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I’ve been waxing nostalgic for some of the old, long-gone aquarium stores I remember from my childhood:
Hawaiian Marine Imports, Town & Country Village (BW8 & Memorial), 1970s. For a few years in the mid-late 70s, my dad had a 20 gallon fish-only saltwater aquarium. I was so young when he finally got fed up and tore it down, I barely remember it, but I remember my older brother’s stories of going with my dad to Hawaiian Marine Imports and picking out fish.
Pet shop in Greenspoint Mall, very early 1980s. When I was in preschool or kindergarten my older brother got a 5 gallon aquarium complete with shipwreck and treasure chest. The first place we went to (over)stock it with fish was the pet shop in Greenspoint mall.
Tropical Treasures, Kuykendahl south of FM 1960, early 1980s. Pretty soon we discovered this place, with its much more expansive assortment of fish, and it became our main fish store.
Pet shop in Willowbrook Mall, mid 1980s. In 1985, right before I started 4th grade, we moved from Cypresswood to Champion Forest, so Willowbrook became our new mall. I fell in love with the fancy mice in the pet store there, and since my mother didn’t want rodents in the house, my parents bought me a 10 gallon fish aquarium for my next birthday instead.
Pet shop at northeast corner of Louetta and Stuebner Airline, mid 1980s. Don’t remember the name of this little mom’n’pop, but it’s where I got my first brackish fish, a figure 8 puffer and some bumblebee gobies, and I’ve been hooked ever since. By then my brother had upgraded to a 10 gallon, too, and he got his first African cichlids, an M. auratus and a socolofi.
Anything Fishy, Willowbrook Commons across from Willowbrook Mall, mid-late 1980s through early 1990s. Some time in the mid-late 1980s my family’s Friday night ritual was to go to Marco’s Mexican restaurant in Willowbrook Commons. Since there was always a wait, my dad would put our name in and we’d walk over to Anything Fishy while we waited for our table. This place was such a leap forward from the dingy mom’n’pop LFSs with their scuffed linoleum tile, narrow aisles of glass aquariums on homemade wooden racks, it blew our minds with its new carpeting, wide livestock aisles with all-acrylic tanks set in sleek black cabinetry, it was as sleek and hip and edgy as a Miami Vice episode (Miami Vice being still sleek and hip and edgy at the time.) It’s what got my dad interested in a saltwater aquarium again. Of course eventually Anything Fishy moved to 290 and became Aquarium World, and is going on 20 years there, but the Willowbrook Anything Fishy still sticks out in my mind as the first “modern” aquarium store.
So anyone else have fond memories of these places, or any of your own you want to reminisce about?
Hawaiian Marine Imports, Town & Country Village (BW8 & Memorial), 1970s. For a few years in the mid-late 70s, my dad had a 20 gallon fish-only saltwater aquarium. I was so young when he finally got fed up and tore it down, I barely remember it, but I remember my older brother’s stories of going with my dad to Hawaiian Marine Imports and picking out fish.
Pet shop in Greenspoint Mall, very early 1980s. When I was in preschool or kindergarten my older brother got a 5 gallon aquarium complete with shipwreck and treasure chest. The first place we went to (over)stock it with fish was the pet shop in Greenspoint mall.
Tropical Treasures, Kuykendahl south of FM 1960, early 1980s. Pretty soon we discovered this place, with its much more expansive assortment of fish, and it became our main fish store.
Pet shop in Willowbrook Mall, mid 1980s. In 1985, right before I started 4th grade, we moved from Cypresswood to Champion Forest, so Willowbrook became our new mall. I fell in love with the fancy mice in the pet store there, and since my mother didn’t want rodents in the house, my parents bought me a 10 gallon fish aquarium for my next birthday instead.
Pet shop at northeast corner of Louetta and Stuebner Airline, mid 1980s. Don’t remember the name of this little mom’n’pop, but it’s where I got my first brackish fish, a figure 8 puffer and some bumblebee gobies, and I’ve been hooked ever since. By then my brother had upgraded to a 10 gallon, too, and he got his first African cichlids, an M. auratus and a socolofi.
Anything Fishy, Willowbrook Commons across from Willowbrook Mall, mid-late 1980s through early 1990s. Some time in the mid-late 1980s my family’s Friday night ritual was to go to Marco’s Mexican restaurant in Willowbrook Commons. Since there was always a wait, my dad would put our name in and we’d walk over to Anything Fishy while we waited for our table. This place was such a leap forward from the dingy mom’n’pop LFSs with their scuffed linoleum tile, narrow aisles of glass aquariums on homemade wooden racks, it blew our minds with its new carpeting, wide livestock aisles with all-acrylic tanks set in sleek black cabinetry, it was as sleek and hip and edgy as a Miami Vice episode (Miami Vice being still sleek and hip and edgy at the time.) It’s what got my dad interested in a saltwater aquarium again. Of course eventually Anything Fishy moved to 290 and became Aquarium World, and is going on 20 years there, but the Willowbrook Anything Fishy still sticks out in my mind as the first “modern” aquarium store.
So anyone else have fond memories of these places, or any of your own you want to reminisce about?
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