LFS Support

[Flash]

I have no issues buying used equipment or fish from fellow reefers. I don't buy out of the US, and have 2 stores here in edmonton that i visit all the time! I get my food from them, my salt from them, fish and corals from them...
but as for hard goods... if someone is selling something and I know the person, I'll throw him a few bucks before buying new from the store!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Almost all my addiction-related $$ goes to the LFS or local reefers. Once or twice a year I might join a group buy from a Canadian vendor (usually). Almost never order anything from the States myself, unless I tag along with one of my buddies on his group orders (once every two+ years).

I buy local because I too like to see the fish or coral in person. I almost always get the LFS staff to feed the fish before I buy it.

This is the same reason I always use a teller at the bank instead of the ATM. If everyone goes electronic, then lots of real people lose their jobs.

Besides, I seem to know most of the people in this hobby locally and am good friends with a lot of the people working in our LFS. In Greater Vancouver, we are blessed with several good sw stores so I try to give them most of my business if I buy retail.

[Slick Fork]

I dunno,

While I agree that buying local is always a noble idea, it just doesn't always work out to be the best for me. I typically don't fuss if an item is a few bucks more than I can get online and I try to keep the price difference in perspective with the cost of the item; e.g. $20 difference on a Koralia powerhead is too much, but $20 on a Skimmer or LED light system is not a big deal. Similarly, stuff that's a little finicky to ship (like salt or T5 lightbulbs) I almost always buy local. I agree with prioritizing local business... but only to a certain point.

That said, I get a little weary of listening to the constant mantra of "If you don't buy your dry goods from your LFS at a premium price than you won't have any fish and coral to buy from us". I don't buy that for a second, I would bet heavily that 90% of the profit comes from livestock and small stuff like food and lightbulbs. If an LFS owner decides to spend the money and bring in a ton of dry-goods and then prices them so uncompetitively that people buy elsewhere... that's a bad business decision, not a failure on the part of the consumer to "be supportive".

The other argument, that was floated at the start of this thread (and that I have heard several times when discussing cheaper ways to do things) that "It's the worlds biggest money sucking hobby and if you can't afford to buy new you shouldn't be in it" is unbelievably elitist, ridiculous, and shallow minded. It's like saying if you can't afford $1.50 a litre you have no business owning a car because you're obviously too poor to deserve an automobile. This IS a money sucking hobby which makes it that much more important to be price conscious. Even if you're filthy rich, you probably didn't get that way by throwing money around without a care. Not saying you have to be out to squeeze the last nickel out of an LFS, but you shouldn't be obligated to overpay too much either.

[troni]

it is i talked to a lfs about a price difference between stores and they told me they received a fish at 13 and sold for 30

[Aquattro]

I guess, to qualify my statements, none of my LFS's really try to gouge on prices. Many/most prices are in line with J&L plus shipping with the convenience of shopping in person.
I agree that if my LFS was charging 40% more for salt, I wouldn't be shopping there either
I don't own a fish store, but the assumption that they make there money on livestock, I think, is wrong. You have shipping costs of water, it's heavy. You need salt in the water, equipment to manage the water, tanks to put the water in. you have to feed and light the livestock, so food, bulbs, etc come into play. Things die, that has to be absorbed by the remaining stock. It takes more staff time to take care of the livestock vs. dusting the drygoods.

At the end of the year, I don't think it's a huge profit margin.

[Seriak]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I guess, to qualify my statements, none of my LFS's really try to gouge on prices. Many/most prices are in line with J&L plus shipping with the convenience of shopping in person.
I agree that if my LFS was charging 40% more for salt, I wouldn't be shopping there either
I don't own a fish store, but the assumption that they make there money on livestock, I think, is wrong. You have shipping costs of water, it's heavy. You need salt in the water, equipment to manage the water, tanks to put the water in. you have to feed and light the livestock, so food, bulbs, etc come into play. Things die, that has to be absorbed by the remaining stock. It takes more staff time to take care of the livestock vs. dusting the drygoods.

At the end of the year, I don't think it's a huge profit margin.

I don't think any business in the pet industry delivers a huge margin unless you do get to the size of J&L.

[reefwars]

Here's. My beef with local.....they don't frag its stupid , so a large chalice or acan colony comes in they want 300 and wont frag, so I'm stuck buying something the size of a dinner plate and forced to cut it myself....gets tiresome.

And the selection lately blows all the stores order in the same stiff from the same supplier's, notmuch is catching my eye in stores lately

If it wasn't like this I would spend more in these stores

[reefgirl189]

I buy all my stuff from local Alberta shops now. Almost all of them are willing to ship to me on their own time and that really helps, being in a remote location such as Bonnyville.

The one time I bought from a US company I had issues - and I got dinged hard with shipping to send the item back. It wasn't worth it.

The one time I had an issue with a piece of equipment I purchased from a local vendor he was very helpful and even sent me a replacement part before I sent him the defective one. If I had decided to buy said equipment for $50 less from the states it would have cost more to ship the parts back and forth in this case and wouldn't have been worth it.

Big ticket items I do try to buy gently used but I've learned my lesson with going that route too.

There's pos and negs to each side.

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I guess, to qualify my statements, none of my LFS's really try to gouge on prices. Many/most prices are in line with J&L plus shipping with the convenience of shopping in person.
I agree that if my LFS was charging 40% more for salt, I wouldn't be shopping there either
I don't own a fish store, but the assumption that they make there money on livestock, I think, is wrong. You have shipping costs of water, it's heavy. You need salt in the water, equipment to manage the water, tanks to put the water in. you have to feed and light the livestock, so food, bulbs, etc come into play. Things die, that has to be absorbed by the remaining stock. It takes more staff time to take care of the livestock vs. dusting the drygoods.

At the end of the year, I don't think it's a huge profit margin.

Not suggesting they make a huge profit margin. I have a world of respect for those who run their own business and I do NOT begrudge them a profit or a living. I am positive though, that the bulk of their mark-up comes from livestock as opposed to drygoods.

I am in complete agreement that it takes a lot of time and money to maintain livestock... but if you look at the floor plan of any LFS it's 90% livestock and 10% drygoods (and of that 10% the majority is every-day stuff like filter socks, fish food, lightbulbs, etc.) This tells me that they see livestock as most the most profitable item as a function of $/sqft of retail space so they make sure livestock gets the room it needs to maximize profit. Just like best-buy is almost half big-screen tv's... that's where they make their money.

[Slick Fork]

Originally Posted by reefgirl189

I buy all my stuff from local Alberta shops now. Almost all of them are willing to ship to me on their own time and that really helps, being in a remote location such as Bonnyville.

.

This is an important point too, for those of us who are an hour or more drive from a quality LFS, a mail order from a shop like J&L or progressive Reef is often faster than finding the time and spending the gas to drive all the way in to a larger center.