Agreed. As I also did a bit of one design racing over the past 10 or so years in Lasers and Etchells, APS was one of the few one stop dealers on the East Coast where you could buy hard and soft goods. I don’t know how much the SNAFU with Laser Performance hurt their ability to service the small boat market which was a high percentage of their hardware business.
In a letter sent out to customers and vendors, their owner said the transition to strictly soft goods was going great but that the timing of the pandemic didn’t allow them to generate sufficient income to pay for inventory purchased in the fall and keep the business afloat. Just goes to show you how fragile the rec marine market can be. Seems like every economic downturn claims a few good boat builders and businesses. So don’t buy marine products at Amazon if you want your local chandleries to stay in business. Chuck Gilchrest > _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
