What do You want to see in a pet store?

[mscichlid]

While on another forum, someone asked this question. I thought it was a good one and would like to hear some of your opinions.

What do you think is wrong with fish stores? What would make you go more often?

However, I want to remind you that this is not for stores that exist. Do not bring up any established businesses. Your post will be deleted as to not offend our sponsors or those to be.


My 2 cents. Thanks for asking.


Enforce a Customer service policy as number one priority.

Sell new tank setups with voucher to pick up fish when tank is cycled.

Include ammonia test kit in the new tank kit

Pay attention to trends in the hobby.

Dry goods are waaayyy over priced as compared to online+shipping offers.

Offer club members discounts

Give hobbyist who bring in fish, plants, shrimp - a decent price or better credit

Have the tank cleaning people clean the tanks before the store opens. Not while the store is open for business. The rest of their day would better utilized picking out dead fish, cleaning the glass, serving feeders, checking tanks for sick fish. etc.

Take sick fish out of central system

Have a farm tank for plants.

Have plants labeled by light requirements.

Label the species correctly.

Offer driftwood and rocks, and sand by the pound

Offer a variety of substrates

Hire people that have fish and plant keeping experience

 

[jonclark96]

You hit a lot of the things that I would look for. Here are a few more:

- A good mix of popular and harder to find fish understanding that the rare stuff would only come around so often. It would help to get serious hobbists in the door on a regular basis for more than just chatting it up with the workers in the store.
- Properly labelled fish
- Open layout with the same amount of tanks. So many of the stores that are still around are stuffing as much as they can in to a little space to save on rent.
- Appropriate sized tanks for cichlids. 20 babies in a 10 gallon tank means all but 1 or 2 are getting beaten on.
- No tatooed fish.

I'll add more when I think of them.

 

[UNCLERUCKUS]

You guys hit it dead on. I also would like to see salepeople actually know what they are selling. Knowledgeable staff is a must. Offer local breeders better prices on the fish they bring in. Lastly, just be clean and uncluttered.

 

[fischfan13]

Do not bring up any established businesses. Your post will be deleted as to not offend our sponsors or those to be.

You guys really need to check out ******** *********. They don't have any of the rare stuff, but pretty much everything else mentioned here is attended to at this store.

I would also like to say that I miss *****.:-(

Geesh.

 

[Leffler817]

All of my requests or pet peeves have been hit already, but mislabelled tanks really agrivates me. I feel like some places enjoy the confusion. lol.

I do enjoy getting emails of newsletters/sales or store events. I think its a good way to remind people or promote more business.

 

[dogofwar]

Yes - mislabeling / mis and non-pricing are my pet peeves.



Matt

 

[Nathan]

One that does lots of business so it will stay in business.

 

[FishInMaryland]

Not just correctly labelled tanks, but thumbnail pics of each species - newbies don't know one from the other just by scientific names. It's also nice to see some already-set-up tanks in the stores that are clean, etc. Pretty inspiring!

 

[verbal]

I do enjoy getting emails of newsletters/sales or store events. I think its a good way to remind people or promote more business.

I agree about email newsletters, I think a good website could help a lot of stores. At the very least some pictures of some of the interesting fish that they carry. It would be really nice to have some listings of equipment prices, and maybe even a way to order for pick-up at the store.

I think display tank(s) are a LFS best practice. What I think would be great would be offering juves for sale in a tank nearby.

I agree with an earlier post that thumbnails on the tanks would be a good idea.

 

[dogofwar]

The main LFS fish interest for me comes from trade-in fish...so stores that have a decent trade in policy are good. This doesn't mean that they must take every stunted oscar with a rotten head...and pay $50 for it...but that a store is open to providing say 1/3 credit for fish that they think that they can sell.

I honestly think that designing a store around catering to the 10+ tank fish-club-type hobbyists is a formula for disaster for an LFS. That doesn't mean that stores shouldn't look for opportunities to partner with clubs (e.g. do group buys together, provide discounts, allow trade ins / credit for desirable and healthy fish, promote or sponsor club events, allow clubs to provide classes and education), it just means that a business plan based on the wants and needs of fish club folks is unlikely to be sustainable (without significant Internet / online business).

Matt

 

[Ophelia77]

I worked at a LFS after high school, and their biggest pet peeve has turned into mine with every store I walk into - DEAD FISH. Every morning before the store opened we had to check for dead/ sick fish and remove them immediately. Even these days as I take my kids into various stores, that's the last thing I want to see in a tank. Also, I think the sick ones should be as far away from the public eye as possible.

