Kellyco has been selling metal detectors for over 60 years and I am sure they have weathered a few financial storms in their time. But perhaps this particular financial storm may be the end of the road.
The nail in the coffin is some manufacturers moving to a direct sales model. Garrett and Minelab now sell directly to customers and whilst they still supply dealers they are, effectively, undermining those same dealers.
It is the same situation with distributors also selling. It is a conflict of interest because they are directly competing with the stores they supply. The distributor has a higher profit margin because they buy from the manufacturer for a much lower price than they sell to their dealers.
More on the Kellyco situation here:
https://treasurehuntingworld.com/is-thi ... r-kellyco/