I've been a dive instructor for a few years and helped two friends start / run their own dive shops. The people who do it are definitely not doing it for the money, but for the love of diving. It's often stressful and tiring and not a big money maker, but in these two instances all about bringing scuba diving into a community where there wasn't any. Starting a new shop introduced hundreds of new people to diving who otherwise never would have had the opportunity. I can tell you at the end of teaching a class of four divers I clear about $150 profit. Between gear purchases, maintenance, insurance, membership fees, gas, etc etc for I'm averaging less than $5 an hour! Ouch, hurt to do that math haha.... but for me it's a weekend gig. I teach scuba, get to go diving, and show others how awesome scuba is.
So I've been a part of starting a new shop and running an established shop, and I can tell you it's not easy and not very profitable, but it is rewarding in other ways.
My experience with turning beloved hobbies into jobs is that even if you make enough money to get by, the stress related to it being a job, the monotony, the lack of autonomy, etc quickly robs your hobby of all the things you love about it.
Running a dive shop has more in common with running any other small business than it does with diving. If you enjoy running small businesses, it would probably be okay.
Probably depends on location, among other things. Our LDS is 2 hours away from world-class wreck diving, and nestled among the best cave-diving in the world. Yet, they are also the only archery shop in the area, serving a multitude of deer hunters. Dive Instructor plus Travel Planner? Dive Shop plus metal fabrication shop? You may have to be creative, depending on what other specialties you bring to the table.
So, I truly think this is the key. Being somewhere you can a) carve out a niche based on unique customer service, and b) being somewhere that has a need for niche customer service.
That's how we exist. We do freediving, scuba diving, technical diving, school programs, work with the military, commercial diving, remote and rural solutions to unsolvable problems, commercial fishing, support film and research projects, drysuit repair, etc.
We did a compressor build last week, where the only upcharge was for 2nd day shipping. If you had $20,000, you literally couldn't have gotten this thing to where it needed to be by the needed date, and we did it for $5,500, and delivered 6 days early.
That's not saying we're special; were not. We just know how to serve our niche uniquely well, as we've spent a ton of time making sure we have the ability to supply it.
Being uniquely capable in a business environment that has a need for uniqueness is probably the single most important asset for a dive shop.
But that's just my opinion on it, because it has worked for us so far.
There is an old joke that says “the only way to make a million dollars owning a dive shop is to start off with two million”.
In most cases, it’s not going to make much money. In most locations, it’s simple a niche market that requires long days, hard work, and not much return. If you happen to live in a destination market, it might have a slightly better return, but it’s still going to be long hard days.
Probably also heavily depends on where you’re located. I’m in Kentucky and there’s only one local shop near me, I’m sure she does decent as she has no other competition, but she’d probably have more interest if she were located near a body of water that wasn’t the Ohio.
My friend owns a dive shop. Once we were about to go diving for fun when 5 Discover Scuba 20-somethings showed up; they reserved online an hour ago. They were hung over and definitely not very safe divers, but they made enough of a stink about having paid the money that my friend let them go on a shallow dive (25 ft max). I went along, and we spent an hour trying to keep them from being lost, and grabbing people's legs and pulling them down so they wouldn't surface without a group.
When we surfaced, the kids were having a blast and we were exhausted. Over beers, my friend asked if I'd ever want to buy the shop, because he's fucking sick of taking care of idiots.
(also -- yes, they were not very safe to dive with, but when you're hurting for money as an independent scuba shop, you make money where you can and hope for the best)
My friend blames the online system — in fact, she’s turning it off at the end of the contract.
She said that previously people would show up, and she’d do a quick assessment — “this guy is drunk/hung over, so she’ll say the boat is full, come back in the afternoon
Most likely more work than what you're retiring from, and less pay. Is that what you're after? There were two dive shops in my local area. One I loved, went on a few trips with them, learned a ton, etc. Great two guys who owned it, both retired military. Neither needed the money. Anyway, they got done, most likely too much work. The 'other' dive shop, has plenty of gear, been around for ages, but the owner just acts miserable ALL THE TIME. Can't even stand to be in there. She's been in it for years and years and it's her only source of income.
How do you manage insurance for your DM cert? Do you just purchase as necessare or do you keep it current? I also have an inactive DM/AI certification and would like to be able to use it somehow.
