How can some shops charge 1.5-2x what others do?

skibum9884

skibum9884

Active member
Well, I visited a shop about 45 minutes from NYC yesterday on my way back from Greenwich Aquaria (great shop, highly recommend it).

While the shop (NOT GA) did have very unusual stuff that is difficult to come by, I was blown away by the pricing. $2K for a Joc, $750 for a Declivis Butterfly, $1900 for a Crosshatch Pair.

How do they justify the prices? Do they pay top dollar to get first pick of unusual stuff and pass on the price increase? Or am I missing that there's some 50% off deal? I'd prefer the lower prices and guarantee of LA's DD.

I'd prefer not to name the shop, but I'm sure many of you can figure it out based on the proximity to NYC.
 
Some shops have crazy rent prices (especially around NY), also, depending on how many display tanks they have and how many halide lamps their burning their overhead could be pretty high. That being said, they may also just be pricing them as high as they can and just waiting for them to sell to someone, which they will.
 
Also, other stores that do custom installs or tank maintenance, many of their customers who pay for their services also have lots of money and just want it full of colorful fish no matter what the cost.

And some stores have a club discount, a store I worked at in Illinois had a fish club where paying members got a percentage discount of dry and live goods, this way the returning customers were rewarded and those who shopped occasionally had to pay a premium. I didn't like the idea though, because 1) you had to pay to join the club and 2) many people who maintain nice tanks, don't need to buy a new fish every week or get this or that.
 
Most customers aren't going to drive more than 30 minutes to find a store, or aren't going to shop online.

There is a local shop here (finally closing down) that's been the only shop around and charging $200 for a Harlequin tusk, $120 for a flame angel, $80 for a yellow tang, etc. Not even nice rare stuff.
 
i visited a shop i used to work at yesterday it is under new ownership, and about to go under..... they had corals at 1000% mark up (i know because some friends of mine are employees) a small pink stylophora was 175$ and was bleaching, fraging 1 inch pieces of blue tort covered in red bugs for 100$, the new owners have never personally owned an aquarium and are trying to run a store on knowlege from saltwater aquariums for dummies, hopefully they go out of bussiness sooner rather than later for unknowing customers and more importantly the livestocks sake,
 
Lol didn't you see the writing under the prices... "blank" grams of crack included. haha jk
anyways, I think it just depends on the area.
 
I think tim's right, they do a lot of custom tanks and maintenance, so it's probably a way for then to upcharge these "less savvy" customers.

Just wish the prices were a bit more in line, I REALLY wanted an interruptus!
 
It has to do with business policy, suppliers, markup, logistics, expenses. Too many factors to pinpoint. If you don't like their prices don't buy from them. If enough people feel the same way they will have to either lower their prices or go out of business. If the market does not feel that way then you are the minority. Simple economics, there is nothing that requires speculation.
 
Actually all of this has to do with the business model. Virtually ALL brick and mortar stores can not subsist without a maintenance business to support them. If the maintenance business does support the business, there are various strategies that can be employed. Such as, bring in the high end stuff and charge appropriately, or bring in low end stuff and sell a lot of it cheaply. Pricing is usually affected by risk rate: in the first strategy, if one animal that is high end dies, they lose a lot so they must keep their margins high. In the second strategy, much less so. But it depends on the market size and type in their geographic area.
 
They charge it because somewone will, and has paid it before. That is the bottom line.

There is a plethora of reasons that a store needs to mark up items, but profit is one of the highest. There used to be a store here in Atlanta that had a similar philosophy. They were a nice store, and got quality livestock in, and had knowledgeable staff, and were in a swanky part of town known as Buckhead (those familiar with Atlanta liekly knwo the exact store I am speaking of). They had a special "condition" I liked to call the "Buckhead Tax", where everything was 100% more costly than ANYWHERE else. And things flew off the shelves. Because people bought it. I dont necessarily blame them, either. I wasnt go to pay the prices, but obviously other people were. And if they are going to pay it, why not charge it? Welcome to America.
 
I agree as well. Just frustrating to see such beauty and ave to hold off on a purchase until I can find one at a more reasonable price (ie- from live aquaria or similar).

That said, they did have some incredible stuff, all looking healthy, and had some pretty knowledgeable staff.
 
I agree that people can charge what they want.It is sometimes better to buy fish you know is doing well that you can see rather then just look at on the internet and wonder if he will be ok when you get him.On the other hand when i see prices the way you listed i think there is a sucker born every minute.I dont mind paying a bit extra for quality stock but the prices you listed seem to be rediculous even for such rare finds.
 
On flip side, I've never seen a shop in CA in either the Bay Area (Peninsula, East Bay and San Jose included) or Sacramento where I could walk in to find all 3 of those fish for sale.
 
tcmfish said:
That is another good point ^
Click to expand...

Heck, I've never even seen Crosshatches at any of the ~20 LFS's in the Bay Area. A Joc maybe once?

Those prices are really high compared to LA/bluezoo, but its not like LFS's with healthy and rare fish like that are common.
 
I've seen plenty of crosshatches in the Chicago, IL and Melbourne, FL area, but no rare angels or butterflyfish. Except for a banks at one of the shops in FL here.
 
+1 to plenty of triggers in the Chicago, IL area stores. You're right though on the angels and butterflies. Just really rare to see them around here. I know of one store in the suburbs that routinely has high-end fish like that but the scenario is the same. They're in a really nice suburb with really nice stuff and they do tons of maintenance on tanks in mansions with owners who have no knowledge but plenty of money. The kewl thing about that particular store is they do closed-door sales to our reef club and the prices then are somewhat more reasonable...but still high.

Bill
 
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