Pathetic things about my LFS.

Yuri De Lima

Yuri De Lima

AC Members
Nov 2, 2005
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Alexandria,VA
Sometimes I think about the pathetic things that people do to their stores.

There is a fish here in Va called Super Pets (the only person here that I know knows about such store is Roan Art), well they sell all kind of pets. Snakes, birds, cats, dogs and fish. They have the biggest selection of fish around here (and the most organize one), they go tank after tanks of freshwater fish, if I believe it's about 4 to 5 aisles of freshwater fish, at least one of this is dedicated to chiclid fish. At the end cap of the aisle they got a section for saltwater fish (at least 20 or more of them), They got a beautiful display tank of a Lion Fish (the biggest one i've seen). At the entrace they got a huge acrylic tank (actually 2 tanks with a tunnel that connects them) with a big shark and another big black fish). There are also other display tanks around the store (chiclid, australian rainbow fish, angelfish, now even a turtle display.

The problem that I have with this store is that sometimes I will go in their looking for things and can't find them, they don't have.
1-CO2 system and equipment
2-good looking rocks

Another problem their pricing system/tags, they are all write with markers on the side of the tanks, which makes it very hard to find the price for anything (besides the inconvinience of blocking the costumer's view).

I just find it pathetic that someone should be running such a big store and not invest in those kind of things.

I believe that just by organizing their store better they would have a noticeable increase in their profits. Then they could target their costumer service (which sucks).


What do you guys think? What would you do if you owned such place? Any thoughts? Opinions? Comments? Sentiments?
 
Yuri De Lima said:
Sometimes I think about the pathetic things that people do to their stores...
What do you guys think? What would you do if you owned such place? Any thoughts? Opinions? Comments? Sentiments?
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You mean they actually have nice tanks with no dead fish and clean, clear water? You won't find that here in central Florida. The pricing on the tanks come directly out of the game 'pin the tail on the donkey'... As far as CO2 systems, they are not that big in demand, but it seems most places should offer it as a special order item. I wonder how most LFS down here stay open -- it's that bad.
 
Maybe my standards have dropped, but I would be happy to find a place with a large selection and clean, well-maintained tanks. CO2 stuff I can get for a lot less online or at a non-aquarium supply house.
 
What I Said Is What I Mean.

Yes, they have got a decent selection of fish. A good quatity of them too.

The is one thing I appreciate about the place though, it's their display thank, especially the one with the Lion Fish (saltwater), it's a beautiful fish indeed and just to think it's poisonous and will eat any fish smaller than itself.

As far as talking to manager I don't think I will be doing that anytime soon.
It's a family run business, I guess they been running it that way for a long time, kinda of a tradition, let them do what they think is right.

I do dream of a dream pet fish store place...don't know when I'll see one like that. But what can I do...keep on dreaming.
 
The problem I have with that store is finding someone, ANYONE, to help you. HAH! Want a goldfish? Be prepared to spend 15 mins just hunting someone down and then waiting another xx minutes for them to be finished with what they are currently doing.

The store is HUGE and he's not kidding about the cichlids.

I've never seen so many fish for sale in one place in my life. There are some dead fish and fungus, but those are in like every 5th tank and only a couple of fish. When you take into account the size of the store, the number of employees (which always appears non-existent), and the number of tanks in that store it's amazing the fish are so healthy.

The fish tanks are organzed and well-labeled with scientific names in most cases (imagine that!), but they are hard to read because the labels are small and written in cursive.

At both ends of every row of fish tanks are display tanks with awesome specimens inside.

At the front of the store, at the beginning of the tanks, there is a HUGE tank full of BIG cichlids. I don't know cichlids very well, but there were two Oscars and one had to be 12-14". Another tank with at least one Irian Rainbowfish (Red Rainbowfish) close to full grown. I'd say he was 5" with at least another inch to go.

The dry goods are a nightmare. No prices on anything that I could find. The only copies of the books I wanted, Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential. . ./Reef Secrets/and so on were in a 180g tank stacked in with other recently published and popular marine books, covered with a wood canopy and more stuff. No way to get into the tank without help and no way to get help. Walked out without the book.

The tanks at the front that Yuri is referring to are a total of 750g, including the bridge connecting them. There's a small nurse shark and a remorra in there.

It's a great place for intermediate or experienced fish keepers who know what they are looking for.

Personally, to improve the store I would: organize the dry goods, organize the employees/hire more, reorganize the other departments as well.

The only thing we bought at the store that day was a ball python.

Oh, before I forget -- the lionfish was awesome, BUT the tank was sitting down where any kid over the age of 6 could stick their hand in it. Not so smart, IMHO.

Roan
 
Oh, before I forget -- the lionfish was awesome, BUT the tank was sitting down where any kid over the age of 6 could stick their hand in it.
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- Roan

Good point that I missed. It doesn't mae sense for them to put a "Do not touch, i'm poisonous" sign on the outside of the tank when the tank is so low that a kid could just stick his hand right in. I on't know if anobody has been to that store lately but they have set up a new turtle tank besides the Lion Fish one and the turtle tank is just as low and has got an open top.


I sure wouldn't want my finger bitten off by a turtle.
 
Roan Art said:
...
I've never seen so many fish for sale in one place in my life. There are some dead fish and fungus, but those are in like every 5th tank .... .
Roan
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I suppose that's an acceptable number of losses, since there doesn't seem to be enough employees.
 
From what I've seen they have about 4-5 people that take care of the fish. Of course they are not there all the time. They usually have 2-3 people wokring during busy hours/weekends.

I suppose that should be enough people to care of fish.
 
I have to agree totally. We went there first when we were setting up our new aquarium, however, wo couldn't find prices on anything we were interested in! We asked for help on the price of a tank and the kid walked off never to be seen again. The book selection for freshwater fish was pitiful...lots of salt water but very very limited fresh. We really needed someone who could answer questions on new things as it had been several years since we'd had tanks running. We left there totally frustrated, went to Wally's down the street and had plenty of help and spent a small fortune ;>...although, their prices were way higher than I could have gotten online had i just known what I wanted and needed. Frustrating to see that much at Superpetz and not be able to get any help!
 
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