Defender Warehouse Sale

[RoyS]

Defender has lost its way. Annual warehouse sale is gone. New Spring sale with ridiculous restrictions instead. Limit 40 people in store at one time. If you have ever been to the old warehouse sale, you know this will be a disaster in the parking lot. Sad.

 

[BigEasy]

Defender has lost its way. Annual warehouse sale is gone. New Spring sale with ridiculous restrictions instead. Limit 40 people in store at one time. If you have ever been to the old warehouse sale, you know this will be a disaster in the parking lot. Sad.

Is this a covid thing or is this a new concept from change in ownership? Someone posted a few days ago that a Canadian firm purchased Defender from original owners.

 

[dlochner]

Is this a covid thing or is this a new concept from change in ownership? Someone posted a few days ago that a Canadian firm purchased Defender from original owners.

The last couple of years it was Covid restriction. While the on-site sale was limited the online sale days were extended.

Here's a link to the sale page.

Marine and Boat Supplies - Marine Outfitters Of Choice | Defender

Defender Marine offers boat supplies, inflatable boats and outboard motors from top manufacturers. All your boat supplies and boating needs, including marine electronics, sailing hardware, plumbing, ventilation, epoxies, boat paints. Knowledgeable staff and fast shipping.

www.defender.com

 

[RoyS]

Defender dominated the Spring boat supply business in New England. Their annual warehouse sale drew boaters from all over with pockets full of cash to spend. Huge parking lot would be near full with police directing traffic in the streets outside. Inside the parking lot it was like a circus with hot dog vendors and crowds of happy people. Inside the boat show vendors from all the major manufacturers were set up in booths. Check out counters, maybe eight or ten, had steady streams of shopping carts checking out under the direction of a wrangler. If you went to, say, West Marine during this sale you would not see five customers. It was always a fun trip. Hard to understand why a business would want to destroy itself by abandoning a successful business model. Supposing Covid is the reason, they must not be aware that everyone else is dropping restrictions.

 

[BigEasy]

I just opened an email that I received from Defender, yesterday, announcing the spring sale. Upon opening the email, there was a statement “ after 25 years we are wishing a fond farewell to the annual warehouse sale.” They also mentioned that they were going to eliminate in store vendors for the spring sale; however, there is to be a presale spring prep event for locals where some vendors would be present.

 

[jssailem]

This sort of paradigm change is happening everywhere. As the song goes.
“The times they are a changing “

We had parking lot sales where a boater would clear out their still usable stuff, Covid bans.

Warehouse sales designed to ease the pain of inventory and tax assessments on business owners. The supply chain disruptions and new inventory systems makes the sales a thing of the past.

I do not want to go gently into that dark night.

 

[garymalmgren]

The ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in what ever may lie
In those things that money can buy.

Not Defender

Gary

 

[BigEasy]

This sort of paradigm change is happening everywhere. As the song goes.
“The times they are a changing.

As they say in New Orleans, “Ain’t there no more.”

 

[FastOlson]

When a store/business is bought out, the new owners usually(always?) make changes. Sometimes good changes and sometimes poorly thought out ones.
Look at Lands End, and WM.... to name only a couple.
As for blaming "Covid", like any other external threat it gets used to scapegoat any change that was already being contemplated.
(Like a worldwide deadly pandemic cares about our convenience or our politics....)

We have seen a number of smaller companies around here that were on the edge of extinction for a long while finally fold in the last couple years. Sad to see, but they were suffering from an unsustainable business model for quite a while before the final stress.

We still have one independent chandlery and one independent marine electronics store in our fair city, but the future is always ... uncertain.

 

[lehighsail]

Was up there from NJ a couple of times for the annual sale to pick up some specific items......worth the ride. Always left with those items and so much more that there was usually an argument with the Admiral on the way home. Sorry to hear this has come to an end.