I toured LFSs from Philly, south Jersey to MD and independents are closing left and right. In MD, the only good store left is House of Tropical in Glenn Bernie. In SNJ and Philly, the only good store left is Aquarium Center in Blackwood. Petsmart are selling bread and butter fish with 10 days no question ask return policy which is hard to compete with. Serious hobbyists who are looking for uncommon fish can only get fish from mail order or fish club auctions. Fish club members are aging and with no young people joining, they are also dying breed.
Philadelphia is losing yet another longtime store!
- Thread starter krichardson
- Start date
already happened here. Only like 2 LFS left, not much to choose from
I didn't know my mom's sleeping bag even had one LFS!
Do u mean the world wide in roxborough? Alot of stores have that name
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Tiger 15 have you checked out Giant Aquarium and Monster Pets in south Philly?Giant opened up a few years ago and is gem but parking is pain in the butt.
There was once three WorldWide stores in the area with only one that is on Frankford avenue like I mentioned.
The Frankford Ave store is not far from me. In my opinion, the quality/condition of the store has gone down in recent years. It just seemed dirty the last
time I was there. I've been to Montster Pets on Delaware Ave and I like it. The Giant Aquarium in South Philly is interesting as it's built into a couple of old
rowhomes and they have a huge tank inside that includes giant Arapima and RTCs. The last time I was there, they had a tank that had the most parrot fish I've ever seen
and a ton of discus. They also have a holding tank that had maybe 100+ small Arowanna. For me, I've been having the best luck by going a littler farther north to the Fish Factory and
The Hidden Reef. Both are off of the 413 exit of I95 near Bristol. The Fish Factory is a smaller store, but has a nice variety. The Hidden reef is in an old super market
and they have a wide variety of fresh and saltwater fish and supplies.
Yeah I pretty much agree with you on the Frankford ave. World Wide store,it's been lagging in fish room quality for years.Fish Factory and Reef are pretty good still but as big as Hidden Reef is their freshwater selection sucks...I usually stop by those two stores when I return from store hopping in north Jersey.
I very seldom buy fish from LFS and most often trade with fellow hobbyists / club members or buy online. HOT donated a $100 gift card (and other stuff - THANK YOU!) and I was lucky enough to win it. Still haven't spent all of it (after like 8 months), though.
Not sure if you've checked out the Capital Cichlid Association (CCA) but we're over 200 members including lots of younger folks.
The other (less cichlid-focused) club in the area, PVAS is also over 200 members and doing some amazing charity work (give a kid a tank, give a teacher a tank, etc.).
As LFS decline, having good local fish clbs becomes that much more important.
If you don't have a local club or if it's just grumpy old men, start a new one or bring some energy to an old one.
Matt
Not sure if you've checked out the Capital Cichlid Association (CCA) but we're over 200 members including lots of younger folks.
The other (less cichlid-focused) club in the area, PVAS is also over 200 members and doing some amazing charity work (give a kid a tank, give a teacher a tank, etc.).
As LFS decline, having good local fish clbs becomes that much more important.
If you don't have a local club or if it's just grumpy old men, start a new one or bring some energy to an old one.
Matt
