The Demise Of The Local "Mom & Pop" Golf Shops

[WUTiger]

When my wife and I returned to St. Louis in 2002, the area had more than a dozen single-owner or family-owned golf shops. Starting in 2006, these shops began going out of business.

I talked to one shop owner about that time, and he said he was shutting down when his lease expired later that year. One of the problems, he said, was that WalMart and KMart and Target had increased the number and quality of golf consumables they carried. If a recreational golfer could pick up a couple of gloves and a two dozen balls while getting potato chips and charcoal for the family barbecue, this means the golfer didn't come into his golf shop for those golf consumables. Besides the lost revenue, the big box visits meant the shop owner couldn't engage the golfer to possibly buy a new driver or set of irons during the ball resupply trip.

This was about the time Golf Galaxy began setting up stores in the St. Louis area, and about the time Dick's bought GG.

So the little guys got squeezed by the chain golf shops and the generic 'big box" stores.

Most of the surviving small shops emphasize custom club-fitting, and have a good reputation for it. 

[TerryG]

Where I live there  is one shop that has stores in three towns (so I guess you could consider it a local mom & pop) but their customer  service is so bad I won't shop there.  Only other place i Dick's which has surprisingly good customer service.   

The interent (amazon ebay, etc) has killed local retailers.  Also the current obsession with buying everything as cheap as possible keeps small shops from making it.  I would willingly pay more for quality products.