Lfs worried about internet ruining their business

[joe jaskot]

In my area (albany,ny) most people are ok with buying jags, jds, midevils and your very common stuff and paying way too much for it. A lot don't wanna or know about the online fish option. I used to trade with the lfs a lot but stopped because they had no clue of some of the fish I had and low balled me.

For example
I walked into said store(no name so I don't hurt them in any way) and said I was looking to trade a few fish. They said we don't trade unless its rare or worth it to sell in their store. I had a large redhead cichlid(11 inches), my female grammodes cichlid(wasn't gonna trade, they just wanted to know what I had), a 8 inch pure red devil.

Their response
We will take the redhead and give you $20 trade since we haven't seen one in years.( I didn't care as I got it for free, but not sure how they went years without seeing one and he said it was rare. Told me the grammodes was an african cichlid he had never seen before. I told him no its not african. He then said well it looks like a type of texas cichlid and they had one so didn't want it.(I laughed). Said the red devil was very common and he had 2 already.(they were midevils) said if I wanted to get rid of the devil and grammodes he would take them for free and see if they would sell.( I said no thanks)

This store had no knowledge of dovii, umbee, how to tell a true red terror from a mayan,and didn't know about the online buying or higher quality fish. I told them I hadn't bought a fish from a store in a few years unless it was used as a dither.

I would much rather spend $20 on shipping from rapps then drive the 20 mins to the mom and pop stores. Like right now I really want a high quality umbee. Rapps has 5 incher for $25 and $20 next day shipping. What a deal!!! I'm hooked to online buying for fish and supplies.

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One has to realize that in most LFS big fish don't sell every day. Some large fish remain in stores for months. Those fish have to eat, and they usually tie up a tank until sold. LOL! When bringing a large fish to a store for a trade, don't expect to get much for it.

As far as knowing about all the different types of fish, i will bet you that I can name lots of fish that you have never heard of. Not all shops are familiar with every fish and how to tell them apart.

Try buying a fish from the west coast and see how much you will pay for overnight shipping. Try buying a $2.00 part you need to repair your equipment and see how much it costs with shipping. Online buying is not always the cheapest.

Mom and pop stores are the dinosaurs of the fish hobby. It won't be long until they are extinct.

 

[doomiedee]

One has to realize that in most LFS big fish don't sell every day. Some large fish remain in stores for months. Those fish have to eat, and they usually tie up a tank until sold. LOL! When bringing a large fish to a store for a trade, don't expect to get much for it.

As far as knowing about all the different types of fish, i will bet you that I can name lots of fish that you have never heard of. Not all shops are familiar with every fish and how to tell them apart.

Try buying a fish from the west coast and see how much you will pay for overnight shipping. Try buying a $2.00 part you need to repair your equipment and see how much it costs with shipping. Online buying is not always the cheapest.

Mom and pop stores are the dinosaurs of the fish hobby. It won't be long until they are extinct.

That's true but at the same time you could sell some of those fish online instead of having them tie up tanks. My lfs doesn't raise fry for this exact reason. Witch to me makes no sense if you could get a few breeding pairs and breed in house there will be profit being your cutting down on stock and shipping payments.




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[joe jaskot]

That's true but at the same time you could sell some of those fish online instead of having them tie up tanks. My lfs doesn't raise fry for this exact reason. Witch to me makes no sense if you could get a few breeding pairs and breed in house there will be profit being your cutting down on stock and shipping payments.




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Stores don't want to tie up a tank for months growing out fry to sell. In order to make a profit, you have to move fish. Owning a store is not like a hobby.

 

[justwinbb]

There is a guy about 10 miles from here that has had the same set up in his basement for over 40 years and still is going strong. I remember my dad taking me there when I was like 6 or 7 and about 2 years ago I stopped back in for the first time since I was a teenager and it was like walking back in time. I called him on a sunday because I ran out of media and he was like well Im not open on sunday but if you need it Im here for ya. I stopped in and him and I talked about everything from the old timers in the business that are no longer with us to the box stores. 2 hours later I was on my way home feeling like I just found an old friend. You cant get that on the internet or at a box store.

