Where have all the vendors gone?

Godsey97 wrote:
I don't know specifically about accessories, but I assume that the internet has destroyed that market like Walmart has destroyed the Mom-n-Pop stores. I don't shop at Walmart, but that is a tirade for another forum.

January is when they have the RV shows in our area. We were looking a Class A and drove by a dealership that has considerable freeway frontage. They had banners out proclaiming an "RV Show" but it was at the dealerhship and not the convention center that was the official show.

We saw the one we wanted and chatted up the salesman. He was retired from the dealership and only came back during the "show" time to help with the influx of customers. I asked why they were not at THE show and he told me that they charged a tremendous amount of $$$ for floorspace and they could only get 10 units in the show. He said their better play was to piggyback on the official show and put banners up on the routes to the show and try and convince people to come to the dealership where they had their entire inventory on display and didn't pay the high rates. We didn't buy from them as we could not agree on price.

We went to the dealer we have used for the last 3 rigs we bought and worked out a deal. As we were talking with the finance man, whom we know from buying 3 previous units, he advised the fees are high for the show and this was going to be the last time they went if things were as they have been in previous years. He said it was the best year they had on record. His brother is a salesperson and his brother personally sold 10 Georgetowns at the show, not counting sales from all the other staff.

So maybe the dealers can absorb the high floor space in the units markup and throw some of their parts on display as well but if parts/accessories is your only business probably a tough nut to crack.

The dig about Walmart killing off other stores is a myth propagated by unions with an agenda. The fact and statics say something else. there are actually more small and medium businesses after a Walmart comes to an area not fewer. Do some businesses close? Yes Does the mix of what businesses exist in an area change: yes. However statistically the businesses in an area do better after Walmart arrives. A good example of this happened recently here in my area however didn't have to do with Walmart it was Costco. Costco has sold gasoline for years however not diesel. The week before they opened their diesel pumps there were local stations selling diesel for $1 more than regular unleaded. Costco came in and started selling diesel for essentially the same price as regular. Now all the local fuel stations have changed their pricing models to account for the new competition. They still charge more for diesel but only about $0.10 per gallon more! That is a massive change. Initially it will hurt the bottom line of the local fuel stations and local fuel wholesalers but everyone will adjust. The internet retailers have done the same thing to Fry's electronics and other retailers. If I go to an RV show and see someone selling something the first thing I am going to do is see if I can find the same thing online for less. If it is close I may ask if I can get a discount to near the same price. Sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. Interestingly enough many of the same vendors actually do sales over the internet as well as RV shows. I like to see the new gadgets and other items that may make RVing better. Incidentally, I will pay for quality when I believe it matters. It depends on what I am trying to do. I purchased some really expensive AGM batteries because I wanted good quality. Sometimes I get stuff from Harbor Freight Tools that is lower quality import stuff that is "good enough" for the project I'm working on. I don't need the 10X more expensive name brand item.