A short history of Maui Dive Shop
In 1978, Bob Chambers started Maui Dive Shop in the Maui Mall in Kahului. It was a small “hole in the wall” store
with about as much retail space as the back room in most of our current locations. After three years of struggling and being moderately
successful, Bob closed the Maui Mall store and moved to the Azeka Plaza Kihei.
Over the years, Maui Dive Shop grew as new locations became available. Eventually, after much hard work, Bob had grown Maui Dive Shop into 7 locations and was very busy with day-to-day operations of the business. Times were good, and Maui Dive Shop had earned a place as a prominent retailer on Maui, but Bob had yet to face his greatest challenge.
In 1990, the Gulf War came and tourism dropped drastically. The choice was to cut back and downsize, or to find a way of moving the inventory faster. So, while most other businesses were cutting back, Bob did the opposite and expanded to new locations and larger stores. Additionally, dramatic alterations to the advertising campaign were made. Bob doubled Maui Dive Shop’s advertising budget, created the Maui Dive Guide, and launched 56 minutes per day of TV advertising on Channel 7 the “Visitor Channel”. These moves more than likely saved the company at the time.
Then Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai, and Maui Dive Shop was in a good position to take advantage of the increased business. A situation that was very unfortunate for the people of Kauai was a strike of luck for Maui Dive Shop and allowed Bob to continue to grow the business. At its largest point, Maui Dive Shop had 11 stores on Maui, and in 1994, Bob was honored as Maui’s small businessman of the year. Today we are operating 7 stores and one Beach front location. “One of our greatest strengths is the ability to open new stores and to move them as market forces change,” Bob said. “As the retailing demographics change, we will also change; but, with whatever we become in the future, we will strive to provide excellent customer service, the best quality of merchandise and first class facilities.”
Today, Maui Dive Shop’s newest direction is to expand into a wide variety of activities that complement their charters. They offer luaus, helicopter, dinner cruises, bike tours, and horseback riding. People don’t come here just to go diving, Maui offers much more than that. These activities, as well as many others, can be purchased individually, and some can even be combined together to add greater savings. Our Central Reservation Staff can also assist in booking accommodations on Maui in a wide variety of price ranges. Call any one of Maui Dive Shop’s activity desk locations for more information on these or any other island activities.
Please contact us at 800-542-3483 for information and reservations for all of our locations.
