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Author Topic:   MarineMax Expands into New England

Mambo Minnow posted 09-11-2012 06:03 PM ET (US)
MarineMax is expanding into the New England marketplace. They recently agreed to acquire Bassett's Marine in Warwick, Rhode Island and Connecticut. This follows the loss of Birbarie Marine in Connecticut as a Whaler dealer. Appears the shakeout in the industry is not completely over yet. New England is a logical market with its relative affluence and Whaler heritage for MarineMax to expand. Not sure this is going to be a good thing for Whaler aficionados.
jaccoserv posted 09-11-2012 08:06 PM ET (US)
A few points:
--Nauset Marine on Cape Cod has traditionally been one of the biggest (#1 several times) Boston Whaler dealers in the world, I imagine this doesn't fit into Brunswick's plans as they (Nauset) do not represent any other Brunswick lines
--Russo Marine probably doesn't like this as he does sell many other Brunswick lines (Sea Ray, Bayliner)
--MarineMax has been in the New England market before, they had in office in Quincy, Massachusetts within the past few years
--just opening an office doesn't guarantee they will be a distributor for Boston Whaler
--one thing about Bassett that always stuck out to me was how Bassett's son-in-law actually took the unprecedented step of taking on his wife's last name in the form of a hyphen. He used to appear in ad's for Bassett with the last name Bassett-Zable
Mambo Minnow posted 09-11-2012 09:14 PM ET (US)
Yes, can not imagine Russo to happy about this since he bought out a dealership in Rhode Island several years ago.
Russo is the only Whaler dealer that shows up at the Newport Boat Show this year and last year. Brunswick just can not get Nauset to market off the Cape. I have to believe this concerns Brunswick as Jaccoserv points out because there is no Sea Ray tie in with Nauset. Nauset sells their own homegrown other boat line not affiliated with Brunswick.
If I was Larry Russo, I would be pretty upset with Brunswick. I don't believe he sells many Whalers in Rhode Island however, so I believe its a pretty good bet MarineMax will get the Whaler line in Rhode Island and Connecticut. They are staying just south of Russo and Nauset in the Massachusetts market proper to keep a low profile and keep the peace among the dealerships.
One advantage to a Rhode Island dealership is if you buy a boat in Rhode Island, there is no sales tax to register it in the state. Despite the southern migration of most boat builders, including Boston Whaler to Florida and North Carolina, Rhode Island has maintained a robust set of boatbuilders, both sail and power.
This development should make for some interesting dock talk at the Newport International Boat show this weekend.
Hilinercc posted 09-12-2012 11:41 AM ET (US)
Minnow - Where and what does BW make in NC?
Mambo Minnow posted 09-12-2012 12:34 PM ET (US)
No Whaler is made in NC. The comment was directed to boat builders in general moving operations to NC from other states, including Florida.
North Carolina created some tax incentives for marine industries to move there. The closest tie to Boston Whaler I know of is Florida Marine Tank, the OEM for most of the aluminum fuel tanks in Whalers. FMT moved there operations from FL to NC several years ago.
jimh posted 09-12-2012 12:56 PM ET (US)
When Brunswick was in the "filling in the white space" phase of their corporate growth through acquisition--the CEO then (and now) was a lawyer not an engineer--Brunswick paid a bundle of cash to some Carolina boat builders and took their brands into the Brunswick corporate boat building division. The boats were fiberglass fishing and sport boats, so the corporate guidance for the new Brunswick boat companies was given to the same management team that was supervising Boston Whaler. Some key people from Whaler were frequently in the Carolinas getting these new Brunswick boat companies organized as part of the particular corporate division they were supposed to operate in.
I don't recall the particulars, but it was not too many years later that Brunswick decided the best outcome for several of those Carolina Brunswick boat brands was to jettison them overboard, off the corporate ship. But for a short while, there were some Brunswick boats that were closely associated with Boston Whaler engineering and management that were being built in the Carolinas.
Binkster posted 09-12-2012 01:25 PM ET (US)
Brunswick made a lot of business mistakes. What saved them was buying Mercury from Carl K. When bowling lost popularity in the mid, late '70's, it was Mercury that saved the their butt. Another mistake was pushing Carl out becuase he was not a conformist to their policies. Carl's biggest mistake was blowing the profits he was making from his outboards on stuff like stock car racing, etc. He had the best engineers and his outboards were far ahead, but he wasn't making money. If he was he would have never needed to sell out, and he sure didn't want to.
