Whaler Dealer in Traverse City, Michigan

A conversation among Whalers
normich
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2017 3:52 pm

Whaler Dealer in Traverse City, Michigan

Postby normich » Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:41 pm

I saw this article about Irish Boat Shop opening a store in Traverse City.

http://upnorthlive.com/news/local/irish-boat-shop-opening-new-location-in-traverse-city

Irish is currently located in Charlevoix and Harbor Springs. A Whaler dealer was already in Traverse City. Assuming that the Whaler franchise is granted for a certain geographical area, I wondered how two would be allowed in a single area. I see now that Traverse Bay Marine (the other dealer) no longer has Boston Whaler listed as one of their brands.


Normich

jimh
Posts: 11673
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: IRISH BOAT SHOP new retail store in TC

Postby jimh » Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:49 pm

IRISH has been a Boston Whaler dealer for a very long time. Maybe they had some seniority they could call on to make this change happen. Or maybe the other dealer wasn't moving enough product.

Boston Whaler has shown a trend toward a preference for representation by retailers with more than one outlet.

The sell-off of SEA RAY might also affect dealer representation. There were quite a few years when the big SEA RAY dealers suddenly all became Boston Whaler dealers, too. I wonder how that is going to work out when someone else owns SEA RAY.

ConB
Posts: 248
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 2:52 pm
Location: Suttons Bay, MI

Re: Whaler Dealer in Traverse City, Michigan

Postby ConB » Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:38 pm

Lots of change. Walstom Marine opened a store in Traverse City last summer. They are a Sea Ray, Tiara, Pursuit, and Chris Craft dealer with stores in Harbor Springs, Cheboygan, And Bay Harbor.

Irish has a good reputation and I wish them well. The location they chose makes me think they are going to push ski and wake board boats real hard along with Whalers.

Con
!987 Outrage 18 / 2011 Yamaha F150
1969 13 / 30hp Johnson tiller