Support your Lfs?

[ReefPharmer]

I have seen numerous instances where people on this board and others say "support your Lfs" and in saying so imply that one should pay more to do so.

I wanted to get other's perspective here on this topic. Would you pay more for hardware to support your Lfs? Quality livestock ? I'm assuming most wouldn't pay for poor quality livestock just to support the local store.

My personal view is I would pay somewhat of a premium on livestock if it's well kept because I want the store to succeed and on some level I can't get a match online due to shipping. However paying extra for equipment doesn't make much sense because many top manufacturers have MAP and charging above the set price by the manufacturer doesn't seem customer friendly.

 

[d2mini]

I buy all livestock local. Either from LFS or local reefers.
Equipment goes either way. My lfs usually sells for the same price as online or close enough to it. So whatever is more convenient at the time.

 

[extendedmango]

I buy all livestock local. Either from LFS or local reefers.
Equipment goes either way. My lfs usually sells for the same price as online or close enough to it. So whatever is more convenient at the time.

I do about the same as d2 but I also got a great deal on my tank. Red Sea reefer 250 fully stocked with corals rock fish and equipment for 2,000 dollars.

 

[PatW]

I buy my live stock locally. Lucky for me, there are some good local stores. One of the stores does a really good job on fish. Yes, they cost more but getting healthy fish is worth it. For gear, it is a mixed bag. But I spend the vast majority of my money at the LFS.

 

[BigBlueTang]

So far, I've spent all my money online, for equipment, Except for my sump and tank. My LFS has prices that are at least 1.5x the price of online, and I can't afford that. Although, I have only bought my livestock local, and have a 0% success rate right now. However, just made my first order online so we'll see how that goes.
If my LFS could supply me with healthy livestock that don't always get velvet or flukes, I could be more inclined to buy from them.

 

[snorklr]

just got back from a 2 1/2 hour round trip to check out a "local" store...found a real small shop with nice livestock and virtually no dry goods...looked like whatever was there was bought long ago and didnt sell with no effort to update...there's another one a little closer thats relatively new and it too has very little in the way of equipment....it looks like the fact that everyone shops online gives these people no reason to stock anything....and believe me if my pump or heater or whatever takes a crap i wish i had somewhere to buy one at a moments notice even if the price was higher....way back when manufacturers had a suggested retail price and you could only buy from a dealer ,small shops were able to sell stuff....i owned an auto repair shop for almost 40 years...if a customer bought directly from the manufacturer they would pay retail....if i bought from them i would get a discount, and then could choose to charge retail, or discount it from there...so if i wasnt greedy i could give them a good price and get them to come to me....then all of a sudden they started selling to the public at the same price as me, and to high volume warehouses for even less....so the customer could pay less for a part mail order than i could buy it from my local warehouse...and i had to charge them tax besides....so there really wasn't much incentive for me to keep thousands of dollars of parts in stock...and i had the problem of "latest fad"also...you'd stock a part and everyone wanted it in chrome,you'd get it in chrome and they wanted billet aluminum, get that and they wanted it powdercoated in multiple colors...resulting in shelves full of stuff you couldnt give away....and the fish guys wind up with wet/drys, power compact fixtures,underpowered leds,bad skimmers , and plenty of stuff that works but isnt the latest and greatest....all this and you have to somehow pay your bills

 

[Mark426]

Count yourself lucky if you even have an acceptable LFS nearby. The closest one to me (30 min each way) is like something out of a really bad movie. They have almost every kind of fish/bird/snake/rat/lizard/etc. you can imagine. They even sell cigarettes and drug paraphernalia. There is so much stuff crammed into their shop you can hardly walk. On top of all this, it smells so bad you want to puke and its beyond filthy. Unfortunately the livestock is sentenced to death the day it arrives. The two times I visited there were dead things in almost every section. Think some had been dead for a few days. I should post a video of this crazy place but I dont want PETA to descend on me and the sadsack owners.

I cant remember the last time I bought ANYTHING other than online.

Mark

p.s. need an undergravel filter from 1950...I know the place

 

[ca1ore]

It's more a time thing for me. Uses half of my Saturday to go to the LFS. I'll do it on occasion for ivestock, but not for supplies or equipment.

 

[snorklr]

yeah mark that describes 2 more pet death camps in the area...i had lots of good shops in n.y.,but i moved to north carolina and i'm still in search of a decent one

 

[kcinnick]

I have bought everything used this time around. I needed a couple of odds and ends, a closed loop pump, another eb8 for my Apex, Salt and some DI resin. I picked that up from a local installer/maintenance company who also moved the 315 I bought used and helped break down and move the 4 aquarium lot full of fish and corals I purchased. I am giving him lots of the established softies I don't want anywhere near my DT. He told me just to buy my bulbs online, he says it is cheaper to get a free shipping deal than for him to buy the ones I want.

When I was in high school, and scraping pennies together to buy live stock you can bet I was ordering stuff as cheap as possible. Now that I own my own business and am not hurting to support my family, much less my hobbies I am more than happy to pay a little more locally. I know what it is like to have to compete with online retailers, and well, I do it well. We kick that crap out of local chain stores on price, service and selection not to mention custom work we can do.

