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What's up with these local fish stores? What happened to them?
The reason why I ask this question is because I was a Fish Store Junkie. You see long ago when I first got into the hobby, we, Delock, myself, and a few others, would cruise around the town checking out the local fish stores and what they had to offer by the way of design and layout of aquariums. I remember going to Beechnut Fish and Pet, The Fish Ranch, The Village, and other stores in our city to check out the multiple collection of display tanks they had laid around the store. You see back in the 1990s, all a person (potential customer) would have to do is to go to a fish store and see about 30-40% of the tanks in stores dedicated to showing customers different varieties of fresh and salt water tank setups. I remember seeing tanks set up with sand blast rocks with African root wood, seeing coral sand with holey rock, gray rocks with slate stones and multiple types of fish, different combinations, different selections, fish, fish, fish everywhere.
Why am I creating this thread? You see, the internet has spoiled me. Online breeders and online suppliers have cut my desire to go into the local fish stores. I haven’t been in one in over 3 to 5 yrs. About a month or so ago my brother wanted a new aquarium and I had a spare 58-gallon to give, so I gave it to him. Well, a week later he was ready to put something in it, so we went “fish hopping”. We hit about 4 stores and I was in shock at the stores. They did not look like a store I would be proud of. They had very few display tanks with all the high-end fish in little 10 gallons tanks for sell. Not showing the full potential of the fish by color and shape. And the display tanks they did have devoted to show were simple and had no complex lay out to them. The next week, I hit 3 more stores only to be let down again by a lack of the number display tanks and pride in tank layout in these stores.
Have I missed something by staying online to support my hobby? Did I let my local fish store down by getting better deals on supplies and fish online? Is this my fault?
What can we, as hobbyist, do to get these stores to get back to the basics and create complex display tanks to show customers what they can do with these aquariums they purchase in these local fish stores?
Am I alone in noticing the lack of pride in these stores? Storeowners release the creative juices that are in the young employees you have employed in your stores. Spend the money on new display tanks to get the attention of potential customers and lets recreate the pride we used to see back in the ‘90s.
Thanks for reading. :evil:
The reason why I ask this question is because I was a Fish Store Junkie. You see long ago when I first got into the hobby, we, Delock, myself, and a few others, would cruise around the town checking out the local fish stores and what they had to offer by the way of design and layout of aquariums. I remember going to Beechnut Fish and Pet, The Fish Ranch, The Village, and other stores in our city to check out the multiple collection of display tanks they had laid around the store. You see back in the 1990s, all a person (potential customer) would have to do is to go to a fish store and see about 30-40% of the tanks in stores dedicated to showing customers different varieties of fresh and salt water tank setups. I remember seeing tanks set up with sand blast rocks with African root wood, seeing coral sand with holey rock, gray rocks with slate stones and multiple types of fish, different combinations, different selections, fish, fish, fish everywhere.
Why am I creating this thread? You see, the internet has spoiled me. Online breeders and online suppliers have cut my desire to go into the local fish stores. I haven’t been in one in over 3 to 5 yrs. About a month or so ago my brother wanted a new aquarium and I had a spare 58-gallon to give, so I gave it to him. Well, a week later he was ready to put something in it, so we went “fish hopping”. We hit about 4 stores and I was in shock at the stores. They did not look like a store I would be proud of. They had very few display tanks with all the high-end fish in little 10 gallons tanks for sell. Not showing the full potential of the fish by color and shape. And the display tanks they did have devoted to show were simple and had no complex lay out to them. The next week, I hit 3 more stores only to be let down again by a lack of the number display tanks and pride in tank layout in these stores.
Have I missed something by staying online to support my hobby? Did I let my local fish store down by getting better deals on supplies and fish online? Is this my fault?
What can we, as hobbyist, do to get these stores to get back to the basics and create complex display tanks to show customers what they can do with these aquariums they purchase in these local fish stores?
Am I alone in noticing the lack of pride in these stores? Storeowners release the creative juices that are in the young employees you have employed in your stores. Spend the money on new display tanks to get the attention of potential customers and lets recreate the pride we used to see back in the ‘90s.
Thanks for reading. :evil:
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