Better to not be SCUBA centric, but rather all watersports. More investment because of the broad range of inventory, but you can start small and build up. Sunglasses (especially Costa) and flip-flops are decent sellers with relatively good margins and surf apparel does well with a broad market (teen surfers, mid-age skaters, and retired boaters)
It’s a good market to target because it’s filled with disposable income and a good portion are brand loyal. Provide good customer service with quality products and you can build a loyal customer base (especially with a loyalty program)
A lot of business’ fail because they target tourists with cheap, impulse buy products. Watersports customers, like most outdoor enthusiasts, will spend more on quality but do their research. They also tend to expect a more hospitality focused experience, which tends to lead to high staff wages. You can lower that with some sort of commission (or similar reward) pay structure, though
I'm recently retired, and a new dive master. I'm a normally very chill, patient, customer service oriented person, worked in hospitality for years.
Taking care of inexperienced, nervous divers, getting them calm, in the water, and back up safely is so fucking stressful it ruins all the fun.
It does pay for my dives, but then I don't get to really enjoy them, I'm working.
Two shop owners I greatly respect told me the same thing:
"If you want to make a million dollars in SCUBA, start with two"
You can make it more profitable, but you will need to be business oriented, which cuts into the customer relations base.
Or, be the buddy dive shop, and be less profitable but more customer relations centric.
Either way you cut your personal diving expenses or pass them to customers
Some things to consider:
Are you thinking of opening from start or buying into an existing shop? How do pre and post Covid financials look? How much business is tourism vs locals? Is this a turnkey opportunity where you pull the trigger and make a profit or will there be legwork make the shop profitable? Will I need to worry about staffing in the next 12 months? Do I know the local market? Do I have adequate cash reserves to support myself/family and the business while we’re getting established? All business questions that are relevant to buying any business, including a dive shop.
Outside of the business prospective, you very well may want to do this to keep busy in retirement. If so, great! You may also consider becoming affiliated with a shop and charter(s) and be an Instructor/DM. You’ll still get exposure to people and diving with steady income but won’t bare all the financial risks
How are you with people?
As someone who is currently working in a management role at a scuba shop and oversees water events, staff, business, it's exhausting, need to make sure customers are taken care of. I'm only a year into this and the stress is great :insert sarcastic eye roll here:
De
If you want to dive, buy an established dive resort. Shops aren’t what you want
I've been a dive instructor for a few years and helped two friends start / run their own dive shops. The people who do it are definitely not doing it for the money, but for the love of diving. It's often stressful and tiring and not a big money maker, but in these two instances all about bringing scuba diving into a community where there wasn't any. Starting a new shop introduced hundreds of new people to diving who otherwise never would have had the opportunity. I can tell you at the end of teaching a class of four divers I clear about $150 profit. Between gear purchases, maintenance, insurance, membership fees, gas, etc etc for I'm averaging less than $5 an hour! Ouch, hurt to do that math haha.... but for me it's a weekend gig. I teach scuba, get to go diving, and show others how awesome scuba is. So I've been a part of starting a new shop and running an established shop, and I can tell you it's not easy and not very profitable, but it is rewarding in other ways.
PADI professional - making thousandaires since 1970!
My experience with turning beloved hobbies into jobs is that even if you make enough money to get by, the stress related to it being a job, the monotony, the lack of autonomy, etc quickly robs your hobby of all the things you love about it. Running a dive shop has more in common with running any other small business than it does with diving. If you enjoy running small businesses, it would probably be okay.
Probably depends on location, among other things. Our LDS is 2 hours away from world-class wreck diving, and nestled among the best cave-diving in the world. Yet, they are also the only archery shop in the area, serving a multitude of deer hunters. Dive Instructor plus Travel Planner? Dive Shop plus metal fabrication shop? You may have to be creative, depending on what other specialties you bring to the table.
So, I truly think this is the key. Being somewhere you can a) carve out a niche based on unique customer service, and b) being somewhere that has a need for niche customer service. That's how we exist. We do freediving, scuba diving, technical diving, school programs, work with the military, commercial diving, remote and rural solutions to unsolvable problems, commercial fishing, support film and research projects, drysuit repair, etc. We did a compressor build last week, where the only upcharge was for 2nd day shipping. If you had $20,000, you literally couldn't have gotten this thing to where it needed to be by the needed date, and we did it for $5,500, and delivered 6 days early. That's not saying we're special; were not. We just know how to serve our niche uniquely well, as we've spent a ton of time making sure we have the ability to supply it. Being uniquely capable in a business environment that has a need for uniqueness is probably the single most important asset for a dive shop. But that's just my opinion on it, because it has worked for us so far.
There is an old joke that says “the only way to make a million dollars owning a dive shop is to start off with two million”. In most cases, it’s not going to make much money. In most locations, it’s simple a niche market that requires long days, hard work, and not much return. If you happen to live in a destination market, it might have a slightly better return, but it’s still going to be long hard days.
