Sad news..Edwards Fishing Tackle in Newport ,closing.

[Joe]

There was a thing on the news today about the retail failures in Rhode Island - It's freaking epic.....I don't think you'll see too many shops without a viable online side to their business surviving the recession. That's far from a guarantee as now there are so many online shops that opportunity has shrunk considerably from what it was 5 years ago.

[Saltheart]

Someone told me 25 about 40 years ago that Bait and Tackle shops were like Gas Service stations.

For the gas stations who did service , the rule of thumb was you could be successful as long as the profit on gas was enough to pay the overhead . The profit and mechanics salaries came from the mark up aon parts and the labor on service.

For the B+T they said that the Bait sales had to pay the rent and the profit was made on the tackle sales.

i assume its changed now since there are B+T's that don't sell bait but its got to be hard if you don't sell bait. I think the internet sales of tackle makes up for the bait cause you can't sell much bait over the internet.

Anyway , always sad to see a store go down. The stores are opportunities for the consumers. Each lost store is a lost opportunity. When it gets down to just 1 opportunity , the prices sky rocket. Its the same in all businesses. Competition helps keep prices down and service up. When only Walmart is left...look out!

[Mr. Sandman]

I will miss the social aspect that B&Tshops offer. IMO this is as important as the equipment they sell (and advice they offer). Personally I like the ambiance that some shops have and enjoy mingling with the local guys. Each shop has it's own set of characters. Online sites don't offer any kind of personal local attn. Not to mention the local fishing tips you pick up just going to a shop. But in today's "want it cheap and want it fast" (with no tax and free shipping) society, I suppose this is what is to come.

I listen for years about guys telling me ( "I check it out in the stores first, they i buy it online and save a ton") Well, this is now coming back to bite you in the ass. The stores will be gone, and yeah you will be able to get it cheap online but you wiped out a friend and took away an important social aspect in the process. Not to mention it has a cascading effect in society..the bait shop that is gone..well the landlord has to rent that space, and since there is a glut of space, it may be empty for years, making the neighborhood less attractive and desirable to live in, lowering real estate values and making life miserable and driving them into moral decay... But you got it cheap online, that is the most important thing, right?
Life is not all about buying things at the cheapest price.