First Redington, now Simms will sell direct to consumers

[fly addict]

Simms announces it will sell direct to consumers. I wonder how this will affect the independent retailer. Is this a continuation of a trend that started with Remington? Some of the bigger and well known rod manufactures are selling there rods through national retailers that compete with the small independents. I would guess that other suppliers are watching this closely and only time will tell what happens next.

http://www.anglingtrade.com/2012/02/16/ ... questions/

http://singlebarbed.com/2011/08/28/redd ... he-public/

Mark

[lucfish]

Interesting read. In the end, as a consumer, it all boils down to which kids' mouths you want to feed. The manufacturer gets it's cut, no matter what. Do you give them their normal cut of the sale, or all 100%? Do you instead wait for the item to be clearanced from some online retailer that you've never met anyone from in person? Or the little guy, who is almost 100% of the time the guy that you get the information on river conditions, fly selection, and other odds and ends that a big box hundreds or thousands of miles away can't provide you when you forget it/run out of it on the river?

It all boils down to that, and while some pride themselves on being self-sufficient and not needing a fly shop, they all end up somehow IN the fly shop talking fishing and even buying a few things. We ALL need fly shops. Let's support them like crazy this year, because they need it badly, whether they are in Bishop, Kernville, Van Nuys, Montana, etc.

Agreed, I for one buy most of my fly-fishing stuff from shops when I can. Why? Well I'm a small business owner too.