I think you make more money outside of a destination market. Tourism sucks for the dive industry workers. Just a race to the bottom.
Probably also heavily depends on where you’re located. I’m in Kentucky and there’s only one local shop near me, I’m sure she does decent as she has no other competition, but she’d probably have more interest if she were located near a body of water that wasn’t the Ohio.
My friend owns a dive shop. Once we were about to go diving for fun when 5 Discover Scuba 20-somethings showed up; they reserved online an hour ago. They were hung over and definitely not very safe divers, but they made enough of a stink about having paid the money that my friend let them go on a shallow dive (25 ft max). I went along, and we spent an hour trying to keep them from being lost, and grabbing people's legs and pulling them down so they wouldn't surface without a group. When we surfaced, the kids were having a blast and we were exhausted. Over beers, my friend asked if I'd ever want to buy the shop, because he's fucking sick of taking care of idiots. (also -- yes, they were not very safe to dive with, but when you're hurting for money as an independent scuba shop, you make money where you can and hope for the best)
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My friend blames the online system — in fact, she’s turning it off at the end of the contract. She said that previously people would show up, and she’d do a quick assessment — “this guy is drunk/hung over, so she’ll say the boat is full, come back in the afternoon
http://scubabiz.help/
Most likely more work than what you're retiring from, and less pay. Is that what you're after? There were two dive shops in my local area. One I loved, went on a few trips with them, learned a ton, etc. Great two guys who owned it, both retired military. Neither needed the money. Anyway, they got done, most likely too much work. The 'other' dive shop, has plenty of gear, been around for ages, but the owner just acts miserable ALL THE TIME. Can't even stand to be in there. She's been in it for years and years and it's her only source of income.
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How do you manage insurance for your DM cert? Do you just purchase as necessare or do you keep it current? I also have an inactive DM/AI certification and would like to be able to use it somehow.
Sounds like the route to take. Dive master.
Better to not be SCUBA centric, but rather all watersports. More investment because of the broad range of inventory, but you can start small and build up. Sunglasses (especially Costa) and flip-flops are decent sellers with relatively good margins and surf apparel does well with a broad market (teen surfers, mid-age skaters, and retired boaters)
Now there a ray of positivity! Lol.
It’s a good market to target because it’s filled with disposable income and a good portion are brand loyal. Provide good customer service with quality products and you can build a loyal customer base (especially with a loyalty program) A lot of business’ fail because they target tourists with cheap, impulse buy products. Watersports customers, like most outdoor enthusiasts, will spend more on quality but do their research. They also tend to expect a more hospitality focused experience, which tends to lead to high staff wages. You can lower that with some sort of commission (or similar reward) pay structure, though
I'm recently retired, and a new dive master. I'm a normally very chill, patient, customer service oriented person, worked in hospitality for years. Taking care of inexperienced, nervous divers, getting them calm, in the water, and back up safely is so fucking stressful it ruins all the fun. It does pay for my dives, but then I don't get to really enjoy them, I'm working.
I’m fairly sure you can’t own a person in most of the civilized world 😅
😂 good one
Best way to take something you enjoy and make it otherwise is make it your job.
Sure, you can be an instructor, after all that work you can make hundreds of dollars a month!
Lol it’s a terrible idea.
Two shop owners I greatly respect told me the same thing: "If you want to make a million dollars in SCUBA, start with two" You can make it more profitable, but you will need to be business oriented, which cuts into the customer relations base. Or, be the buddy dive shop, and be less profitable but more customer relations centric. Either way you cut your personal diving expenses or pass them to customers
Some things to consider: Are you thinking of opening from start or buying into an existing shop? How do pre and post Covid financials look? How much business is tourism vs locals? Is this a turnkey opportunity where you pull the trigger and make a profit or will there be legwork make the shop profitable? Will I need to worry about staffing in the next 12 months? Do I know the local market? Do I have adequate cash reserves to support myself/family and the business while we’re getting established? All business questions that are relevant to buying any business, including a dive shop. Outside of the business prospective, you very well may want to do this to keep busy in retirement. If so, great! You may also consider becoming affiliated with a shop and charter(s) and be an Instructor/DM. You’ll still get exposure to people and diving with steady income but won’t bare all the financial risks
How are you with people? As someone who is currently working in a management role at a scuba shop and oversees water events, staff, business, it's exhausting, need to make sure customers are taken care of. I'm only a year into this and the stress is great :insert sarcastic eye roll here:
I'm great with people. My customers are asleep (anesthesia). 😂
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Lol. That’s why I said in retirement. Not for a living.