Support Your Local Shop?

[Ray Bewick]

Carp Angler - So what is a fair profit & what is a 'rip off'?. Surely things are only worth what someone is willing to pay. I know it's an odd idea but fishing tackle is a 'luxury' item and not an essential to the preservation of life.

Perhaps the true 'rip-off' is us greedy devils wanting our fishing tackle 'cheap' i.e. relative to what ever the far east or sub continent worker gets for turning out that fishing kit against the profits made by the others in the chain.

As I’ve written before; vote with your wallet if you're able to however don't be surprised if your local resource disappears to the detriment of those less fortunate on both sides of the world.

I do agree with your basic thrust mate, I just approach it differently - hence off to chuck some fluff for some trout, but I’m goner have a go for some local carp with the fly before it gets too cold to see their reactions to the fly!

Regards

 

[Carp Angler]

Try a Colonels Creeper, deep and slow.

I have always supported my local shops, be it fishing, electrical, butchers etc etc

In the last year or two, these shops have realised that they must compete with the bigger stores in order to survive.

The service is undoubtably more personal in the smaller, local shop.

My local tackle shop will match any price if they are able.

 

[Steve Baker]

When a chair my local TS ordered wasnt in on time, he leant me his own so i didnt get peed off and go somwhere else, thats what i call good service as he trusted me and i could have ripped him off. But if i can get it somwhere else significantly cheaper i will.

 

[Peter Morton]

Haggle,Bargain, call it what you will,a concept that seems totally alien to the average Brit!!!!!!!
Go abroard and it is a way of life,in fact some shopkeepers are offended if you don't haggle with them.
Go on,loose a bit of that british reserve and give it a try,you may be pleasantly suprisedby the outcome!!!!!!!

 

[David OLoughlin]

I always felt embarrassed, but my wife (an expert) over the years has beat into me 5 words - 'Is that your best price?'.
They can only say no & in most cases the calculator comes out.

 

[Peter Morton]

David,
My point exactly,as i said in a previous thread if you have the chance to look at the prices in a trade catalogue DON'T.The shock at the markup will only upset you.

 

[David OLoughlin]

Peter,
'is that your best price' on the Black Prince?.....lol

 

[Peter Morton]

Suppose i could throw in 50yds of 30lbs line,ideal for the novice.........lol

 

[David OLoughlin]

Does that include the handle & could you throw that boat & trailer in?...lol

 

[Kevan Farmer]

Ha, saw a Black Prince on a market stall the other day. It brought tears to my eyes with the memory of them......tears of horror at what we used to use.

Guess what? I walked straight past it.

Kevan

 

[David OLoughlin]

The lads who I gave shot to were playing football in the street. I asked them how they did. After 5 hours of fishing on the local canal they were packing up when a bailiff, thinking they were setting up, suggested they try elsewhere. The whole system of locks they were in had been drained the day before!!!!!!!!
"Any bites" I asked.
"2 bites & we caught 2 fish. 1 of them we caught twice"???????????

 

[David Preston]

Rik's point about his local shop price-matching if they are able is worth reinforcing.

The shop I work in - Carter's in Preston - will always try to match any price in a mail order advert in any of the magazines. Many others will also do this, you just have to ask.

It is worth pointing out, however, that some of the prices being offered are actually close to or even below cost and many leave hardly any margin for the retailer, so a smaller shop may not be able to do this.

 

[Carp Angler]

but it is worth giving them the chance to match it, or get close enough to it that you purchase from them.

Surely it's in their interest to sell it to you, even for no profit, just to retain your custom.
If they are not willing to move on the price then you are clear on their stance and you can take your hard earned dosh elsewhere.

 

[Keith Miller]

My local tackle shop, Trent Tackle in Halstead, Essex was able to match the best price I saw on the net for a new rod and has consistently been prepared to do deals if asked. I am more than happy to support them as I would, without them, have to travel some distance just to get small bits and bait.

 

[Malcolm Bason]

On the other side of the coin, so to speak, I know of 3 lads who went to a local tackle shop and spent ?700 between them - these lads were 17, 18 & 21 yrs old - and asked for some discount, only to be told 'no, sorry but if i do it for one, I have to do it for all'. Ruddy fools still spent their dosh there!!

 

[Stuart Bullard]

I am all for supporting local shops, but the difference encountered here on the original post is far too high. My local shop is quite small, but I managed to get 8000's at about ?9 each above the cheapest mail order. OK, it cost me ?18, but they have been so helpful during my informative stages that I consider it worth it. However, ?40 is a lot of added value and I wouldn't have paid that much difference.

 

[Chris Bishop]

In a nutshell everything's changed in the last 20 years, thanks to a combination of the media seeking steady advertising revenue and the big manufacturers vying to control the market.

You can trace it back to early/mid-eighties when the weeklies worked out where the best long-term ad revenue was going to come from - obviously the big mail order firms who physically need a lot of space to show off big selections of gear and could budget a year's ad spend...

Bigger shops who weren't in mail order, like Bennets and Mullarkeys were forced to follow suit, cut prices and margins and boost sales volumes to stay afloat.

Today there are probably 10 big mail order operators controlling 85 per cent of the market.

A lot of smaller dealers, who couldn't afford to price cut or absorb the lost trade went under. People only went in for bait and small sundries/impulse buys - and they never used to make a profit on maggots, they were a loss leader to get people in.

As number of outlets fell, the bigger ones were in a stronger position to negotiate deals with suppliers/manufacturers.

At first, they resisted discounting - look at Billy Knot and the Mitchell reels saga in the seventies...

Then the manufacturers underwent a shift. The traditional tackle-only firms like Shakespeare started coming under fire from big conglomerates who saw fishing tackle as a means to capture more outdoor leisure market at a time when people were earning more money and getting more free time to spend it in.

These firms - your Shimanos and Daiwas etc -were quite prepared to cut margins to up volumes and threaten weaker opposition. They could afford to do it.

Now we have a rapidly declining market which is even more cut-throat. Less people going out, less companies, mergers, buy-outs and dealers surviving - literally less choice of what to buy and who you can buy it from.

It also has other consequences. How many big advertisers are keeping most of the fishing media afloat - certainly the EMAP titles like Angling Times, Improve Your Coarse Fishing, Sea Angler etc..?

Probably no more than a dozen, so they all have a lot of clout editorially - when was the last time you read a bum review on one of their products..? Then there are the sponsored anglers who seem to write most of the instructional stuff - which has become nothing more than a glorified ad feature for Fox, Shimano etc.

On a slightly different tack why do you think barbel have become so big (ie popular..)? Because they've been indentified (rightly) as one of few growth areas and that whole side of the sport has been given a massive plug in the last 18 months.

It might seem a long way removed from whether you buy your rods at Bert's tackle or from some mega-dealer for ?40 less.

But they're all related in one big vicious circle if you think about it.