Bigs als in Calgary Decemebr 1st

[danny zubot]

Who's interested in some $600 Japanese Brains? I'll bring them in on prepaid orders

Can I scrub tanks on weekends to pay for one Albert?

Seriously though, what information on Calgary's population would lead any fish vendor to believe that having another store open up in the noth east would be more benificial than the south end? Are there more people in the north east that keeps aquariums?

I'm glad to have more competition and selection I guess. But its getting to the point where there are so many stores up there that I haven't even been to all of them? I don't even know where Red coral or Ocean's is!

[Pan]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Can I scrub tanks on weekends to pay for one Albert?

Seriously though, what information on Calgary's population would lead any fish vendor to believe that having another store open up in the noth east would be more benificial than the south end? Are there more people in the north east that keeps aquariums?

I'm glad to have more competition and selection I guess. But its getting to the point where there are so many stores up there that I haven't even been to all of them? I don't even know where Red coral or Ocean's is!

I have to drive almost an hour (well 40 mins) to get to these stores...quit your belly aching over driving from the south to the north

Never been to Red coral, but oceans is a couple blocks further west of Wais...or Peters drive in...mmm rootbeer shake

[digital-audiophile]

Depending on traffic it can take 30-40 mins to get up to the north stores for someone like tony who is in the deep south without direct access to the deerfoot. That's my only saving grace is that I can hop right on the DF and get up north but even at that it still takes me 20+ minutes to get to any of the stores in this city.

[danny zubot]

From Cranston it takes about .5 hours to Wai's and Golds. The NW stores are just out of the question for me though.

[michika]

When I was there last weekend it took me 45 minutes to get up north, and that is a lot of time and gas. Even with the Deer Foot there are now more drivers on the road then when I lived there, and there is so much construction that it almost negates the benifits of having a highway.

Elite was the simplest to get to, but still a 15-20 minute drive for me. I'm with you Danny, its just to far, and it makes many NW and NE stores inaccessible.

[Delphinus]

Yeah, but, you live in Didsbury. When you choose to shop in a different city, you take on the choice that it will take an hour or whatever in each direction to get there.

If there was some decent spread to the stores, then it would be a matter of "I could do this store one day, a couple days later, try another" and so on. But the fact is now I'd have to make a day trip out of it, and frankly, the selection IN the stores on any given day is usually disappointing unless you luck out and come in on a day right after they landed a shipment. So it's hardly worth your while to do so unless you have advance knowledge of what's in stock on a given day. And well, nobody posts that info, so you gamble.

I haven't been to Red Coral yet either. That store is seriously an hour's drive in one direction assuming traffic is GOOD. The traffic in the city and the road layout is horrid. The roads were fine when we were a city of 300,000. Now that we're a million plus and using the SAME roads, it's a little different. (Thank you Al, for making the 90's a "Let's do nothing!" decade. And that money the feds gave you for infrastructure, I can't thank you enough - not a day goes by where I don't notice that the luxury boxes at the Saddledome don't make my day just a little bit brighter! Whee!)

Bellyaching? Sure, I guess I am. I feel it's a bit of a legitimate complaint though. I feel there decent room to open a store in the south. I'm sure Big Al's location will serve them well. I just wish they would have picked a location closer to me. Don't we all feel this way once in a while though?

[digital-audiophile]

The worst was when I drove all the way to Red Coral on a sunday to find out it had closed 1/2 and hour before I got there

If I had the cash in the bank I would seriously consider opening a fish store in the south. You would end up doing a good business just becuase of the fact that people don't want to drive to the other side of the world just to find out that the selection is crappy, the shipment did'nt arrive or if it did that there is nothing you want.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Yeah, but, you live in Didsbury. When you choose to shop in a different city, you take on the choice that it will take an hour or whatever in each direction to get there.

If there was some decent spread to the stores, then it would be a matter of "I could do this store one day, a couple days later, try another" and so on. But the fact is now I'd have to make a day trip out of it, and frankly, the selection IN the stores on any given day is usually disappointing unless you luck out and come in on a day right after they landed a shipment. So it's hardly worth your while to do so unless you have advance knowledge of what's in stock on a given day. And well, nobody posts that info, so you gamble.

I haven't been to Red Coral yet either. That store is seriously an hour's drive in one direction assuming traffic is GOOD. The traffic in the city and the road layout is horrid. The roads were fine when we were a city of 300,000. Now that we're a million plus and using the SAME roads, it's a little different. (Thank you Al, for making the 90's a "Let's do nothing!" decade. And that money the feds gave you for infrastructure, I can't thank you enough - not a day goes by where I don't notice that the luxury boxes at the Saddledome don't make my day just a little bit brighter! Whee!)

Bellyaching? Sure, I guess I am. I feel it's a bit of a legitimate complaint though. I feel there decent room to open a store in the south. I'm sure Big Al's location will serve them well. I just wish they would have picked a location closer to me. Don't we all feel this way once in a while though?

Yeah i'm not thrilled aboiut the drive, but I do work out of Calgary though. And i would agree bout the lack of antything actually for sale in these stores as well. I have been prtty dissapointed with all the once i've visisted selections more than i've been happy with them. But i try to support if I can. But i usually do J&L, TBSW,(US) and Two Part Solutiions (US). They are working on the northern part of the ring road though :0 and hey just think what it would be like if you worked downtown...stupid "Bow"
I have the feeling Calgary and Alberta in general is quickly turning into somewhere I no longer want to live.