No more local fish stores?

captmicha

captmicha

Le tired.
Dec 6, 2006
2,052
0
36
40
Maryland, USA
It seems like all the local fish stores around me are closing... I just learned yet another one is closing. I really don't want to buy livestock at Petco/smart. :( And online can get pricey with shipping, I don't usually need to buy a boxful of fish or really uncommon ones to make the shipping worthwhile.

Anybody else see this trend in their area?
 
I did for a while, but recently two have sprung back. I think it ebbs and flows...one thing about the economy being awful is that rent is cheaper than ever. I think people are willing to spend money on their aquariums, and do so at a brick and mortar shop, as long as the prices are reasonable. More so on the dry goods than the livestock, the livestock is usually cheaper at an LFS in my experience.

These two new LFS have much better prices, a Rena XP4 is $104, for example. That's very competitive with online prices. They have to either do that, or offer price matching if they expect to make money on equipment. People aren't going to be fooled, paying $100 for a $60 canister filter!
 
It's a fact of modern life.
Stores that carry livestock have difficulty competing with stores that aren't required - by their customers - to keep livestock.
Did you purchase your last filter on line, at a discount store, or at your good local fish store?
Legislation, quite often backed by naive single species pet owners, is strangling what can be sold or kept.
Governmental policies quite often hinder traffic with or with out meaning to.
Habitat destruction is reducing the home ranges of 'wild caught' breeding stock.
Clubs die out as younger people don't want to be bothered with supporting them and the old folks are dying.

The usual litany of why one can't find what they used to.
 
Keep in mind that the lfs has to buy their products from a distributor and has a much higher overhead than a mailorder warehouse. Larger mailorder companies can order directly from the manufacturer which shaves a layer of margin (30%-50%) out of their prices. Add in their lower overhead and their retail pricing can often be lower than what a lfs can BUY the product for from their distributor.

If a lfs price matches the online pricing they are probably selling the product for little margin and possibly at a loss. But they will do that for a good customer who will buy other items (like fish, live foods, and plants) where they can make money.

It's easy to accuse the lfs of gouging their customers on prices when compared to mailorder but that's not really fair to them.

Andy
 
Well, am I supposed to subsidize them to keep them open? Bottom line is, anything you can get at the LFS, you nearly 100% of the time, can get cheaper (in terms of equipment), or vastly better quality/selection (in terms of livestock) on the web. I'm not happy to pay their overhead, and am not willing to support them just out of principle. If they can't hack it, they can't hack it. Nothing to lament, and nothing to regret. Get with the times, or shut your doors. No skin off my back, either way.
 
I like to just buy livestock from LFS, not equipment or other hard goods unless they have some kind of sale that makes spending my money there make sense, as opposed to saving money and buying online. I don't have enough money to keep small businesses afloat. I have to shop good deals where I find them.

Well, am I supposed to subsidize them to keep them open? Bottom line is, anything you can get at the LFS, you nearly 100% of the time, can get cheaper (in terms of equipment), or vastly better quality/selection (in terms of livestock) on the web. I'm not happy to pay their overhead, and am not willing to support them just out of principle. If they can't hack it, they can't hack it. Nothing to lament, and nothing to regret. Get with the times, or shut your doors. No skin off my back, either way.
Click to expand...
It's your money. You have a right to spend it as you see fit, at least when it comes to fish keeping!
 
Ours seem to be holding there own here - but I have found that I prefer shopping online for just about everything. I can get equipment for 1/3 to 1/2 the LFS price and I can get livestock directly from the breeder's tanks to my front door. I just sold 6 CPD's to someone and their total price (with shipping) is $36 - so they are paying $6 a fish - the exact same price you would pay at the LFS AND these fish don't need a QT - just some acclimation time and good food. If you shop around and read the feedback of the breeders you can buy with confidence - much more confidence than I have in LFS stock (unless its mine, of course :)). That's not to say that I want the LFS to go away - I don't - I hope to open a shop/hatchery someday. If (and when) I do it will be run much differently than the ones I sell to right now.
 
I try to buy stuff from the LFS. I like having them around. There are 2 favorites. One is closer to my house, but really specializes in saltwater. It is owned by a young guy who is doing a great job running it and I intend to support him. The other is much farther away from my house, but is more freshwater. The owner does a great job with his fish. He often has spawning fish in his store and goes out of his way to care for them. I think it is very telling that the fish are spawning - he's obviously feeding them well and keeping his tanks clean. The top row of tanks on one wall (to high to be easily seen) are all breeding tanks, and many fish breed right in the display tanks. I support him when I can also.

Yeah, it costs more, but I would hate to lose those stores. It would be sad to see everything go the way of PetSmart. Did you know that they only stock small animals of one gender, so you can't breed them?? Or maybe it is so the employees don't have to know the difference and make sure to keep them separate... They won't take back fish that get too big, too aggressive, etc. They won't take fish from local breeders, no matter how good the quality. I like my LFS's.
 
All good reasons to support a quality LFS. I don't mind paying a little extra for stuff like food and the cheaper equipment like airline tubing, sponge filters, etc...I just can't see paying the sky high prices on the more expensive equipment like bulbs, HOB filters, liquid ferts, etc. One really nice thing is that rock, driftwood and such are usually more available at an LFS vs. a pet store. That's the kind of stuff I'd like to see in person before I buy it. Rocks aren't exactly cheap to ship, either!

When you factor in shipping, the livestock is almost always a better deal. Sometimes the variety is lacking, but not always. I like knowing the fish are already adapted to my water chemistry and are probably recovered from their shipping stress.

Really, there are lots of reasons to shop at an LFS...however, they need to somehow find a way to hybridize their stores with the internet and develop an online ordering system. The internet shouldn't be the enemy, it is such a powerful marketing tool...they should be embracing it. If an LFS isn't on Facebook, has a website with a shopping cart, etc. they aren't going to go nearly as far, in my opinion. This is one area where a lot of LFS are very much lacking, to their detriment.
 
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