Petsmart and its "BIG SALES"!! (a true story!!) :P

[garryp]

Scene in Fish Store 2 days ago: Got any Cherry Shrimp? No we are out. Are you sure you carry them, because I never see any here? Let me check, yes we carry them, it says so right here in the computer at $6 ea. - but we are out.

So I bought 10 Glass Shrimp at $033 ea, 3 still alive as of lights-out.

 

[rufioman]

90% of my fish originally came from petsm*rt. While they do not have access to good genetics or proper shipping methods, it is a good outlet for "cheap fish". I have since stopped shopping there but for some people it's all they get.

:cheers:

 

[Ghpr1957]

I been going through this same thing with Pet Smart since the first of the year. I too have wanted to buy some Cardinal Tetras, about 12 of them, but each time I go to one of two Pet Smarts that I shop at, they never have any in. I have a raincheck, and just yesterday, I had the manager of the one store redo the raincheck because it was to expire on 1/29/12. One of the asst. managers told me that Pet Smart will not allow them to over ride there order and request more fish. She was upset too because of not being able to get enough Cardinals to sell. She's losing sales and upset customers, yet she said her hands were tied. I've been pretty lucky with Pet Smart where I live. I have 1 that is very close to my house and 2 others that I can go to if need be. The one closes to my house is the best, but it's very frustrating that they put fish on sale, and then don't get a supply large enough to last more than a day.
I only have 2 LFS where I live, and ones a dump, and the other is rather expensive and not very friendly.
Ghpr1957

 

[cicrush13]

Hate to say it but Petsmarts system is now automated.

The store cannot order any volume of fish especially if they are selling well.
They get what they get from their distributor and that's it.

The sale also ends on Sunday this week.

 

[kgymn]

I was lucky enough to get to take advantage of this sale. Partly because I went in ON New Years Day, and caught some then. And then I stalked their shipment, and despite the warnings from both posters here and the staff at the store I went in as soon as I could on Tuesday so I could get some cardinals before they sold out. It seems my local petsmart gets shipments of more than 5, though. There must have been at least a dozen of them when I went in on tuesday, so I got 6 and figured if even 4 of them died, I paid less than paying $4 each anywhere else.

Well, Friday night and so far no dead cardinals. I guess I am just lucky my store gets more in than 5 per week!

~Katy

 

[eveliens]

Hate to say it but Petsmarts system is now automated.

The store cannot order any volume of fish especially if they are selling well.
They get what they get from their distributor and that's it.

The sale also ends on Sunday this week.

^this.

Depending on the store's history of sales AND the warehouse's status determines how many the store gets. The store I worked at was moderately busy and we averaged 6 cardinals an order. For the $1 sales we MIGHT have gotten 12 and they generally sold out immediately (within 1 day). Cardinals are a popular tetra that isn't bred on the scale neons are.

For a large quantity of 50 I'd look into different avenues I also would've snagged those 5 before they were even released from the bag and QT'd them.

 

[FireDancer7905]

Wow, sorry to hear of the op's experience. We bought 24 cardinals from our local Petsmart about a month ago and haven't lost a one!

 

[hybridd23]

It's always a 50/50% chance my fish have ich when I buy it at petsmart, but they do have great deals once in a while.

 

[ManEatingShrimp]

I am not sure about Petsmart but I got into a conversation with the manager of my local Petco and he told me that there is a kind of ranking system for the stores. He was pretty annoyed as he explained that his store was the lowest rank (because it just opened in the summer of 2011) and because of that he could not order specific things- he got what they gave him. Not only that but they sometimes did not give him his full shipment. That day I had gone in with the hopes of buying some moss and java fern but his shipment was missing both. From what he said I think that if a store has high sales in a certain department they can actually order what they need.

 

[naliel]

I wouldn't get cardinals from petsmart that just got released from the bag or from any place for that matter. They may not even make the trip back home.​

That's right. That's why I wanted to get as many as possible to at least end up with a decent size school of Cardinals.

I just hope you were prepared to quarantine them! I know $1 is a great price, but out of 50 fish you know one is bound to have problems.

I was soo ready. I have a 10gl running just for that purpose (sp?) with a few guppies in there to keep the beneficial bacteria in shape.