Petco to buy Drs Foster Smith

Petco is a large corporation and as such love their policies. I am sure they will institute their policies on Dr's F&S. The cynic in me thinks they will live off the reputation of LA for awhile then that reputation will go down in flames. Only time will tell.
 
As they say in Survivor....... "fire represents life, once your fire is out you are done." Live Aquaria just got their torch snuffed. Well.......... VIVID AQUARIUMS get ready, here I come to spend my dollars.
 
I hope too much doesn't change, and LA/DD is still a respected place to buy from, but I know it's highly unlikely. It's such a shame.....
 
People should be mad at the sellers, not the buyers.

If the 4 vets that started Dr Forsters and Smith wanted to keep a good thing going, they wouldn't have sold out for the almighty dollar.

Now Petco will run it into the ground, the Divers Den was a great place..........but will be crap shortly.
 
I won't be shopping with them anymore. I refuse to have anything to do with anyone even remotely affiliated with petco.

Wish I didn't have 200 bucks on my account with drfs I'm going to call later and ask for a credit back to my card.

So, I guess it's time to start shopping blue zoo and vivid more often.

I bet the folks at blue zoo are doing cartwheels.
 
Why blame the sellers? Don't understand that argument. These folks worked long and hard to build a respected business. They obviously had no good succession plan and it's time to reap the rewards of their hard work. More power to them.
Any time a company purchases another that is profitable and well run the press release will say there is no change etc etc.... Thats done for several reasons, but largely to try and maintain the goodwill of its customers and suppliers. Change will come slowly at first. Will be largley unnoticed by the general public, but we will becuase every purchase we make is scrutinized and debated online.
Probably already seeing it. Shipping not quitr up to par, fish ok but not the stellar quality we are used to.
I know I'll be looking for a new fish supplier and the only way we can expect to be able to continue to get the same service and quality is suporting another company that provides that. Big box stores can't the service th lowest common denominator.
 
myram said:
If the 4 vets that started Dr Forsters and Smith wanted to keep a good thing going, they wouldn't have sold out for the almighty dollar...
Click to expand...
Is the 'good thing going' good for them?
Why do you think they got into business to start with?... For the 'almighty dollar!...
It's their business and their decision...we have to wait and see what happens and then decide what to do.
Maybe they'll increase their guarantee to 30 days on livestock, like Petco just did!
 
albano said:
Is the 'good thing going' good for them?
Why do you think they got into business to start with?... For the 'almighty dollar!...
It's their business and their decision...we have to wait and see what happens and then decide what to do.
Maybe they'll increase their guarantee to 30 days on livestock, like Petco just did!
Click to expand...

Last I checked Petco had zero guarantee on saltwater fish and other SW livestock. Unless this is new...?



I'm not mad AT the Drs. for selling, I totally understand, but I'm more concerned with the potential loss/ degradation of a great business than anything. And in a day where I watch big box outfits consume smaller stores left and right - my primary hobby is flyfishing (mom-n-pop, 3-employee flyshops are awesome) - it's a little upsetting.
 
When I first read this, my instant thought was that Petco is going to ruin LA/DD.
The company principles are just too different.
LA/DD was a company that seemed to actually care. Petco, not so much.
 
i hope my existing fish live forever. i am expecting delivery of a vrolik's wrasse from LA tomorrow. it'll likely be my last purchase from them.
 
Let's pump the breaks alittle here, guys.

What sense does it make for PetCo to acquire a company valued for it's specialties and expertise, and then run the brand into the ground by entirely changing that model? Corporations like that aren't in the business of just throwing money away. DRFS and LA/DD are valuable assets with tons of market share and loyal customers. PetCo knows that if they alienate those (us) people, they're likely to find them turning to other specialty online stores rather than turning to PetCo as the parent company or staying loyal to the DRFS brand.

Things will change, but not by much.
 
not good. I've been shopping with them for a while now since they have the best prices, and great customer service I've despised petco for it's high prices, limited selection and it's treatment of animals. Fortunately, there are other independent stores.
 
myram said:
People should be mad at the sellers, not the buyers.

If the 4 vets that started Dr Forsters and Smith wanted to keep a good thing going, they wouldn't have sold out for the almighty dollar.

Now Petco will run it into the ground, the Divers Den was a great place..........but will be crap shortly.
Click to expand...

Of course I'm lucky, my local Petco is very well run with a pretty good SW section and Frag tank. The staff are hobbyist with degrees in the field, that makes a huge difference.

If Petco is smart, they'll leave Live Aquaria alone and let it run as it's been doing for years with great success.....especially Divers Den.
 
This is very disappointing news. Looks like I will be finding a new online vendor. I won't be associated with anything to do with Petco.
 
Regardless of what changes are or aren't made, I am not happy about this. I stopped supporting Petco after I learned that they carried saltwater fish -- I do not think that that delicate animals should be sold to the public by uninformed businesses. I guess there's always a small chance that Petco will pull the saltwater fish from its stores after realizing how much better the DSF LA/DD model is and throw all it's saltwater backing behind that business model....

... a girl can dream, right?
 
Funny that most dont want to see PETCO change how Foster&Smith is run but you will force that change if their sales go way down, cause then they will think something is wrong. Companies change hands all the time, no reason to abandon a company you like just cause someone else bought them out. I would continue to use them until I see a obvious change in how the company is ran that I dont like before finding a new place to shop.
 
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