Flies in the Face of Good Business

Retail dive stores have some difficulty these days making a go of it, but here's a problem no one would expect: hover flies, pesky little things that look like bees but are harmless. However....

Open the door to Kimberley Park's Ocean Sports Scuba and Freediving School in Lompoc, California, and these little darlings are everywhere. And they're chasing customers away.

"People walking down the road avoid our dive shop like the plague 'cause they just see this swarm of flies and so they don't even want to walk by the front of our shop -- which is not good as a retail place," said Park.

That's the case for shopper Elisabeth Box, who said, "I was attracted to some things in the window, but I didn't stop because the flies were getting on my face and in my hair. That grossed me out."

"They've been here since we moved into the building, and we're cleaning it up, making it all shiny and new as a dive shop. [The flies have] been horrible from the start, but this time of year is for sure the worst," Park said. 

The flies are harmless, but damn annoying. About the only way you can dodge them is to strap on your gear before you walk in the door.

- Channel Three News, Lompoc, CA