View Single Post
Old 02-21-2013, 09:51 PM   #65
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
City: -
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction View Post

"Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me with your thoughts and concerns."
The very fact the WM guy used the current limp-wristed, kumbaya, feel-good phrase "reach out" tells me everything I need to know about this guy and reinforces my satisfaction with our decision not to use West Marine anymore.

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine but I've found since it came into favor recently that everyone I've dealt with who uses the phrase in that way is as phony as they come and is not to be trusted as far as I can spit.

A company's persona comes from the top down so I guess it's no surprise the WM chain has been doing what it's been doing. The couple of times we've been in the Bellingham WM over the last year it's been quiet as a tomb. One or two customers. This at the same time the two locally owned marine stores, LFS and Redden, have been swarming with customers.

The prices are not all that much different although WM is invariably a bit higher. But not enough to drive customers away. I think what's killing the WM store off is the overall attitude, the poor knowledge of the staff, the increasingly limited inventory consisting of more and more "store brand " items, and the fact that most people simply prefer dealing with a friendly, reputable, local company.

If the WM store does fold I doubt anyone in our 2000+ boat marina will even notice they're gone.

Years and years ago we used West Marine all the time. The prices were good and the inventory was excellent and comprehensive. If they had retained that we would still be customers. But over the years they have veered far off course, as personified today by Mr. Matt "Reach Out" Hyde.
Marin is offline   Reply With Quote