Well said Ryan.
The world of business is not as simplistic as it may seem to your young eyes, jags.
The world of business is not as simplistic as it may seem to your young eyes, jags.
my lfs is shot
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Threads gotten a little out of hand so with all due respect to the members here and others who are business owners,I commend you for taking the chance on opening such establishments but some of you seem to believe that LFS and their owners are above criticism...It goes without saying that one can run a business however he or she sees fit and no one should be foolish enough that they can't understand that but the op mentioned other things about the shopkeeper that may or may not be customer friendly.Like I said in a previous post,if it's perfectly okay to go on and on about how awesome a store might be then it should be okay to mention other points about it as well.
I find it funny that people are up in arms about the fact that somebody has something other than glowing reviews about their LFS. I have two LFS' where I'm from and one of them is terrible and the other is sub-par. I go into the terrible one routinely and chat with the owner about this and that but he knows next to nothing about his aquatic selection and won't order anything in (I'd be willing to pay a premium just to shop local), I'm stuck ordering online and heading to a different town to suit my needs.
It sounds like LFS's everywhere are shutting down, know what that means? They need to adapt, it's simple. It's incredibly difficult to compete with online stores as a store with an actual brick and mortar store due to the increased overhead... But so what? You adapt. Go above and beyond for your customers.
I'd be willing to pay a premium for good customer service and knowledgeable staff. If my LFS's gave any kind of useful service and acted like they wanted my business I would shop there instead of online. Is this wrong?
It sounds like LFS's everywhere are shutting down, know what that means? They need to adapt, it's simple. It's incredibly difficult to compete with online stores as a store with an actual brick and mortar store due to the increased overhead... But so what? You adapt. Go above and beyond for your customers.
I'd be willing to pay a premium for good customer service and knowledgeable staff. If my LFS's gave any kind of useful service and acted like they wanted my business I would shop there instead of online. Is this wrong?
Okay...the opening post might have been a little whiny but all he's doing is criticizing and even after the above quoted post most everyone still jumped on his back.
Agreed.
And I don't believe that anyone was up in arms about the OP criticizing one of his LFS, it was the manner in which he was doing so. That, and his total disrespect for those with a difference of opinion. (those comments were apparently removed by a mod)
The OP seems to think that somehow he sets the business model for all the LFS in his area. lol
As an example, many hobbyists that don't have a background in business, and have never owned or managed a business, don't seem to grasp the fact that for the most part prices are dictated by operating costs. You can't compare store A with store B, unless you have all of their financials in hand. Store A may pay an enormous sum of money for rent, while store B down the road bought their building and land 40 yrs ago, and paid for it many years back. Store A could pay their employees twice as much as store B, store A may not have the same wholesale sources as store B, etc-etc. While store A may have higher prices, that doesn't neccessarily equate to that store being "gougers", or " trying to put one over on their customers".
I believe that's all Ryan was saying, and I totally agree with him. You may not agree with the a stores prices, but that doesn't mean that they are attempting to put one over on anyone.
BTW - If I ordered a fish from Jeff Rapps, the minimum order is $250.00 of fish with an additional clearance fee of $186.00 per shipment for US Fish and Wildlife, and of course the cost of shipping. Minimum cost before the actual fish would probably be close to $300, with fish approx $550.00. Is Jeff attempting to get one over on me, or is he a gouger? I certainly don't think so. It's his business, and I can either choose to jump through the hoops, and pay his price, or shop elsewhere. What I wouldn't do if I disagreed with some of his fees, is start a thread on MFK accusing him of being a gouger, or trying to put one over on his customers.
Colorado still has a lot of great stores, I haven't hear of any closing, I go to golden fish for my rare fish http://www.goldenfishaquarium.com/ they have great fish for great prices, even though they sell their fish's more than fish stores they are healthy and well taken care of.
Beltway recently moved...to a smaller location...after closing for a bit. Their piss-poor service and deliberate lack of support for local clubs doesn't endure them to me, particularly.
HOT's been around for a long time and is a great supporter of CCA and other clubs (10% discount for all members), but Glen Burnie is a haul for many folks. I thought Capitol Aquarium in Sacramento couldn't go anywhere, but it closed...
There really isn't viable competition among LFS anymore (the way there was in say 1985). And less competition isn't good for hobbyists.
Matt
HOT's been around for a long time and is a great supporter of CCA and other clubs (10% discount for all members), but Glen Burnie is a haul for many folks. I thought Capitol Aquarium in Sacramento couldn't go anywhere, but it closed...
There really isn't viable competition among LFS anymore (the way there was in say 1985). And less competition isn't good for hobbyists.
Matt
Adapt = LFS quite selling anything other than bread and butter fish. Or quite selling fish altogether (just dog stuff)...
Matt
Matt
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