T&T: West Marine 2009 catalog

[Ron Rogers]

The individual West store manager has a lot of latitude in decision-making.
If he feels that a policy will help his bottom line or customer relations
with a frequent shopper - he/she  can do it. My local manager went out of
his way to make good on a Spade anchor which they no longer sold. At first
he was mildly disinterested, but he warmed to the deal and stuck by it. I
had made sure not to interfere with the routine business of this small
store.

Every once and a while, West will have an unexpectedly good price on
something like the Swiss marine knife. But often, you will also find objects
at double the price found elsewhere and the prices of most West-branded
products are just plain silly. BTW, they predicted big changes under the
immediately past president as well. He was supposedly soliciting opinions
and reviewing pricing with an eye to reducing prices - it didn't happen.

There are a bunch of people who are either price insensitive or price
ignorant and West stores are dependent upon them. If that clientele
retrenches in this economy, West will suffer significantly because they have
alienated the knowledgeable cruiser whose volume requires seeking quality
and fair prices.

Ron Rogers

-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck and Susan

We have had the price matched here at the West Marine as recently as two
days
ago based on web searches on the Internet so not sure about that comment.
Chuck