I was doing the math... if I decide to sell the 6 Ecotech Vortex's OR the two Ecotech radion xr30w pro's I got with the lots (I really don't need them) I can probably make money on setting up my 315 gallon set up. Otherwise, I will just break even or come close to it. It is hard for me to sell nice stuff that I think I might use in the future... I am rethinking selling the Tunze 6095's as they are getting their vinegar bath...

 

[MrsReefK]

Support your Lfs?

No decent LFS near us. Closest trustworthy one is about 2.5 hours away. All within my area (45 minutes away to two large cities either direction) are horrendous with fish health, tank health, coral health etc. you literally have to part the algae (4 inches long) to see a frag in one of the shops frag tank. Another shop the fish are so Ich ridden and sickly I feel horrible for them. Who knows what other parasites they have. Because of lack of trustworthy LFS's, we do 98% shopping online unfortunately. I wish we had a good shop. Before we moved to Michigan we had a decent shop and supported them over 75% of the time on equipment and live stock.

 

[gone fishin]

Most of the time for live stock and food I will head to the LFS. I like to look before buying.They have been able to get things for me on request and they are usually within a few dollars of online shops that I would use.

For equipment I will buy online the vast majority of the time. Usually the LFS will not have it, they will order it then I will have to go pick it up. I prefer to just have it delivered to the door.

 

[Maritimer]

For livestock, purchasing from your LFS means you get to evaluate the individual animals, whereas ordering on line means you've got to trust that what they're going to send you is an attractive representation of what that species should be, and not covered with parasites. However, there are times . . .

If I'm looking around online and see zebra-dart gobies for $9.99 - $12.99, and then visit my LFS to find that the label on the tank says $49.99 ... I'm not bringing home any zebra-darts today! (Don't know what it is about zebra-darts in particular, most other fish aren't more than double the price offered by on line suppliers.)

When it comes to dry goods, a few of the LFS' offer a decent selection - though often at rather high mark-ups, compared with what's available elsewhere. Many others only stock items that are of much lower quality. One skimmer might be offered; it'll be a sea-clone. (Keep in mind that inside the borders of my town, we have three choices for fish and supplies - Petco, Petsmart, and another Petco.) In some cases, it's just much easier to go on line and make _one_ order that brings everything needed. That's what I did when I set up my tank, though for smaller purchases, I do try to shop more locally.

~Bruce

 

[jrr98002]

I support my LFS for live items because as mentioned by somebody above, you can check them out, see if they're eating, you don't have to worry about death from shipping, etc. Are they more expensive than, say, LiveAquaria? Usually, but you have to figure that your LFS is feeding and caring for these fish, making them healthy to sell, and they have to get paid for that. As far as dry goods, I don't feel as much of a responsibility to pay for them keeping stuff on a shelf, although I still usually go local just to get it when I want it.

 

[donny0007]

I have 3 lfs within half hour drive that deal in saltwater only. And another 5 or 6 that deal in fresh/salt and reptile. I recently got my biocube 29 from a local store for a screaming deal. My apex and mp10 are also coming from my local store. They have them in Stock and same price as online (+tax) but whatever I want to build a relationship. Got my intank media basket on amazon because no one locally carries them. Allow getting my Nano Box retro kit from Dave on his website. I always try to support local small businesses for everything I buy

 

[brianr24]

I don't have any sympathy for any retailers being hurt by on line. It was all fun and games twenty or thirty years ago when they had their foot on the consumers throats making 100 percent or more profit margins.I say do what's good for you. If it it makes sense to buy local I do. If it doesn't. I don't. And I don't go for that price matching either. I'm not begging for better price.I just buy off the guy who offered best price in first place.I don't mean this to sound angry or anything.lol. it just is what it is.

 

[kmbyrnes]

I live within 10 miles of 6 good LFS, so I am lucky.
But that also means lots of competition for local reefer dollars.
I buy all my livestock locally, since it is WYSIWYG.
I buy salt online, because no one local comes close.
Everything else, I always give my LFS first chance for my purchase. If they can come close, I buy local. I don't mind paying more for food and test kits if it helps keep them around so I can get quality livestock. I'd even pay more for the livestock just because it helps me have a better selection.

 

[oseymour]

I'm in NYC and have the choice of a couple of decent LFS. I purchase lifestock, food and corals from the LFS or other reefers. Equipment I mostly purchase online because of the tax. I just purchased a RED Sea Reefer 350 and there would have been an extra 150 in taxes locally vs online and the ETA was about the same.

 

[rburch203]

I try to support the LFS live stock especially, I know the work they go through to get the shipment in the middle of the night at the airport, to keeping their tanks a clean as possible. Its nice for me to also pick and choose what I want rather than ordering from a picture.. as far as equipment I always check with them first and depending on what I'm looking for sometimes they even have consignment items.

 

[joshbrookkate]

yeah mark that describes 2 more pet death camps in the area...i had lots of good shops in n.y.,but i moved to north carolina and i'm still in search of a decent one

Are you anywhere near Greensboro? I just moved from there and liked the stock and staff at "Reef Critters". Very knowledgable and professional.