I would never go near a place like Marine Max. I like my Mercury Dealer, Doug's Marine Service In Weeki Watchee Fl. Probably one of the smallest in the US. Doug is the owner, the salesman, and the mechanic. He has one young guy working for him. He has a catalog with the outboards in it.
rich
andygere posted 09-12-2012 03:22 PM ET (US)

quote:
I have to believe this concerns Brunswick as Jaccoserv points out because there is no Sea Ray tie in with Nauset. Nauset sells their own homegrown other boat line not affiliated with Brunswick.
Nauset Marine wouldn't sell very many Sea Rays (if any) and they know it; it's not their market. Nauset has and still does move a lot of Whalers, and that is their market. When I drove by their yard a few weeks ago, they had inventory, something that seems to be nearly extinct in retail boat sales these days. And it wasn't a bunch of dusty leftovers either. It was a good sized fleet of shiny new models across the size spectrum.
It's hard for me to understand why Brunswick has systematically squeezed out many of the little guy dealers (who tend to have loyal customers) in favor of the boat superstore sales model. Are they really selling more boats this way?
Mambo Minnow posted 09-12-2012 03:27 PM ET (US)
I agree with you Binkster.
One of the appeals of classic Whaler days to me was the local dealerships. Several famous ones I have encountered in my journeys across the country were: Colley Marine in Va Beach, VA, Monahan's Marine in South Weymouth, MA, Birbarie Marine in CT.
Unless they grow bigger, such as Nauset Marine or Russo Marine it seems they are cast aside. Many of these dealers were successful selling the smaller models. However, Brunscwick pressured them to sell the ever increasing line up of bigger models, that made Brunswick more profit.
I almost feel that Brunswick is promoting exclusivity via MarineMax big box stores. I have frequented several of these dealerships and find the sales staff completely unknowledgeable about Whalers. They know more about Sea Rays than anything else.
I think this is ultimately bad for the consumers.
Mambo Minnow posted 09-12-2012 05:47 PM ET (US)
Andy, I do not disagree Nauset would not sell many Sea Rays. They certainly know their local market.
That is my point...unfortunately I do not believe the big boys at Brunswick HQ in Illinois understand this and that's why they are pushing these superstore relationships.
jaccoserv posted 09-12-2012 06:25 PM ET (US)
I think we all agree that Nauset would not, and would not want to sell Sea Rays,
I imagine that being a dealer for Brunswick goes something like this:
if you are a multi-line(platinum,deluxe, whatever) dealer, you get special pricing,terms, discounts. Ex: 6 months floorplan on all boats ordered by February 1 or 5% discount, a dealer like Nauset probable gets 60 day terms or 2%
Beyond this, I'm sure Brunswick has deals where for even $1,000,000 of product taken into inventory, you get a kickback. If you are a Sea Ray dealer, this could be achieved with one large unit, thus allowing you to make more on every Whaler sold.
Bottom line is, they want large, multi-Brunswick-brand dealers.
Mambo Minnow posted 09-13-2012 08:48 AM ET (US)
I am on email distribution for the Jacksonville FL MarineMax dealership.
Last year, in addition to Boston Whaler and Sea Rays, they started offering Mako brand boats. This surprised me because one of their big box rivals, Bass Pro Shops owns the Mako line.
Last night I received an email pushing the Sea Ray 510 mega cruiser. Not one Boston Whaler model promoted!
lizard posted 09-13-2012 12:27 PM ET (US)
A couple of years ago, a fellow CW'er and I went into a Marine Max, to look at new models, in particular the Montauk 19 and the Outrage. The first location, the sales rep snickered and said "we don't sell anything under 28 feet". He suggested another location. We went to the 2nd location where a young sales rep started explaining what Whalers were to us. We explained our long time familiarity with the line- my friend had a one or two year-old Conquest 205.
The sales rep had some well rehearsed points, but could not really discuss the boat. Technical, accessory, power options, etc. were all answered with "the unsinkable legend". We knew that, already.
Both locations have since folded. Marine Max happened to be a convenient location to look at boats, but had I decided to buy one, I would have gone to a Mom and Pop shop. BTW, I found the new boat prices staggering and replaced my Montauk with an 80's Outrage 18.
