which shop in calgary is the best in service??

[Canadian Man]

I like What Steve is saying about the LFS choosing to be competitive or not. I Couldn't imagine paying $200 for a halide bulb!

I also agree with the continual comment about " Consumers having to educate themselves"

In my shop I work at (once again Not a LFS) We always check into what everyone else is charging for a product. Why? Well because it prevents up from looking stupid when some one buys it from us and then finds it elsewhere for cheeper. In my shop we CHOOSE to be competitive as well as provinding and offering advice the the customer MAY not allready know.

Reefman90. I can understand that people are busy doing things throughout their work day. BUT, The customer must always come first as thats who fortunatley pays the bills. It doesnt' matter weather your setting up a display or cleaning a tank. JUMP when the customer needs help and be aware when they do.

My tank takes a few minutes a day. I can understand that in a retail environment there needs to be someone to take care of the tanks. Well someone should have that job and be on call if their needed and someone should be there to help the customers. I feel it's redundent talking about this because it should be common sense for most people but I realize it's not.

My experience happened on a Friday I believe. It was not very busy when I was in this store. Ample staff. I got service no problem but, the conversation has never gone this way you say it could have gone. The one time I kinda got to know some of the staff was when I was planning out a large system a few years ago...

[reefman90]

Hey guys...

I agree MH bulbs are pricey...not touching that one further.
What MO are you getting them from outa curiosity?

No, One thing I can see all the time is customers wanting something and NOT saying anything about it.

You want nice acros Rasta...have you ever said to you LFS employee/orderer..."can you get any nice acros"/

Acros do not sell well...some stores dont have the clientelle to bring them in all the time...and might bring in a few moderate priced ones.

Go in and ask them.

I am sure if you are wnating them, your name and number will be taken and then we can give you a call when we are doing an order..and perhaps work something out with you. Your not going to get them for free, but if you preorder MANY MANY stores are willing to give discounts!

This seems to go hand-in-hand with developing a personal relationship with a LFS employee...


And Rcipma...

Just so you know....MO and LFS have a lot different types and levels of overhead... these should be taken into account when you are comparing these two fruits (get it apples and oranges)


ALso, I agree that it is mostly the consumer/hobbiest to educate themselves...and at the same time it is the LFS employees duty to not miseducate....or try to educate beyondd their abilities...just to look at the other side of the coin as well...(carpentersreef, tony)


reefman

PS great thread.

[Quinn]

Here's a suggestion. Next time we have a frag meet, how about some of the LFS employees come out...

[reefman90]

Ya....

Got any LFS employee friends?????....(sorry just to reiterate the point I have been trying to make...)

If they felt welcome I am sure they would come...just thing that tat this point it could been seen as pretty intimidating...I know if I was a LFS employee reading this...to an extent with some of you I would feel somewhat like the enemy...

How would you feel in reverse roles..?????
reefman

[Quinn]

Wait a sec... I thought that employees were paid to approach customers, not the other way around. I don't think it's my responsibility to make friends with them. I tell you what, when they start acknowledging my presence, I'll start acknowledging theirs. I don't think we've ever had a Calgary LFS employee show up on this board, or at least any that actually hung around. Yet we know they read this board. Why are they so afraid to speak up and defend or speak for themselves?

As an aside, I do have a friend who is a former LFS employee, and was an LFS employee when I met him.

Don't take any of this personally, I'm still enjoying this thread a great deal.

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by reefman90

And Rcipma...

Just so you know....MO and LFS have a lot different types and levels of overhead... these should be taken into account when you are comparing these two fruits (get it apples and oranges)

Just as a matter of interest, the filter I bought was from J&L, who were smart enough to do both Storefront, and MO. I could have walked into the store in Burnaby, and bought the filter at the same price as the sell it MO.

[reefman90]

Yes...I can understand the employee is supposed to approach you..but with your attitude...I can see you just saying no when asked if they need a hand, not knowing if the employee can help you or not...I am not for sure about this, cause I do not know you as a person..just from what I have read on this board/thread. I think that you need to keep an open mind to what I am saying...

