What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

[Ajax]

Just wanted to get some input on what everyone thinks is lacking (if there is) at the LFS here in Houston. Can be anything at all from types of fish to hard goods.

[Philistine]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

how about lack of competition with internet vendors?

[rrocket2002]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

Are you opening a storefront there Ajax?  LOL

That's a hard question to answer and I will tell you why.  If you were asking about one store in particular, thats one thing, but asking about all in general is another.  One store may be lacking in one area...say selection, whereas at another store it happens to be one of their strong points.

Overall.....Knowledgeable staff.  

Raul

[cichlidsooner]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

The lack of funds to pay for their fish. There is plenty of internet sites to find fish even with shipping most times it is cheaper to go through them than to the LFS, heck alot of people ship for free during the summer months. Hard goods, filters, and everything else, if you take your time and look for whatever it is, you can usually find it cheaper, ebay or even aquabid. Fosters and Smith and "something" solutions are catalogs I get in the mail are a little cheaper than most stores. Believe me, I do it like that all the time. Think I am joking, ask rrocket2002, that dude knows I always find it cheap.

[rrocket2002]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

Yeppers, I can vouch for that.  Sooner is a cheap SOB....LOL.

I agree, you can buy alot of things cheaper online.  Most online stores don't have the overhead that storefronts do.  

Raul

[Ajax]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

how about lack of competition with internet vendors?

First off, yes I am in the process of trying to purchase a store. I agree with you and cichlidsooner that it is much cheaper to purchase hard goods off the internet, and that is one thing I hope to compete with. The prolem is most of the people who sell off the internet do not have a store front, merchandise to stock or staff to support. They are simply a middle man between the suppliers who do not sell to the general public and the customers. Needless to say you don't need 100% mark up if you're not paying employees, a lease, water, electricity etc. You simply tell the distributor where to ship products to. Again I do want to see where I can try to compete with the internet to some degree though. I certainly am not going to go spend $150 on an Eheim 2213 filter at a store when I can get it off the net for $75.

[Mzungu]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

Exactly. And I agree with Raul, if you group all of the stores together, you can't really complain. At least one store will probably have what you're looking for. But it's so difficult to cater to a certain aspect, you know? Let's say you want to jump on the nano/pico/plant/shrimp bandwagon, well, then, your customers will be pretty specific. Then you try to add, say, a reef section, and your original intent has to be compromised because of the time spent for that...blablabla.

However, over all things, I value a store by how much I can trust it. Less fish and equipment that is extremely well taken care of is better in my mind.

[cichlidsooner]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

Your are right no storefront most of the times, but lets face it, people who are buying these fish from the internet are one fed up with paying 80-90 bucks for a pair of peacocks or haps! Or two they are fed up with never finding a fish that is awesome and afforable. Or three the staff is comprised of high school drop outs and could really careless about the fish and are just there to collect that 6.15 an hour or the next smoke break. You put those things together and well....

By no means does this inculde every LFS, but when was the last time one of these three things didn't apply?

It is cheaper and easier for me to sell my fish on the internet then in any store. Shipping fish is easy as well. I am not a brillant by no means, but I got enough fingers and toes to know I can count dollar bills, and I make much more on the internet than I could in a store. Plus I buy only fish I like instead of playing the hot fish of the week. Get what I like, grow it, breed it and raise the fry to a sellable size and if others want them cool, if not cool, there is always an auction right around the corner to unload babies or extra males or breeding pairs.

Yes, I am a cheap SOB,(big house filled with girls, so I got to be cheap on the fish stuff) but if you buy fish from me you usually get them at about 45-50% cheaper than at the store anyday of the week. I am not sure what people consider show quality, but most of mine could fit in that name.

[rrocket2002]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

Yeah...that SOB thing was meant in the nicest way....LOL.

[djmatthewblack]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

I have never bought fish over the internet?  What are good sites?  I know I am probably going to be buying shrimp (not sure what types) and other stuff to stock my 35 gallon.

[Ajax]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

Well that's the thing I would like to try out with this store. First off availability of plants, fish & products at a decent price....enough to offset the cost, risk & hassle of shipping.