Mambo Minnow posted 09-14-2012 08:57 PM ET (US)
I went to the Newport Boat Show today. Russo will retain Whaler line from MarineMax in RI and CT.

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Author	Topic: MarineMax Expands into New England
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-11-2012 06:03 PM ET (US) MarineMax is expanding into the New England marketplace. They recently agreed to acquire Bassett's Marine in Warwick, Rhode Island and Connecticut. This follows the loss of Birbarie Marine in Connecticut as a Whaler dealer. Appears the shakeout in the industry is not completely over yet. New England is a logical market with its relative affluence and Whaler heritage for MarineMax to expand. Not sure this is going to be a good thing for Whaler aficionados.
jaccoserv	posted 09-11-2012 08:06 PM ET (US) A few points: --Nauset Marine on Cape Cod has traditionally been one of the biggest (#1 several times) Boston Whaler dealers in the world, I imagine this doesn't fit into Brunswick's plans as they (Nauset) do not represent any other Brunswick lines --Russo Marine probably doesn't like this as he does sell many other Brunswick lines (Sea Ray, Bayliner) --MarineMax has been in the New England market before, they had in office in Quincy, Massachusetts within the past few years --just opening an office doesn't guarantee they will be a distributor for Boston Whaler --one thing about Bassett that always stuck out to me was how Bassett's son-in-law actually took the unprecedented step of taking on his wife's last name in the form of a hyphen. He used to appear in ad's for Bassett with the last name Bassett-Zable
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-11-2012 09:14 PM ET (US) Yes, can not imagine Russo to happy about this since he bought out a dealership in Rhode Island several years ago. Russo is the only Whaler dealer that shows up at the Newport Boat Show this year and last year. Brunswick just can not get Nauset to market off the Cape. I have to believe this concerns Brunswick as Jaccoserv points out because there is no Sea Ray tie in with Nauset. Nauset sells their own homegrown other boat line not affiliated with Brunswick. If I was Larry Russo, I would be pretty upset with Brunswick. I don't believe he sells many Whalers in Rhode Island however, so I believe its a pretty good bet MarineMax will get the Whaler line in Rhode Island and Connecticut. They are staying just south of Russo and Nauset in the Massachusetts market proper to keep a low profile and keep the peace among the dealerships. One advantage to a Rhode Island dealership is if you buy a boat in Rhode Island, there is no sales tax to register it in the state. Despite the southern migration of most boat builders, including Boston Whaler to Florida and North Carolina, Rhode Island has maintained a robust set of boatbuilders, both sail and power. This development should make for some interesting dock talk at the Newport International Boat show this weekend.
Hilinercc	posted 09-12-2012 11:41 AM ET (US) Minnow - Where and what does BW make in NC?
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-12-2012 12:34 PM ET (US) No Whaler is made in NC. The comment was directed to boat builders in general moving operations to NC from other states, including Florida. North Carolina created some tax incentives for marine industries to move there. The closest tie to Boston Whaler I know of is Florida Marine Tank, the OEM for most of the aluminum fuel tanks in Whalers. FMT moved there operations from FL to NC several years ago.
jimh	posted 09-12-2012 12:56 PM ET (US) When Brunswick was in the "filling in the white space" phase of their corporate growth through acquisition--the CEO then (and now) was a lawyer not an engineer--Brunswick paid a bundle of cash to some Carolina boat builders and took their brands into the Brunswick corporate boat building division. The boats were fiberglass fishing and sport boats, so the corporate guidance for the new Brunswick boat companies was given to the same management team that was supervising Boston Whaler. Some key people from Whaler were frequently in the Carolinas getting these new Brunswick boat companies organized as part of the particular corporate division they were supposed to operate in. I don't recall the particulars, but it was not too many years later that Brunswick decided the best outcome for several of those Carolina Brunswick boat brands was to jettison them overboard, off the corporate ship. But for a short while, there were some Brunswick boats that were closely associated with Boston Whaler engineering and management that were being built in the Carolinas.
