SWSW sales?

The old SWA stocked Rod's Food too. So that's not new. I always bought it from Rob. As for other brands of frozen food, I admit I buy it from Petco or Petsmart. They carry the same stuff, and at a much lower price. Most of the time, I make my own. Some fresh seafood from the grocery store, put in the blender with some garlic, Selcon and veggies... Then freeze it using the mini ice cube trays. My fish and corals love it and it is soooo much cheaper to make your own frozen food than it is to buy it pre-made.



SW sells cube frozen food for 5.00 per pack and last week it was buy one get one free :eek2: I too have bought from petsmart but they rarely have Mysis.
 
I have heard a rumor of a new tucson SW shop opening in early July and am excited.

I shopped at SWA and probably spent over $20,000 there before the changeover. I haven't been back since Mike left. Since then I have been shopping online. It's sooo addictive!! New inventory every few hours!!

Since the new ownership my observations are these:

They don't seem to get new corals in very often and those they do are boring.
I used to buy rod's reef there...I went in for a few weeks post changeover and they didn't have any. They kept saying they would soon! I noticed things (RC salt, food etc) that I would buy regularly there before the change, were no longer stocked.
The "coffee shop" atmosphere is gone. Before, i would chat about my dream corals, equipment, etc and get opinions from the staff about what I should buy, then order it. Now it's, "How may I help you?" not, "Check out this great thing I saw because I'm passionate about fishkeeping too!"

As many of you pointed out, you can buy more variety for less cost, AND QUICKER online. I used to shop at the LFS because I wanted to support a local store, and I LIKED them! If you want to run a store, you have to be personable imo.

I have great hopes for the new rumored shop and while I know it can't compete on prices or selection with online, I still feel like this is a small town and we need to support our local businesses.
 
I have been to SWA twice and Dan seems to be handling the store fairly well. The SPS frags are looking good and for the $20 bucks per frag I spent I would say they are worth it. There is allot less aiptasia in the tanks and they are looking clean the last couple of weeks.

Ordered H. Melanurus from Dan and paid a fair price for it and it is looking good in the tank. Plus the frozen food isn't too badly priced fr this town. Plus he will be stocking Rod's foods soon which I have been wanting to try. So far I like the new SWA.

That's a little more encouraging. Maybe I'll make the trip.


Since the new ownership my observations are these:

They don't seem to get new corals in very often and those they do are boring.

This has always been the problem with our LFS's, SWA was the best store for getting good pieces at a fair price. Generally speaking, the stuff you can get online blows away the local stuff in terms of finding the less common pieces/ color morphs/ etc. And if you ordered enough of it, the price usually blows away the LFS too.

I'd love to see a new shop open up. Somewhere on the NW side would be cool.
 
I went in there today and met their new manager, he seemed very nice and knowledgable. I still havent met the owners yet. Some stuff was more expensive, but there were still some pretty good deals there. Hes gonna order me a mystery wrasse for 70 bucks, which is the same price or less then i would pay online without the shipping. It is sad to see that bleaching in the display tank get more and more extensive though. Another store in tucson would be great. I like making my rounds and looking for good deals. I can even find good deals at oasis. Dont let hector rip you off, you can usually talk him down a bit. I will NEVER buy a fish that I cant see And watch eat, so I do not risk shopping online. I want the best looking fish possible. ; )
 
When did SWA change their hours? Was this recent, or am I just slow? I stopped by there on my way home from work tonight and they were closed. The sign said they close at 5 or 6 pm every night now. Well so much for stopping there on my way home from work from now on!
 
On this Guy must be an employee of oasis or just got in to the hobby. ......... last night!

russman71 don't let idiotic comments dissuade you from posting. You will find the reefing community in this town to be quite schizophrenic.
 
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For the record I sold the shop to spend more time with the family and actually enjoy the hobby once again. I am going to continue to wholesale and breed Clowns, Sharks, gobies, as well as propogate corals with Olin. Even with a past employee pocketing quite a bit of money via under the table sales we were making money(a special thanks to all that assisted him by paying him on the side knowing he was stealing them) Our markup was certainly not the lowest but was fair for a B&M. Retail is a time consuming game I no longer wanted to do and the wife and kids were not gonna put up with the hours much longer. As for prices, we did fine with our prices because we had a good volume. Sadly some decisions regarding how to run the place were made without my input and Mike left. No idea why you take over a business being run by employees very well and making money then try to change everything, that will cause you a few months of losses everytime while you try to adapt to the customer base but they will learn..........I am still available via this forum to answer questions for people but will likely not check much for awhile while I take a small breather from things so email is best.

IMO there is never a reason for a store to run a markup over 500 to 800% as certain stores I competed against in Tucson commonly did. There seems to be people crazy enough to pay it so I guess there is a sucker born every minute. I guess the bonus "algae eating flatworms" make up the extra costs, wouldn't want to give them away free lol.
 
yeah I am still going to build them on a wholesale level. I plan to get together a few new designs and sizes to sell to LFS and maybe online down the road.
 
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