I hate traffic, and do everything I can to avoid it. I live on the Southside, so a trip to the LFS means driving into downtown for a few hours and dealing with 100,000 idiot drivers. I want to have a place where you can come chill out for a bit, read some fish magazines, have a drink, check out some cool display tanks and hopefully be able to buy most of what you need at one stop.

Probably concentrate to some degree on having a nice cichlid section. I am absolutely fascinated by tropheus now, and would love to be able to carry some without them costing your first born child. I have done very well at breeding every fish I have tried to, and expect tropheus wouldn't be that much different once I learned. That would be one option, but I know some people aren't into captive bred trophs. I'll be honest in saying I don't know about all the different African cichlids out there so when you mention the price of peacocks & haps, I know what they are, but I have no idea what they cost. I'll probably keep the S.A. & Africans in seperate sections as well.

Plants, plants & more plants! That's the biggest road block that I run into right now when I do a new scape. I have a plan to solve some of that. I probably won't be able to carry every single plant species hobbyist want, but if you need some Rotala 'green' or a patch of HC I want to have stuff like that available dang near everyday. Also have better quality submersed grown plants. Nothing worse than buying a half dead bunch of stems trying to bring them back from the brink of death because it was all you could get, or waiting weeks for the emersed grown plants to shed their leaves all over your tank.

Of course with that comes fish for the planted tank. I have been in contact with a distributor for a few months now, and can not believe the amount of different tetras they get that we never see. I'm not sure why that is, but hopefully that'll be one thing I can add.

I'd also like to carry a larger assortment of shrimp. Seems pretty easy to breed these as well which would ensure availability. I doubt I could make sure I was carrying SS grade crystal shrimp, but I'd like to carry some decent grades. I don't think I'd have the time to be that selective in the breeding.

Those are just some of my initial thoughts I've jotted down.This is a long way from reality, but it's given me a lot of motivation to get this going.

[Mzungu]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

I hate traffic, and do everything I can to avoid it.
I'm with you there! It's really difficult, too, especially when you want to go to a store, but as soon as you wait until traffic has died down, they're closed.

Plants, plants & more plants!
I would love to see more of a variety!

Also have better quality submersed grown plants. Nothing worse than buying a half dead bunch of stems trying to bring them back from the brink of death because it was all you could get, or waiting weeks for the emersed grown plants to shed their leaves all over your tank.
My BIGGEST frustration right now. I understand that shipping is easier when they're emersed grown, but come on! You cure live rock, right? Maybe you can cure plants before putting them on sale.  

[eklikewhoa]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

I think the price and jerks that work at most LFS nowadays is the main thing that turns me off of them.


Funny you mention Tropheus cause the prices in LFS's are ridiculous!!!!! I have seen priced fry that go for the same as wild adults online which is out of this world.


.........weren't you one of the guys that was poking fun of Luis about his Tropheus craze? 8)

[Ajax]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

.........weren't you one of the guys that was poking fun of Luis about his Tropheus craze? 8)

No not at all. I didn't really know jack about them until Mike got some. He was so proud of them, and I was kinda like what's the big deal? Then found out you & Luis were into them, and did some digging. Pretty neat fish, but definitely expensive.

I don't think I've seen a store that purposely bred any of their own stock before. I think that would be a really easy way to make more money from a smaller investment. I mean look at what average hobbyists are doing with CRS. Why in the world hasn't a LFS here purchased a good stock & bred them for sale? There's some easy money to be made right there.

[rrocket2002]

Re: What is lacking at LFS in Houston?

There is a fish store called Timo's on the SE side of town.  I know Timo and we talk once in a while.  When he first opened his store, he had all the neat looking Freshwater fish like peacocks, Haps and so forth, but because of the area his store is in they didn't sell very well.  He wasn't outrageous with his prices, but we know the nicer the fish, more they cost.  For his area its the community fish that do well.....tetra, goldfish, guppies and such.  

The other thing with a storefront is you have overhead.  Fish sales might make a small profit, but fish and plants alone don't pay the rent.  It is your supplies and TANKS.  Tanks is where the bread and butter come from.  If your store has a nice rep, then you will have people drive across town to visit your store, but in reality, how many people do that everyday?  Alot of your sales will be from local residents.

I've considered a storefront for the last two years and the idea hasn't been dismissed yet.  

Raul