Rudolph
New member
I have been in Tampa all this week, but was able to break away this afternoon to visit Orlando today. My objective was to hit the two stores recommended by Jay P and Richard.
My first stop had to be the LFS that was on Jay's bucket list. I mean, come on, any LFS on someone's bucket list had to be good. Richard also recommended Sea in the City.
Well, you certainly cannot judge a book by its cover. I actually drove by it as my GPS told me I had arrived, but all I saw was an old strip mall, and none of them had WWC on it. I turned around at the next stop light and then on my way back noticed the large billboard WWC advertisement pointing to something behind the strip mall, so I was on my way. I had to drive three buildings back from the road and found a non descript building that I assumed was vacant until I saw a lone vehicle. Thankfully it was their van with their name on it. Only the "OP" in Open was lit up on the front door, but I still had faith that Jay had not steered me wrong (it was on his bucket list for Pete's sake), but I was beginning to wonder....
Well, I opened the door, and the first thing you see are two really great display tanks. I am not sure how big the largestest tank was (I imagine Jay has it in his blog), but is was jammed with coral frags and really great looking fish. I have some pics, but will have to post when I return home tomorrow.
Now, the really big clincher, the gentleman that greeted me at the door let me stroll for a while until I was about half way through the frag tanks in the back. He said do you like rics? I said, sure show me some rics......well he had at least 300 of them....yes, that is not a misprint, at least 300!:bounce3:
Okay, so they had me at "do you like rics", but it was really a great store and worth visiting if you are ever in Orlando.
I told him I was from Memphis and that one of our club members had visited the store a few weeks ago....I said "Jay......" and paused as I tried to remember his last name, and the guy says, "Jay Page". He immediately asked me to leave the store....no, not really, but Jay must have left an impact. They told me to tell Jay hello and that they hope you will come back up for their five year anniversary this summer. I overheard him tell a co-worker that I knew Jay Page....you must have left quite the impact...
I then visited Sea in the City. Really nice people in the store that seemed really jazzed about what they do! I listened to one of them discourage a buyer from buying a coral until he had better lighting. He was telling me about how they aquaculture rock in a building next door, but I was out of time, and had to get back on the road. I am sure it would have been interesting. He showed me some of the rock in a display tank, but I am drawing a blank on what he called it. The store was about a fourth the size of WWC, but was of the same quality as WWC.
Both stores were only about 15 minutes apart, so if you have time to visit both, they are close enough to do so. Of course my favorate was WWC....did I mention they had over 300 rics....lol
I was actually going to hit the one outside of Tampa on the way back, Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff (forgot who told me about that one), but hit the rush hour traffic (really bad) and by the time I actually got into the city, I threw in the towel. So, yes, it was probably 20 minutes away (in non rush hour time) from the hotel, but I never made it. So, the next time I get back this way, I will focus on the Tampa LFS.
My first stop had to be the LFS that was on Jay's bucket list. I mean, come on, any LFS on someone's bucket list had to be good. Richard also recommended Sea in the City.
Well, you certainly cannot judge a book by its cover. I actually drove by it as my GPS told me I had arrived, but all I saw was an old strip mall, and none of them had WWC on it. I turned around at the next stop light and then on my way back noticed the large billboard WWC advertisement pointing to something behind the strip mall, so I was on my way. I had to drive three buildings back from the road and found a non descript building that I assumed was vacant until I saw a lone vehicle. Thankfully it was their van with their name on it. Only the "OP" in Open was lit up on the front door, but I still had faith that Jay had not steered me wrong (it was on his bucket list for Pete's sake), but I was beginning to wonder....
Well, I opened the door, and the first thing you see are two really great display tanks. I am not sure how big the largestest tank was (I imagine Jay has it in his blog), but is was jammed with coral frags and really great looking fish. I have some pics, but will have to post when I return home tomorrow.
Now, the really big clincher, the gentleman that greeted me at the door let me stroll for a while until I was about half way through the frag tanks in the back. He said do you like rics? I said, sure show me some rics......well he had at least 300 of them....yes, that is not a misprint, at least 300!:bounce3:
Okay, so they had me at "do you like rics", but it was really a great store and worth visiting if you are ever in Orlando.
I told him I was from Memphis and that one of our club members had visited the store a few weeks ago....I said "Jay......" and paused as I tried to remember his last name, and the guy says, "Jay Page". He immediately asked me to leave the store....no, not really, but Jay must have left an impact. They told me to tell Jay hello and that they hope you will come back up for their five year anniversary this summer. I overheard him tell a co-worker that I knew Jay Page....you must have left quite the impact...
I then visited Sea in the City. Really nice people in the store that seemed really jazzed about what they do! I listened to one of them discourage a buyer from buying a coral until he had better lighting. He was telling me about how they aquaculture rock in a building next door, but I was out of time, and had to get back on the road. I am sure it would have been interesting. He showed me some of the rock in a display tank, but I am drawing a blank on what he called it. The store was about a fourth the size of WWC, but was of the same quality as WWC.
Both stores were only about 15 minutes apart, so if you have time to visit both, they are close enough to do so. Of course my favorate was WWC....did I mention they had over 300 rics....lol
I was actually going to hit the one outside of Tampa on the way back, Fish and Other Ichthy Stuff (forgot who told me about that one), but hit the rush hour traffic (really bad) and by the time I actually got into the city, I threw in the towel. So, yes, it was probably 20 minutes away (in non rush hour time) from the hotel, but I never made it. So, the next time I get back this way, I will focus on the Tampa LFS.
and left a chunck of my wallet there too....ha. Glad you got to go, their 500g display tank full of chalices and high end zoas is something to behold! I hope you can post some pics soon.
