New Shop

[Mr. Right]

So I was in the "œnew" store earlier and they said 8/2 would be their soft opening date. I guess they have more stocking to do but from the looks of the "œpre" opening livestock I'd say anyone who goes in wont be let down.

 

[clockdoc]

Yup ........ fantastic store. Looks great and the coral stock is sweet. A bit light on fish and inverts but more ..... much more is due in. Cannot wait.

 

[russman71]

3rd that, the store looks outstanding

 

[unboundmind]

pricing?

pricing?

3rd that, the store looks outstanding

am i allowed to ask in general how pricing compares with other lfs and online?

 

[BAllen]

am i allowed to ask in general how pricing compares with other lfs and online?

I was in there, but they didn't have a lot of things priced yet.

 

[fresnohall]

more than SWSW, less than hector. The shop is pretty cool, and seems to be stocked with dry goods and it sounds like they will remain that way (not having to order a bulb would be awesome). Their water program is interesting, signed up and will see how it works out. It is the old crew from SWSW that is helping out, who I have always enjoyed working with, but the whole place seems to a be a bit more polished than anything we have here. The corals are at another level, and fish is just not stocked yet, so unfair to judge.

Like anything the devil will be in the details, hopefully they have staying power and keep their edge.

 

[Frick]

Is it worth the drive from Tempe? What's the name of it(or maybe that is not permitted)?

 

[BAllen]

Is it worth the drive from Tempe? What's the name of it(or maybe that is not permitted)?

It's called Simply Elegant Aquatic. I'm not sure any one store is worth a nearly two hour drive, but if you hit up all 3 Tucson stores and have $ to spend I'm sure that'd be worth it.

 

[Bifferwine]

am i allowed to ask in general how pricing compares with other lfs and online?

more than SWSW, less than hector.

Agreed. I was honestly kind of surprised that some things were so expensive. The quality and selection of their corals was outstanding, but still very pricey IMO.

 

[Mr. Right]

Agreed the prices are high, but they also "fit" to the more than typical selection I'd find at other stores. Don't get me wrong I "was" an avid SW shopper, (not so much an Oasis shopper not enough molla) and I though SW had great prices BUT new ownership came along and the prices seem to creep. Also the prices at SW were made for the typical selection excluding the couple of nice items. As for the new shop, they have higher end selection thus deeming a higher price. I'm not trying to create an argument but I can see why they do so.

 

[Bifferwine]

So why not have "average" and "typical" items be low-priced? Why is everything expensive? I asked specifically about several "average" and "typical" corals that I could have found on any website and in any store, nothing special or unique about them or their colors, and those were the prices I was surprised about. I give them the benefit of the doubt -- I know they are not "fully" open yet and haven't officially priced everything, so I don't expect door buster deals right off the bat, and I also expect that they may not have everything priced out uniformly.

I also asked about some very unique and different corals, and was not surprised at all to find out that they were on the expensive end. Those types of corals have always been out of my budget, and probably always will be. But I know that there is a lot of demand for them from people that can afford to pay for them. That's great! I will enjoy looking at the pics of them online. Of course a higher overall quality of livestock is going to command higher prices, but you will still need to keep in stock a bunch of cheap things for "budget" shoppers like me; people that cannot or will not pay a lot of money for one coral.

I was very impressed by the store, and I am super excited to continue to shop there. Don't get me wrong -- it looks like it's going to be a great thing for Tucson. It was just kind of hard to find things that were cheap enough for me. The one thing I did buy was very fairly priced (even internet-competitive) and I was lucky to snatch it up before anyone else did. But I had to ask about quite a few different pieces before I found something in my budget. Maybe my budgetary constraints are significantly more restrictive than other peoples' in this hobby and what I am saying is out of the norm (although I don't think so), but I'm sure there are other people in my shoes as well.

Again, I'm not saying the prices were outrageous or out of my league. I still found something to buy, and will find something to buy next week, and the week after that and the week after that... Just small, cheap, common things are important to keep in stock too for people like me.

 

[Mr. Right]

Agreed

 

[Akwarius]

I'm very excited for Mike and Jason. So far it looks like they have a very good business model. I think the store will be hobbyist-centric, unlike other locals who will tell you they are just business men. The few cherry corals that I asked about were very reasonable. I spend a lot of downtime at work cruising the online vendors and these guys are hitting the mark with prices. I know that they intend to have frags available for those who can't afford colonies of even the most common coral. If someone still can't afford the coral then maybe they can buy some live rock and hope that something pops up

 

[phenom5]

Hopefully I'll get a chance to cruise by today (hopefully).

A store that stocks high end SPS would be fantastic. I'd gladly pay a little more for local, healthy stuff. Buying stuff blind (you never know with pictures) on the internet, paying for the shipping, and hoping everything ships well is such a pain. Being able to pick up nice pieces locally without having to take out a second mortgage would be nice. To be fair, SWA has decent SPS for good prices, but they selection isn't super impressive.

Anybody see an efflo by any chance?

And a nice selection of quality drygoods with a fair price would be very nice too. It kills me that I have to pay for shipping on something like 2-part because all of the local guys charge an arm and a leg for it...if they even stock it.

 

[Mr. Right]

The have 3 very nice green eflo’s. They’re pacific aquafarms LE something, something.

 

[sillygoose]

I don't know how to update a sticky but SEA should get added to the list of local stores up on Akimbo's post.

 

[phenom5]

The have 3 very nice green eflo's. They're pacific aquafarms LE something, something.

Did you happen to catch the price by any chance?

A big efflo colony is just awesome, want one. For some reason I haven't had the best luck with them in the past though.

 

[Mr. Right]

Honestly I didn't get a price. They gotta be like 7-8 inches long and 4-6 inches wide.

 

[Akwarius]

Honestly I didn't get a price. They gotta be like 7-8 inches long and 4-6 inches wide.

Carlos, Are you working for them? Just curious.

 

[Mr. Right]

Carlos, Are you working for them? Just curious.

Nope still doing the medical billing thing. I've just been there a lot to helping out, but I guess it's just for peanuts, because i don't think I'm getting a check