Binkster	posted 09-12-2012 01:25 PM ET (US) Brunswick made a lot of business mistakes. What saved them was buying Mercury from Carl K. When bowling lost popularity in the mid, late '70's, it was Mercury that saved the their butt. Another mistake was pushing Carl out becuase he was not a conformist to their policies. Carl's biggest mistake was blowing the profits he was making from his outboards on stuff like stock car racing, etc. He had the best engineers and his outboards were far ahead, but he wasn't making money. If he was he would have never needed to sell out, and he sure didn't want to. I would never go near a place like Marine Max. I like my Mercury Dealer, Doug's Marine Service In Weeki Watchee Fl. Probably one of the smallest in the US. Doug is the owner, the salesman, and the mechanic. He has one young guy working for him. He has a catalog with the outboards in it. rich
andygere	posted 09-12-2012 03:22 PM ET (US) quote: I have to believe this concerns Brunswick as Jaccoserv points out because there is no Sea Ray tie in with Nauset. Nauset sells their own homegrown other boat line not affiliated with Brunswick. Nauset Marine wouldn't sell very many Sea Rays (if any) and they know it; it's not their market. Nauset has and still does move a lot of Whalers, and that is their market. When I drove by their yard a few weeks ago, they had inventory, something that seems to be nearly extinct in retail boat sales these days. And it wasn't a bunch of dusty leftovers either. It was a good sized fleet of shiny new models across the size spectrum. It's hard for me to understand why Brunswick has systematically squeezed out many of the little guy dealers (who tend to have loyal customers) in favor of the boat superstore sales model. Are they really selling more boats this way?
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-12-2012 03:27 PM ET (US) I agree with you Binkster. One of the appeals of classic Whaler days to me was the local dealerships. Several famous ones I have encountered in my journeys across the country were: Colley Marine in Va Beach, VA, Monahan's Marine in South Weymouth, MA, Birbarie Marine in CT. Unless they grow bigger, such as Nauset Marine or Russo Marine it seems they are cast aside. Many of these dealers were successful selling the smaller models. However, Brunscwick pressured them to sell the ever increasing line up of bigger models, that made Brunswick more profit. I almost feel that Brunswick is promoting exclusivity via MarineMax big box stores. I have frequented several of these dealerships and find the sales staff completely unknowledgeable about Whalers. They know more about Sea Rays than anything else. I think this is ultimately bad for the consumers.
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-12-2012 05:47 PM ET (US) Andy, I do not disagree Nauset would not sell many Sea Rays. They certainly know their local market. That is my point...unfortunately I do not believe the big boys at Brunswick HQ in Illinois understand this and that's why they are pushing these superstore relationships.
jaccoserv	posted 09-12-2012 06:25 PM ET (US) I think we all agree that Nauset would not, and would not want to sell Sea Rays, I imagine that being a dealer for Brunswick goes something like this: if you are a multi-line(platinum,deluxe, whatever) dealer, you get special pricing,terms, discounts. Ex: 6 months floorplan on all boats ordered by February 1 or 5% discount, a dealer like Nauset probable gets 60 day terms or 2% Beyond this, I'm sure Brunswick has deals where for even $1,000,000 of product taken into inventory, you get a kickback. If you are a Sea Ray dealer, this could be achieved with one large unit, thus allowing you to make more on every Whaler sold. Bottom line is, they want large, multi-Brunswick-brand dealers.
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-13-2012 08:48 AM ET (US) I am on email distribution for the Jacksonville FL MarineMax dealership. Last year, in addition to Boston Whaler and Sea Rays, they started offering Mako brand boats. This surprised me because one of their big box rivals, Bass Pro Shops owns the Mako line. Last night I received an email pushing the Sea Ray 510 mega cruiser. Not one Boston Whaler model promoted!
lizard	posted 09-13-2012 12:27 PM ET (US) A couple of years ago, a fellow CW'er and I went into a Marine Max, to look at new models, in particular the Montauk 19 and the Outrage. The first location, the sales rep snickered and said "we don't sell anything under 28 feet". He suggested another location. We went to the 2nd location where a young sales rep started explaining what Whalers were to us. We explained our long time familiarity with the line- my friend had a one or two year-old Conquest 205. The sales rep had some well rehearsed points, but could not really discuss the boat. Technical, accessory, power options, etc. were all answered with "the unsinkable legend". We knew that, already. Both locations have since folded. Marine Max happened to be a convenient location to look at boats, but had I decided to buy one, I would have gone to a Mom and Pop shop. BTW, I found the new boat prices staggering and replaced my Montauk with an 80's Outrage 18.
Mambo Minnow	posted 09-14-2012 08:57 PM ET (US) I went to the Newport Boat Show today. Russo will retain Whaler line from MarineMax in RI and CT.