing when purchasing almost anything. Yup, times change. I thought Bob Dylan covered all this in 1963, dontcha know?
When I moved to BC in 2016, WM still had a store in Victoria, but it closed soon after I moved here when they closed all their Canadian stores. So with the help of my friend (Hello Below here) I learned all about my local and national Canadian suppliers, and have used most of them at one time or another. And I visited the ones within reasonable distances. I LIKE real stores, but also like competitive prices. My marina used to have a great little chandlery, they could always "get it for you by next Tuesday," and often did. The greed of the marina operators drove them out when they raised rents and made their space into a useless and almost always empty "marina coffee house." Idiots.

 

[Dalliance]

We're lucky enough to have a well stocked, flagship WM in Chicago. The next closest chandielery is about an hour away from me!

Completely agree. It’s pretty well stocked and very easy to check stock on-line first. For more specialized items that are not stocked, I make use of their free shipping to store and just pick it up on the way to the boat. Whether my boat is in the harbor or in winter storage, the WM store is half way between home and the boat. It couldn’t possibly be more convenient, so I prefer to support our local WM. When I compare pricing on-line, I often find that the competition looks cheaper until you factor in the shipping cost. WM’s free shipping to store is a game changer.

On rare occasions, like needing a specific Yanmar part, I’ve gone to that other chandlery, and yes, it’s about an hour away for me too. I don’t expect WM to stock everything I could possibly need. Stocking the higher volume items and providing free in store delivery for low volume items seems reasonable to me. They’re also great about returns.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Completely agree. It’s pretty well stocked and very easy to check stock on-line first. For more specialized items that are not stocked, I make use of their free shipping to store and just pick it up on the way to the boat. Whether my boat is in the harbor or in winter storage, the WM store is half way between home and the boat. It couldn’t possibly be more convenient, so I prefer to support our local WM. When I compare pricing on-line, I often find that the competition looks cheaper until you factor in the shipping cost. WM’s free shipping to store is a game changer.

On rare occasions, like needing a specific Yanmar part, I’ve gone to that other chandlery, and yes, it’s about an hour away for me too. I don’t expect WM to stock everything I could possibly need. Stocking the higher volume items and providing free in store delivery for low volume items seems reasonable to me. They’re also great about returns.

Are there other chandleries besides the ones at Skyway and Crowley's?

 

[jviss]

I always check the boat yard's chandlery first. I like to support them. It's a bit of a sleeper, as they are very reasonably priced, and they actually build boats there - Tripp Anglers - and repair all kinds of boats, rebuild engines and transmissions, and more. So, whatever stock is available to the various repair shops is available to customers. If they don't have it they can usually get it next day.

Once I needed an engine hose and had the Westerbeke part number. It was a molded hose, so custom made. I called the office on the phone and asked them to get it for me. The next day they called me and said they had it and the launch driver would bring it to me. I stood on the port deck and he handed it to me as he drove by! So cool.

Often they have parts in stock with price tags they affixed years ago, with much lower prices than today's prices. But, that's what they will charge you, the old price.

I've been there so long and everyone knows me, so it's usually self-service for me, and I write up my own slips. They'll even give me the keys for the motor shop if no one's there and I need something from their stock.

 

[Dalliance]

Are there other chandleries besides the ones at Skyway and Crowley's?

I believe there are, or at least used to be, one or two out in the suburbs, but I think they’re more focused on smaller inland lake and river boats. If you live on the north side of Chicago, Skyway and Crowley’s, 45 minutes to an hour away down at 95th Street, are effectively closer when you consider suburban traffic and they’re geared toward Lake Michigan boats.

Crowley’s is a Yanmar dealer, so when I broke a fuel bleeder bolt a couple years ago, I was able to shoot down to 95th Street for an in-stock replacement the next day. Sailboat owners are comparatively well supported in Chicago.