I often think that WM would better serve their customers if they provided more sophisticated service and more product selection by consolidating (having fewer stores).
Scott, I hear you. Down in DE, there is the New Castle store, which is bigger, and then less than 5 miles down the road is the Bear, DE store, which is smaller. So I was talking to the New Castle store manager this weekend (he used to be a professional sail racer, until he had kids) and he told me that both stores are profitable.
He says it's likely that the 2 stores will be consolidated within the next 3 years into a mega-store (Yay, mega-store! That means more high margin clothing, less actually useful stuff!) He also said that they are closing the Northeast, MD store and the Havre de Grace store. That's brilliant! There will be NO stores above Baltimore on the northern Chesapeake, Eastern or Western shore.
Yes, retail is tough. And brick and mortar stores are expensive to keep going. But seriously? Seems those guys have strategy issues sometimes...
As much as we rail against WM, the fact is, it's good to have them around. Sometimes you just need something stat. And some of the West Marine branded products are nice. This weekend I got an extendable pole deck brush which can be swapped out for a boat hook attachment. Winning! Of course, I still can't buy a Harken Micro single with becket in store...
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