peoples thoughts and opinions on calgary lfs???

[Reef_Geek]

Originally Posted by kien

On the issue with pricing, I wonder if it is partially a cultural thing? Of the 5 traditional stores that sell marine stuffs, 3 of them are owned and operated by asians and those are the ones that NEVER have prices on their tanks. It is in their nature to expect haggling. From their point of view, is there a point in putting a price up if someone is just going to come along and knock it down ? Also, I think that the cost on livestock fluctuates wildly from shipment to shipment. It is possible that a Blue Tang from one shipment will cost them $40 while on the next shipment will cost them $50. In the meantime, the Blue Tang from both shipments are still hanging out in the same tank. I'm guessing that the store owners kind of want to hide this from the customers. Anyway, I'm not a store owner so I'm just speculating :-)

And on the issue of Preferred Customer pricing. I don't see an issue with this. It is no different than any other business with a Preferred Customer system. I am a "Preferred Customer" with Avis Rent a Car so I get to the front of the line. "Preferred Frequent Flyer's" with Air Canada get special treatment (seat upgrades, meals, perferred boarding, etc). This is normal business practice.

There's something less obvious... no not an Asian thing. Two of the shops are spin offs of one of them... I think they learned from the original in their habits and practices. It's quite easy to go to Staples and get a Brother label printer, it's what I used in the family LFS in Halifax. Average cost per label made is about $0.50... if a LFS is unwilling to afford that... you're truly counting pennies while the cows walk out the back door (customers).

[reefwars]

if pricing is so hard for our lfs to do then why does lfs in other citys have no problems doing this??

like nick mentioned the stores in edmonton do this , so do the stores ive visited in ontario and in newfoundland....

thers no reason at all why stores elsewhere can put prices on stuff but ours cant....it has nothing to do with anything but being pure lazy or trying to grease extra coin out of customers....the stores here dont care and want you to have to ask for a price , becuase their price changes customer to customer.

[reefwars]

i went in to one of the lfs a few months ago , i asked about a torch coral, the shop keep said ....... " were having a special on torchs this weekend , he said all torch reardless of heads are $70"

i thought humm maybe i will so i said ok give me a bit to browse still...ten mins later i went looking for the guy but he was gone so i said to the other guy whats the price on the torch coral i wanted again??

he said " were having a special on torchs this weekend all torchs are $50 regardless of heads"

to say the least since that very day i lost respwect for them......

[reefwars]

not to mention i went in to a lfs on a monday to buy a 1/2" bulkhead the price was 12$....seemed high but i needed the bulkhead so bought it....

the next day i decided to put in a second bulkhead and went back for another.....huh guess what the price is now $7


so how does that happen anyone think theres a reasonable reason for this or are we all just pigeons??

[Reef_Geek]

on the topic of laziness... some of my retail management pet peeves

1) Dirty floors that obviously hasn't been attempted to be mopped in months
2) Dusty merchandise that hasn't been wiped for months
3) at the same time, the guy isn't doing anything but standing behind the counter reading newspapers, surfing the web, watching TV, standing at the door and people watching

I have little sympathy for them when business is slow. They are actively choosing to not make their shop more attractive.

[reefwars]

thats one of mine to , coming from a construction background employers dont pay you to sit on your ass , so ok its a slow day why not scrub floors, walls or dust things, reorganize for crying out loud.

ever since i was 12 i learned theres never nothing to do, what makes a good worker or employee is someone who takes the intiative to do things regardless of the task.

i dont expect an 50 yr old man or woman to get on his hands and knees to clean floors but at that age or time maybe its time to pay a young fella to clean a few times a week.

imo general cleanup should be done evenings after the store is closed so customers only see a clean store and should be a main priority.

i know me personally am driven away by mess, how can i expect to buy livestock or goods and put my faith into someones advice when their displays are messy and store looks like it sat closed for 4 yrs...

seriously store owners , we want clean stores its that simple.

if i went to restaurant and they had food left on the floor or bathrooms with grease and rust running down them...ikt would be my last visit..if i even stayed at all....

[reefwars]

just looking at all the replies and attention this thread is getting tells me we are hurting for a change in business in this city from our lfs , we all know it.

red coral was off to a great start , ive always had nothing but great things to say about kevin and the gang, its sad what happened to them but we need a replacement for their store , the few we have are older stores and set in their ways , they are not about to change so we as the public need to demand what we want .

in the end its us who provide the business that these stores get , if it works they are not about to fix it....why right??


its about time we had a place that WANTS to serve the city and WANTS to expand and become part of what this city has to offer.

we have a very large poulation, it is dominated by asian store owners(this is fact) all these stores run in a similiar way and all have stemmed from another lfs who still runs in this fashion.

calgary needs someone willing to change things and make them at par with the rest of the country.


ps.....i actually get along great with all the stores in the city , but fact is there are problems that n eed addressing sooner than later.

[jorjef]

Originally Posted by kien

On the issue with pricing, I wonder if it is partially a cultural thing? Of the 5 traditional stores that sell marine stuffs, 3 of them are owned and operated by asians and those are the ones that NEVER have prices on their tanks. It is in their nature to expect haggling. From their point of view, is there a point in putting a price up if someone is just going to come along and knock it down ? Also, I think that the cost on livestock fluctuates wildly from shipment to shipment. It is possible that a Blue Tang from one shipment will cost them $40 while on the next shipment will cost them $50. In the meantime, the Blue Tang from both shipments are still hanging out in the same tank. I'm guessing that the store owners kind of want to hide this from the customers. Anyway, I'm not a store owner so I'm just speculating :-)

And on the issue of Preferred Customer pricing. I don't see an issue with this. It is no different than any other business with a Preferred Customer system. I am a "Preferred Customer" with Avis Rent a Car so I get to the front of the line. "Preferred Frequent Flyer's" with Air Canada get special treatment (seat upgrades, meals, perferred boarding, etc). This is normal business practice.

I have read the last two pages of posts and this is the only one that I find has any merit in reading a second time....Hope others will read again.

Store owners run 'their' stores the way 'they' want. If I was the owner I wouldn't want people telling me how to run my business.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by jorjef

I have read the last two pages of posts and this is the only one that I find has any merit in reading a second time....Hope others will read again.

Store owners run 'their' stores the way 'they' want. If I was the owner I wouldn't want people telling me how to run my business.

no but if you were a smart business man you would want feedback , if not how do you know your full potential or problems people or your own customers have?? and since when does a business not care about what its customers wants??


i guess sure maybe joes aquarium is happy selling goldfish and half dead corals.....maybe joes aquarium has a clientele and does not care for new business, thats fine but we are customers you cant admit our needs dont matter to them , without us there would be no moneys ...period

still to me that equal lazy , im not trying to change how our current lfs works im trying to find out what this city wants in a lfs and believe me there are things that we dont have and want....why do you think i sell coral?? simply because its lacking in this city..... up untill about a month ago i was the only person selling frags.... now since ive started and word has gotten around one other store has started to make frgas as well.....i can almost guarantee it is from talking with people who come to my house, i think its great that what im doing is catching on to the stores...so mabe theres hope for more turn around no??

cheers

[reefwars]

i guess what im saying is we are forced to shop at these places.... if something better comes along then guess what...they are going to lose their clients for a better store...its that simple, its not marrige so if i dont like the store im not gonna work it out through counselling im just gonna go to the next store.

when this happens the store is going to close...why??

because they were not up to the task of providing the services they origionally intended to do and didnt listen to their customers.

business rule number 1:


always respect your customers wishes and opinions, in the end they make or break your business.