Another point is stocking. Lots of stores have either many empty tanks or lots of the same types of fish. Bring in some cool stuff, and have the thumbnails correct for he species. For myself, that is akin to someone telling me a Basset Hound will only weigh 45 pounds...

 

[ddavila06]

one thing i would really like to see is that they could not/would not sell hybrids and/or tattooed fish.

the store credit thing would be nice, but they get the fish for way less than 1/3 so is not bussiness for them...

knowledgeable staff

limitation of the fish that can be sold, for instance a lot of stores sell pacus, they get to monster sizes! should not be allowed...(same deal as red tail cat, shovelnose, common pleco) they should not be allowed to sell such fish.

 

[verbal]

one thing i would really like to see is that they could not/would not sell hybrids and/or tattooed fish.

limitation of the fish that can be sold, for instance a lot of stores sell pacus, they get to monster sizes! should not be allowed...(same deal as red tail cat, shovelnose, common pleco) they should not be allowed to sell such fish.

There are a few fish that flat out should not be sold as aquarium fish(the irridescent shark comes to mind).

Where I have an issue with the monster fish is you have tanks full of babies and no real indication of their potential size. Often at a LFS if they sell oscars they will have young fish, medium and few giants. So a customer should be able to figure out what they are getting into. A similar story with plecos. However at the big boxes all you see are the babies.

I personally don't like hybrids, but I don't think they should be restricted. A lot the platy/swordtails are some type of hybrid. There is a decent chance that BN plecos are also a hybrid of multiple wild species.

 

[verbal]

I honestly think that designing a store around catering to the 10+ tank fish-club-type hobbyists is a formula for disaster for an LFS. That doesn't mean that stores shouldn't look for opportunities to partner with clubs (e.g. do group buys together, provide discounts, allow trade ins / credit for desirable and healthy fish, promote or sponsor club events, allow clubs to provide classes and education), it just means that a business plan based on the wants and needs of fish club folks is unlikely to be sustainable (without significant Internet / online business).

I think it is pretty hard to be a generalized fish store in this area. I think a store has to have high mark-up specialty(or multiple). I think the areas are marine, discus, koi/goldfish and flowerhorns. I also think the internet has to be used as at least as a promotional tool.

 

[mscichlid]

I think using their websites as a dynamic marking tool to get folks into their store would be a good idea. Most have a static website with outdated info.

 

[Avatar]

No wild caught salt water fish or corals.

Fish stores and aquariums are generally just black holes for reef species that almost never get bred. A few exceptions but given the state of decline in the Earth's coral reefs and the financial underwriting and incentives that the hobby provides for people to loot local marine areas (often using discriminating and sophisticated harvesting tools like dynamite), buying such at a wholesale or retail level is essentially subsidizing/paying for crimes against nature.

At very least there should be a certification program and conservation/monitoring/enforcement tax for ensuring that the only imports that are allowed come from responsible and sustainably managed areas or cultivation facilities. Have actually considered drafting federal legislation in the past to basically ban foreign saltwater species imports into the USA possibly with the exception of those from countries that the Interior Department certifies as having adequate domestic legislation and enforcement to safeguard their own coral reef systems, or from similarly responsible marine 'farms'.

Try asking where the coral they sell comes from over Baltimore way (or anywhere else for that matter) - if you get the same answers I did they'll tell you they haven't got the slightest idea. Right. Only really one answer in such cases - some bozo was paid pennies for chopping or blasting it out of a reef somewhere on the other side of the world just so it could be shipped over here to eventually die.

Really great hobby, eh? So much for the dark side of keeping fish

 

[minifoot77]

online business).

Matt

However, I want to remind you that this is not for stores that exist. Do not bring up any established businesses. Your post will be deleted as to not offend our sponsors or those to be.

we shouldn't scrutinize some members for bringing up names of business's and not others.....

 

[Avatar]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dogofwar
online business).

Matt
Quote:
Originally Posted by mscichlid

However, I want to remind you that this is not for stores that exist. Do not bring up any established businesses. Your post will be deleted as to not offend our sponsors or those to be.

we shouldn't scrutinize some members for bringing up names of business's and not others.....

We shouldn't scrutinize some members for scrutinizing other members...

 

[mscichlid]

missed it divas. fixed.

 

[Avatar]

Wow - virtual omniscience...

...where do I sign up?