 

[doomiedee]

Stores don't want to tie up a tank for months growing out fry to sell. In order to make a profit, you have to move fish. Owning a store is not like a hobby.

That's the point of having separate tanks for fry to grow out and be sold.

For example they buy mass amounts of convicts at least once a month and they always breed in their tanks. They could set up a few 29s and put a pair in there. In a few months they will pay for themselves. If you get a good 100-200 egg clutch and sell the fry at $6 that's roughly $600-1,200 in return. It might not be all profit but is a nice turn out.


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[AQUAMONSTER]

Stores don't want to tie up a tank for months growing out fry to sell. In order to make a profit, you have to move fish. Owning a store is not like a hobby.

But think about, if you specialize in cichlids mostly at your store what's more profitable for your store? If you order fish every week to keep up your stock? Or establish multiple fish breeding pairs and take a few months while each pairs fry of hudreds grow out then you sell them while still ordering from your supplier? If jags sell well in your area, why not get a breeding pair of a high quality instead of always buying jags to keep up with the demand. The profit would be huge on hundreds of juvies when sold.

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[doomiedee]

But think about, if you specialize in cichlids mostly at your store what's more profitable for your store? If you order fish every week to keep up your stock? Or establish multiple fish breeding pairs and take a few months while each pairs fry of hudreds grow out then you sell them while still ordering from your supplier? If jags sell well in your area, why not get a breeding pair of a high quality instead of always buying jags to keep up with the demand. The profit would be huge on hundreds of juvies when sold.

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Not only that but if you can access quality cichlids and other fish you will become well known for your stock and quality of fish and business over all. like rapps is known for his quality fish for example.


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[wild bill]

What everybody is saying here is what makes us laugh about the reason behind black balling us. Sure we sell online some people come out and see us and some want their fish shipped to them but we are only selling fish not supplies. If we were selling supp;ies and under cutting them I could see their concern but then again we are 80 miles from their patrons and that is a big deal breaker.
I don't think we could ever destroy the business of the big stores but cheap online products will definatly hurt them. There are always the times though when you run out of something and have to go down to your lfs and pick it up.

 

[jkusnierz]

one of the LFS by me "Fish Frenzy". Me and the owner just had this same talk about online. He says Craigslist even hurts him but not as bad as the online places. Hes been in business for over 35 years, he said that the business is getting really cut throat. I do understand however why people shop online many LFS dont have "that" fish that you want. Where i live you have 3 LFS with in 5 mins of each other and then outside of that radius nothing unless you think Petco/Petsmart is a fish store (i do not). The owner doesnt understand why the other LFS's opened so close to him, other then they see how successful he been and think they can do the same. Someone is going to go out of business. he happens to think its going to be him. I try and support the other stores here and there but Ed at fish frenzy is my go to guy theres no doubt about that. Wild Bill i wish you the best of luck.

 

[krustyart]

I have a lot of good friends at LFSs. HOWEVER, if they are not willing to adapt and change and start carrying the kind of fish I want to buy and carrying the products I want then they are the ones who are committing suicide. No one is killing them. One of the LFSs near me can't even keep an angelfish or discus alive in their tanks long enough to sell it. They have gotten EBJDs in several times and killed them each time. They order "mixed small wrasses" for saltwater orders and can't even tell me what the species are when they get them in. If you don't know fish or biology and are not interested enough to please your customer and adapt with the changing markets then you don't really belong in business anyway. I'm just not going to buy stunted green terrors and deformed convict culls just because it makes the LFSs job easier. And who ever heard of carrying only one brand of fish food? Are they insane? And where is your loss leader? What are you willing to sell at no profit to keep me coming back to YOUR store instead of the six others in town so I can pay for all of your other overpriced junk? Sometimes I think I need to open a Fish Store JUST to show those idiots how it's supposed to be done!!!

There that's my piece.