Even though this has been hashed before, here are my $0.02...
A chain store is basically as good as management. Said thousands of times before here and elsewhere. Good management will hire good employees and inform them. While at min wage, you cant hire the experts, my experiences were not bad with our chain stores. They tell customers looking at Oscars or Pacu that they WILL get big. They catch puffers while keeping them in the water etc. They are also very nice all the way up to the store managers - which we have met several times as well.
You can have good, you can have bad - all depends. My chain stores here are better than some of the LFS. My Petsmart is Excellent and beats the pants off of Jacks Aquarium (LFS) which stinks because they dont know their head from their hole in the wall store. However, Petsoltions, their online equilivant is 150% better, but that is "different management".
Our Pet Supplies Plus got a new manager. Before it was cluttered and I only bought crickets from them since they were close to home. Now the store has been re-organized and it looks GREAT. I was very impressed with the new manager (which I have met). I will definaltely consider buying fish as well as other pets (which we just bought a cute dwarf hamster).
Complete Petmart is mainly a supply store so I can not comment on them since I do not frequent them. There are no PetCo's nearby either.
When looking at ANY petstore, you must evaluate it yourself to see if it is worthy. Some will pass, some will not. Some people do not have a choice because of distance.
Just my $0.02.
Aries
A chain store is basically as good as management. Said thousands of times before here and elsewhere. Good management will hire good employees and inform them. While at min wage, you cant hire the experts, my experiences were not bad with our chain stores. They tell customers looking at Oscars or Pacu that they WILL get big. They catch puffers while keeping them in the water etc. They are also very nice all the way up to the store managers - which we have met several times as well.
You can have good, you can have bad - all depends. My chain stores here are better than some of the LFS. My Petsmart is Excellent and beats the pants off of Jacks Aquarium (LFS) which stinks because they dont know their head from their hole in the wall store. However, Petsoltions, their online equilivant is 150% better, but that is "different management".
Our Pet Supplies Plus got a new manager. Before it was cluttered and I only bought crickets from them since they were close to home. Now the store has been re-organized and it looks GREAT. I was very impressed with the new manager (which I have met). I will definaltely consider buying fish as well as other pets (which we just bought a cute dwarf hamster).
Complete Petmart is mainly a supply store so I can not comment on them since I do not frequent them. There are no PetCo's nearby either.
When looking at ANY petstore, you must evaluate it yourself to see if it is worthy. Some will pass, some will not. Some people do not have a choice because of distance.
Just my $0.02.
Aries
