More Than a Dive Store: How Community Carries a Business Forward by Jo Mikutowicz

This Issue’s Table of Contents
category: Retailing (3 min read)

Over 200 volunteers – a community comes together to help East Coast Divers.

by Jo Mikutowicz, Owner, Dive Tech, Grand Cayman

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But when someone in the dive community faces a real challenge, the debates disappear quickly. A medical emergency, storm damage, a lost business, a boat fire, or a personal hardship can turn those same opinionated divers into one of the most loyal and supportive communities anywhere. They share fundraisers, donate gear, organize events, offer boat space, volunteer their time, and ask what needs to be done.

That sense of community was on full display on May 28, 2026, when East Coast Divers (ECD) in Brookline, Massachusetts, suffered a devastating fire. The blaze destroyed the dive shop’s retail store, classrooms, service department, rental inventory, fill stations, and decades of accumulated scuba equipment and training resources. Beyond the physical and financial loss, the fire impacted a cornerstone of the New England diving community.

For more than 50 years, East Coast Divers has served as a gathering place for divers of all experience levels. It was where friendships formed, skills developed, and countless underwater adventures began. For owners Nick Fazah and Alex Dulavitz, the building represented years of commitment to growing East Coast Divers into a trusted part of the local dive community. Every classroom, display case, and service bench reflected countless hours spent teaching new divers, helping customers prepare for adventures, and creating a place where a shared passion for diving brought people together.

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In the days following the fire, the diving community rallied around East Coast Divers in an extraordinary show of support. Fellow dive shops, ECD employees, industry partners, and divers from across the world stepped forward to offer classroom space, warehouse storage, equipment, labor, boats, and other resources to help keep operations moving while the shop rebuilds.

A volunteer group formed quickly and grew to more than 200 members in under two hours. Volunteers spent countless hours assisting with recovery efforts, sorting debris, salvaging equipment and records where possible, cleaning and organizing recovered materials, and helping relocate essential operations so classes, service work, and dive trips could continue.

The response demonstrated that while the physical building may have been lost, the community East Coast Divers spent decades building remains strong. Classes are continuing, trips are still running, equipment is still being serviced, and the East Coast Divers team remains committed to serving divers as they rebuild.

For dive retailers, there is an important lesson in this story. A successful dive shop is more than inventory, classrooms, compressors, rental gear, and service benches. It is a community hub. It is the place where new divers become confident divers, customers become friends, and local diving becomes part of people’s lives.

At the end of the day, the diving community is not defined by debates over wetsuits versus drysuits, steel versus aluminum tanks, or whose dive computer is best. It is defined by people who share a passion for the underwater world and a commitment to supporting one another when it matters most. Divers may have different opinions on how to do things, but they are united by a common purpose: exploring, learning, protecting the sport they love, and standing together when one of their own needs help.

How to Support East Coast Divers

To help East Coast Divers, visit ECDIVERS.COM. Support options include donating to their GoFundMe, purchasing merchandise, enrolling in a class, or booking a dive trip.

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