My first job was working at an LFS in England that specialised in Marine fish. This was back when marine was inaccessible unless you had one of the expensive custom systems. They made a **** tonne of money specialising in cichlids and marine and also some good pond fish. Problem was the company also sold lawn mowers, and they were the leading supplier of lawnmowers in that area of England. So they decided one day to completely shut down the fish department and focus only on lawn mowers. last I heard the boss said he regretted the decision because he didn't realise just how much money the fish department brought in. they also lost a lot selling off all their stuff so cheap.
Chain stores are different from country to country. Here in Canada in my city the big als has an excellent selection of stock. They regularly get in monster and rare fish and they are always in good health. their prices are great and the tech and equipment they sell is really affordable. whereas petsmart is the opposite, lots of ich infested cheap and cheerful tropicals that go in 20g tanks. I also happen to be lucky to have at least 3 privately owned LFS' in my city that sell all kinds of rare and awesome monsters , and it doesn't look like any of them are going away any time soon.
on a vaguely related side not, I ALWAYS read Philadelphia as Paedophilia
