The #1 Reason you shop at your LPS ...

[jgagel]

My wife is writing a business plan for her Senior Entrepreneurship and Business Creation class at University of Kentucky. We are creating a business plan for a new pet (fish) store. Your quick vote will be greatly appreciated. Please visit the other 3 polls and vote:

What type of live stock do you regularly shop for ...
What type of dry goods do you regularly purchase from your LPS ...
How often do you purchase live stock online ...

 

[wetWolger]

I don't shop at my Large Polyp Stonys. ;-)

 

[vessxpress1]

jgagel: I guess it depends on how large of a city you're talking about. I live in a small town. The nearest LFS is 50 miles away, so with gas at 2.50 a gallon, there's immediately over 10 dollars worth of gas, 3 hours of my time and 7% sales tax on top of the mark-up out the window. So I get there. They have great selection, you can see everything in front of you, how healthy is it....pick and choose basically. I like it for the immediacy of it. You can buy what you want today. It's in the tank today. No risk in shipping. It's handled with care in a temp controlled enviroment for it's final trip.

Dry goods, I'm sure I'm not the only one with this opinion, but I really don't know how the stores can compete with the catalogs and online retailers, or Ebay for that matter.
Example: 32 oz. bottles of B-ionic at LFS= 24.00 plus 7% tax.
64 oz. bottles of B-ionic on ebay= 28.00 shipped to my door.
16 oz. bottle Reef Vital DNA
LFS - 50.00
thatfishplace 30.00
You can slap my hand for not buying localy, but hey, the hobby's expensive enough as it is. Basically, livestock and frozen food is all I go there for now unless I'm in a pinch and I'm there already. Won't make a special trip.

 

[Rurouni Kenshin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7038237#post7038237 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jent46bow
I don't shop at my Large Polyp Stonys. ;-)

Check out the writing above his poll. LPS-Local Pet Store.

 

[mcegelsk]

This is the number one reason I can almost guarantee: Convenience.

 

[Rurouni Kenshin]

Knowledgable / Friendly Staff
Live Stock Selection
Quality
These are my votes, as I look for all this when I'm going to a local place.

 

[SunnyX]

Mainly to show support.

The guys there are honest.

Honesty should be the highest priority, with so many shady dealers out there.

 

[jpslickorocks]

All of the people that work at my fave lfs are becoming friends of mine. There is a lot respect givin when an empolyee tells you not to buy something because it is not compatable with your system. They care about the customer not the sale and for that I will spend the extra money to shop locally