Closing of Jersey paddler

@PaddleDog52 said:
The inventory was getting old because not enough were buying kayaks. Then sitting on hundreds of boats cost a ton of money. To bad I never made it there. Did go to the Paddle Sport Show twice. Second time was mostly fishing kayaks so I wasn’t that interested.

When I last talked to them - probably 4 months before they closed down - they told me they were moving their inventory more towards fishing kayaks as they thought they were better sellers, which probably makes sense given their location close to the Barnegat Bay vacation spots.

And you are correct in that they had a lot of expensive boats just sitting there; quite a few Valley, Epic, fiberglass CD, etc. I also heard they had problems with the lease on the rather large lot they had. I’m a little sorry I didn’t make their weekend long closing down sale, but I figured that all the best stuff would have gone.

I know there are other shops around but it’s a shame that the greater NYC area with its 20 million population couldn’t support a paddle store of this size.

Seems like all touring kayak sales are down the last 4-5 years. Hopefully with better economy people will buy higher end stuff or was it a fad? I think when people go to get a kayak then they want another color when they spend 2,500 or 5.000.
Hard for dealers to know what to get.

I think to many people kayaking is a fad.

There are certainly some very committed and knowledgeable people on this board, but while I admit that I mostly paddle fairly sheltered locations, I probably see 10 rec boats and 4 SOTs to every true touring kayak.

I think in some ways kayaking is like scuba diving, and even bicycling, which also seem to be going through downturns. Once you’ve invested maybe $5K in first quality equipment - which lasts a very long time - there’s not much incentive to keep buying. Certainly close to where I live in central NJ there aren’t many dive shops or high end bike shops left.

And I agree that I probably wouldn’t buy a $5K kayak out of a shop’s inventory unless I was getting a stupendous deal on it. I’d want to pick my own colours and options.

Maybe it’s all being caused by a depressed economy and will rebound. Maybe it’s because of the aging baby boomers not being as active as they once were! :’(

Younger people are all on computers surfing not on the water surfing. Group of paddlers near me get all geared up and loaded up to paddle a short distance 3-4 miles. To me it’s not worth the effort if I am not going 8 miles at the bare minimum. I get geared up and launch in the back yard and head to the bays and ocean. That makes me paddle 98% of the time alone. The 4 North American style Current Designs I have I bought used for 2,800 total and say 600 in upgrades. New they would be over 17 grand. We did by two SOT new for 2,000 and a Eddyline new for 2,500. We have bought a ton of gear from the local dealer. I was going to go to Jersey Paddler and try a surf-ski but never made the time. Now really don’t need anything else. It’s a luxury item and I guess many had to cut it out first. I remember fill my Excursion when diesel was high few years back some tanks were just under 250 bucks and oil for the house was getting to 1,000 plus per tank. That makes the frills go fast. Then Hurricane Sandy came and it wiped away many, many boat owners houses and boats.

Hard for dealers to know what to stock in kayaks or gear and then not make much when the sell it. Boating business is coming back a bit hopefully kayaks will too. I see many guys fishing in them.

Its a bit of a ride from NJ but there is Collinsville Canoe & Kayak in Collinsville CT. They are right on the river so you can demo there,