[rawsonnut]

The West Marine in Oklahoma City is closing in a few weeks. Now I know this isn't Key West but there are several hundred sailboats within a 25 mile radius. The situation went like this, the local store was required to stop stocking most sailing hardware and power boat stuff for that matter, and started stocking fishing equipment and kayaks. I contacted a regional manager and explained that this store was located less than 10 miles from a Bass Pro Shop and less than a mile from Academy Sports. Why would someone go to WM to buy fishing gear when the plastic worm section at Bass Pro is bigger than their whole store. When told I could always order from the catalog I told him it was a matter of convenience and if I wanted to order something why not use Defender and save 25-60%. At that point I was told I could go pound sand because they were a national company and knew more about retail sales than I did. Well guess what? Their sales went down and now they can close the store which I think was the plan from the start. When they told me at the local store they were closing I simply put about $500.00 worth of purchases back on the shelves and went home and mailed my catalog back to the home office with a note I wouldn't need it any more. I hope when WM upper management finishes running themselves out of business they don't go to work for Defender!