Local Tackle Shop

Well I have read here about supporting your local tackle shop as oppsoed
to shopping the big chain stores and have to say I did my fair share, but
the local shop has increased prices so much that I just don't see myself
supporting them as much as I have in the past.

3.49 for a bag of zooms? 2.89 for a pack of 6 gammy hooks?

Don't get me wrong, I'll still buy when need dictates or when I need
certain items where price is not that much of a difference, or when I can't
wait for shipping... but paying such a difference on certain items just
doesnt make sense. IMO.

I asked them about getting some line in and was quoted a price of 5 bucks
more a spool and I was looking for 4 spools!! I explained that it was too
much and just got the old shoulder shrug and a thats what it sells for now.
Maybe just one bad store here..maybe not

"alwayfishking" wrote in message
...
Well I have read here about supporting your local tackle shop as oppsoed
to shopping the big chain stores and have to say I did my fair share, but
the local shop has increased prices so much that I just don't see myself
supporting them as much as I have in the past.

3.49 for a bag of zooms? 2.89 for a pack of 6 gammy hooks?

Don't get me wrong, I'll still buy when need dictates or when I need
certain items where price is not that much of a difference, or when I
can't
wait for shipping... but paying such a difference on certain items just
doesnt make sense. IMO.

I asked them about getting some line in and was quoted a price of 5 bucks
more a spool and I was looking for 4 spools!! I explained that it was too
much and just got the old shoulder shrug and a thats what it sells for
now.
Maybe just one bad store here..maybe not

Part of the problem is that Bass Pro, Cabelas, and Wal-Mart control so much
of the market share that they can dictate to manufacturers how they will
sell their product, and quite often what they will pay for it. This has
multiple affects. First off the simple handling costs of sending smaller
quantities of a product to an independent tackle shop are higher so from
that alone the tackle shop can't buy at the same price. On top of that even
if they buy hundreds or thousands of an item they still will not get the
same cost price as Wally World because they can't exert the pressure on the
manufacture that the big boxes or mail order outfits can.

If an independent tackle store is unhappy with the price or service of a
particular manufacturer they have no leverage to use.

On top of that the tackle shop has to make a living off of his selection.
He doesn't have the option of having several million dollars of inventory on
hand to meet your needs. Quite often simply to keep the doors open an
independent tackle shop owner is working the cash register himself .

The other side of that is that nobody from Bass Pro has ever taken me
fishing or told me about a hot spot on the river. None of them fish where I
fish, and if they have prostaff that do they certainly never helped me to
figure out how the seasons, waterflow, and weather affect the local fish.

I admit I buy some stuff from BPS, and Cabelas, and even very rarely from
Wally World, but I much prefer to find what I need at Sportsmen's Hide-A-Way
or at Davidson Marine. And, YES, I do pay a little more.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

I do almost all of my shopping locally...to support the community. If I
buy tackle, it is from the local shops...we have some good ones around
here! Value is not always in the dollar saved, besides that, I consider
the efforts of the local merchants to serve me, a "frienship" thing!
Nothing wrong with saving a dollar, but I look at the overall value, and
sometimes it's an intangible thing. jmo
JK

again, paying a little more would be ok but it's getting ridiculous and this
particular shop does not have a happy face there at all.
"John Kerr" wrote in message
...
I do almost all of my shopping locally...to support the community. If I
buy tackle, it is from the local shops...we have some good ones around
here! Value is not always in the dollar saved, besides that, I consider
the efforts of the local merchants to serve me, a "frienship" thing!
Nothing wrong with saving a dollar, but I look at the overall value, and
sometimes it's an intangible thing. jmo
JK

"alwayfishking" wrote in message
...
again, paying a little more would be ok but it's getting ridiculous and
this
particular shop does not have a happy face there at all.

Thats tough. Just reread my post and you can understand the why. If you
get nothing out of it then your choice may be to go to Walmart. Even going
to Walmart is better in many way than ordering from mail order houses.
Atleast the taxes go to your state and your community. While they are
mostly low wage jobs, they also do provide jobs in your community.

Maybe you should stop by when they aren't busy and try to get to know them.
They might turn out to be ok guys. On the other hand I can understand where
you are coming from. There is a local gun store where I rarely go because
they are unfriendly at best and often downright snotty. Sprague's. Sorry,
but If they want to charge me more than I can buy it else where AND give me
a crappy attitude I'll go down the street too. Worse, they aren't even the
only show in town. There are three other gun stores in town, and two of
them treat me pretty good when I go in even if its just for something small.
Mesa Sport Shop is one, and I can never remember the name of the other guy,
but he has the shop across the street from the main gate at the marine base.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

"John Kerr" wrote in message
...
I do almost all of my shopping locally...to support the community. If I
buy tackle, it is from the local shops...we have some good ones around
here! Value is not always in the dollar saved, besides that, I consider
the efforts of the local merchants to serve me, a "frienship" thing!
Nothing wrong with saving a dollar, but I look at the overall value, and
sometimes it's an intangible thing. jmo
JK

many (most?) small, locally owned and operated businesses may not know
you are supporting them over a big box until you actually tell them
that. For instance, my local bookstore can't possibly compete
selection-wise with Borders, but they can order anything I want; I just
casually say, "Hey, I saw (insert title here) at Borders, can you get it
for me?"

I've been buying a lot of tackle at fishing shows. The bargain bins are good.
The sales reps often give you promotional samples if you buy their product from
retailers at the show.
I don't care for local tackle shops because you can't browse the same as you
can at the fishing shows or Walmart.

Local shops around here have a ridiculously small selection, a little of
this and that little of that. They don't have a complete line of anything,
it seems. Like they might have three packs of Gamakatsus, four Eagle Claws,
well, you get the picture. And 12 rods in stock. And what they do have is
too high priced, such as $6.89 for a Shad Rap that you can get elsewhere for
$1.50 less.

I don't need their advice on where to fish or what to use, I just have no
reason to shop there. I know this sounds harsh, I have nothing against small
business, but my local shops have nothing to offer and don't meet my needs.

And that is a normal phenomenon. Society has and is changing. The corner
drugstore is gone, so is the mom and pop grocery store and other businesses;
there's no reason why the tackle business wouldn't have changed too. It's
nice to romanticize about the old well-stocked store where the
owner-fisherman advised you where the fish were and what to use, but that
ain't the real world anymore. We had stores like that when I started 35
years ago, but they have steadily declined to their now-sorry state.

Believe me, if the small shop had the merchandise I needed at anywhere near
a reasonable price, I'd be more than happy to stay away from the big guys
and give him my business.

Most small tackle shops don't expect to get all your business. They are there
for convenience. They pay higher wholesale prices for the merchandise and have
to mark it up high enough to stay in business. You don't expect to get
supermarket prices at a c-store and you shouldn't expect to get Walmart prices
at a small bait shop.

They usually get their business from the guy who is on his way to the lake and
remembered he ran out of worm hooks on his last trip and forget to pick up more
at Walmart. He will usually pay the bait shop $2.89 for a pack of Gammies
rather than drive 25 miles to Walmart to get them for $2.69.

Mark McCoybr
McCoy's Market Bumpus Mills, Tennesseebr
http://www.mccoysmarket.com

pay the bait shop $2.89 for a pack of Gammies rather than drive 25
miles to Walmart to get them for $2.69

That's a no brainer. Even if the over is considerably more than 20
cents, the 40 mile, 60+ minute round trip isn't worth it to me. Not
unless I can get a whole lot of other errands done in the city.