LFS Prices!!!

mvigor

mvigor

Aquarium Hobbyist
Mar 24, 2005
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Lunchlady land
www.vigorfamily.com
LFS Prices!!! Arm, Leg, First Born Child!

My wife's new-ish 10 gallon tank in her Kindergarten classroom came in a $30 kit from Wal-Mart with a filter that wasn't good enough.

I went out last night to the LFS to buy a replacement filter for her tank. I wanted one that used the same kind of filter media cartridges as another tank I have at home...I didn't need one more different thing to "keep in stock" if you know what I mean.

I decided to buy a Bio-Wheel Penguin 150 that takes "Rite Size B" cartridges. I knew I had seen one on sale in a recent catalog mailing for under $19.

Guess how much they were at the LFS last night?

$40.99.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

I *LOVE* to support local merchants and I really do hate to get mail order when doing it means that I might contribute to a local store going out of business. But they are just doing this to themselves when they can't even begin to compete on price with the catalog INCLUDING SHIPPING!

I ended up settling for an older filter from the back of the shelf, a discontinued Penguin 125 that takes the same size cartridges and I paid them $24 for it.
 
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LFS can never compete with with online stores pricewise. Many LFS have limited storage and shelf space so they cannot order in bulk for reduced prices. A successful online store will have a much broader audience and larger warehouses for storage, so they can buy in bulk and pass that savings onto the consumer.

Online stores also don't have to keep up a presentable storefront, they can have their warehouse in the middle of nowhere and save on rent, again passing their savings to the consumers.
 
It all makes sense, your local LFS does not make most of their money on the fish they sell. It is the products, ie. tanks, filters, etc... They have a lot more overhead and have to make more per sale to keep in business. The people that buy from them are people who: A. do not know they can get it cheaper online, B. Have way too much money to care, C. buy from them as a loyalty thing because they keep them full with advise, or D. Do not have money but are gonna get that **** 75 gallon tank because it looks cool and they have money left on their charge card, hehe. I will buy my filters, test kits, Prime, and food from the local LFs, it is more expensive but it gives me a good reason to go and bug them about silly questions my wandering mind has come up with. I also buy all my fish from them, they will special order if i want them to. gravel is another one, because of shipping, and you can get a good look at it or if I am buying something like a heater that i need in a hurry and is not too terribly expensive anyway. But when it comes to the rest of it, I try to go online. This board is GREAT, but sometimes when you have questions, you just want to see someone and talk to them face to face for your questions, so it is not a bad idea to keep them in business.

Dan
 
Well the LFS isn't the one to blame for the price. They have to make a living too. Do you have any idea how many units they have to buy and store to get prices like you see in catalogs. Acme Catalog Sales buys and stores trailer loads of items. Whereas Mr. LFS owner might have a few hundred square feet to stock everything you see in the catalog PLUS add to that -X- number of tanks to house all the livestock. Add on top of that the overhead to operate a LFS..taxes, liscense, payroll, rent / mortgage, and a myriad of other expenses and you come up with a total of 40.99 for a filter that sells for 19.99 in a catalog. This topic has been beat on for so long its not funny. I myself am broke and live paycheck to paycheck but I still support the LFS owner. I get all the catalogs and I glean as much info off them as possible to make a more educated purchase and to see whats available..but I don't buy from them. I go to the store on Saturday and hang out for a couple hours and yak with people and learn from them and tech some of them too. I've gotten square deals from the owner before for helping out some new folks with questions they had and the help at the store were busy with other customers and couldn't devote time to them. I got a nice discount and made new freinds. Do what y'all want..I just dig my hobby and the fishheads that are in it..so long live the LFS ! ! :dance:
 
For that price your lfs is ripping you off, I don't care what kind of living they are try to make. The 150 penguins at my lfs are 23.00. I bought my 330 for 42.99. And the store owners wonder why no one wants to buy there store, if they would get realistic on the prices they may be able to sale a lot more of there store instead of wiping the dust off of it once a month. Just my opinion.
 
Do what I do, print off the price it is online at petco or petsmart and have them pricematch it in store.

In store the Emperor 280 I just bought last week was $55 in Petsmart. Printed off the product page from their own site and got it for $34!! Seems like most of the stuff on their own site is 30 to 40% off the instore price. I now bring a printout of everything I buy and dont buy until I check the online price first. I'm a single mum and if i can get it cheaper this way, then it works for me!!!

I like to support local business too, but my LFS prices are even worse them petsmarts for equipment, and I only buy there if thy are the only ones that have the product. But I do buy most of my fish at the LFS since they are cared for better even though fish are sometimes double the price.
 
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I worked at a LFS, I saw price lists, and made orders for both fish and dry goods. And let me tell ya the mark up is astronomical.

Basically for fish, expect that you will be paying a mark up of 200-400% depending on the fish.

Dry goods get marked up anywhere from 80-200%

Then they whine about how they don't make any money, well its no wonder with how high prices are and then that stifles people buying things, or they just simply go elsewhere.
 
Now to be fair, when I compared fish at my local LFS and even ordered fish through them, the prices were very comparable if not exact to the online prices (Liveaquaria.com).

MY Tank:

55 Gallon Tank
Penguin Bio-Wheel
2 Submersible Heaters
Flora-Glo Lights
4 Live Plants
3 Silver Lyretail Mollies
5 Rosy Barbs (3 Red, 2 Gold)
1 Dwarf Blue Gourami
1 Otto
1 Clown Loach
1 Pleco
5 Cories (1 Brown/Elegans?, 1 Albino, 1 Panda, 2 Sterbas)
2 Golden Veil Angels
2 Bosami Rainbows
Plus: 1 Castle, A cool Clear Rock on a Peice of Slate, and two really cool colorful glass rocks.
 
Just fixed my Signature... Not using the 10 gallon anymore, UPGRADED....
 
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