No it is not your responsibility to approach an employee...

Yes, I think some of you guys have a very closed mind as to getting to know a LFS employee...


BTW you did not respond to my question about reverse roles and you being A LFS employee that has little or no control over what goes on in your store reading the board....would you want to speak up????.

The best part is that I probably know everyone of you and have talked to you at one time or another in my time at LFS. Your guys's avatar should be your faces....haha mugshots....no, but really...knowing wwho is saying some of this stuff might make it easier to get some LFS guys on the board...


reefman

On a side note, I know some VERY knowlegable teen (16-21) reef aquarists. Sometimes tehse are the best tanks, the ones that have to get by on low income...etc...

[reefman90]

rcipema,

I know...vancouver is a different market than Calagry though too....

WE have to take everything into consideration...and there are so many factors. . .

Makes it almost impossible to compare...

Also,

I have never been to JL...would love to go, but out of curiosity...how long do you have to wait there to talk to someone? Is it long? Do they have knowlegeable staff? Do they have anyone who is learning the ropes?

Reefman

Also...What came first the chicken or the egg?

All Employees with experience, were once employees with little or limited experience.

[Quinn]

I should stop slandering teens, yes. I am sure there are fine aquarists who are hardly 20 years old.

What this conversation comes down to for me is that other than one single LFS in Edmonton, Albertan shops have consistent and rather serious issues that cause me to either not want to shop there, or not want to visit there at all.

Until I want to spend time in an LFS, a relationship between myself and the employee will not develop. Some of the responses to this thread are rather long and because of this I am probably missing the jist of what some people have said, but I don't think I should be expected to excuse the LFS employee with good intentions stuck in a sub-par store. If that were me, and I was losing sleep over the problem issues, I'd attempt to change the way the store was managed, and if that didn't work, I'd quit. If you're suggesting that I wouldn't talk to customers either if I worked in a store I felt bad about, you're partly right. At some point in time, if the situation was stressful enough, cognitive dissonance would kick in and I'd start thinking about the situation differently, ie. in a way that would reduce my anxiety over the situation.

The problem isn't the employee per say, however, it's the management. I will go out on a limb here and speculate that the reason why I've found so many LFS employees to be uneducated/unfriendly is because the hobbyists who are willing to spend the time to learn about the hobby and who have outgoing personalities to boot probably have better jobs because a. they are older b. they have skills that can earn them more than the $8/hour I expect most LFS employees are paid. The cream rises to the top right. I am fairly certain that if LFS' paid $60,000 salaries you'd see a lot of the people on this board applying. Occasionally you get a 16 year old kid who does care about the hobby and knows a lot. However he or she is the exception, not the rule.

You are correct in assuming that when asked if I need a hand, I probably say no. Because it's the truth. I don't trust that the fish aren't all chock-full of cyanide, I don't like the fact that there's a dried-up flame angel lying on the floor, and I don't like the fact that those mushrooms are $50 each. On the occasions that I have gotten into a discussion with an employee, the conversation seems to centre around the store's problem with valonia and hair algae, or the fact that they are trying to sell people a shark egg and a seahorse for their 50 gallon tank.

In short, we seem to have bad taste in our mouth regarding LFS' here in Alberta. We've presented our case, now it's the defenses turn to approach the bench.

[EmilyB]

Acros do not sell well...some stores dont have the clientelle to bring them in all the time...and might bring in a few moderate priced ones.

Go in and ask them.

I am sure if you are wnating them, your name and number will be taken and then we can give you a call when we are doing an order..and perhaps work something out with you. Your not going to get them for free, but if you preorder MANY MANY stores are willing to give discounts!

This seems to go hand-in-hand with developing a personal relationship with a LFS employee...

You are not talking to a bunch of newbies here. We've been the route. I know someone at every store I shop at here. That doesn't change the fact that they have some serious changes to make.

You should visit J&L. Say hi to Allen or John for me. They usually greet me as I walk in the door.
You sound rather young. Do I know you?