Ugh Petco frustrates me sometimes

[Reefing102]

So no this isn’t about sick fish or anything like that. A brand new Petco just opened up less than a mile and a half from me. It’s one of their new designs but they also carry farm supplies. Turns out they carry freshwater but have no plans on stocking saltwater. Still means I need to travel to visit a store that stocks saltwater but I guess it saves my wallet? Idk. I was hoping they’d be the only store in town with saltwater

 

[griss]

So no this isn’t about sick fish or anything like that. A brand new Petco just opened up less than a mile and a half from me. It’s one of their new designs but they also carry farm supplies. Turns out they carry freshwater but have no plans on stocking saltwater. Still means I need to travel to visit a store that stocks saltwater but I guess it saves my wallet? Idk. I was hoping they’d be the only store in town with saltwater

Petco's SW livestock is hit or miss in my area. Some stores have great livestock, others look like crap.

We used to have two Petcos equal distance from our house (less than 15 minutes). One had an amazing variety of livestock that was always extremely healthy. The other store had bare minimum livestock and what they had was never very healthy. They then combined the two store into a location in between the two previous locations. Now, depending on the week, they either have a good variety or have almost nothing. On top of that, the health of what they do have varies from week to week as well.

Unfortunately for me, I don't have a lot of choice with LFS locally unless I want to drive 30-45 minutes or more. There used to be a SW only store near me that was really good but the owner went through a divorce and the landlord doubled his rent at the same time. He moved to a smaller location, but never recovered and closed a year or two ago.

There is a really, really nice FW and pond store 5 minutes from my house that carries a small amount of SW livestock. But they have very little SW livestock and their prices are insane. I was there last weekend and (if I remember correctly) a single green Ricordea polyp was $55 and a single green and orange Ricordea was $65.

 

[Reefing102]

Yea my nearest true LFS is about an hour away. As I said the new Petco isn’t carrying SW but the other petcos one about 30 min the other about an hour, carry SW. One has recently been pretty good (with the manager even sending pics to other staff to prevent accidental mis-identification) The other is average. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. Mostly clueless as to what’s what lol

 

[HumbleFish]

I visited the Petco in Harrisonburg, VA today and was pretty impressed. Both salt & freshwater fish looked fairly healthy.

 

[griss]

I visited the Petco in Harrisonburg, VA today and was pretty impressed. Both salt & freshwater fish looked fairly healthy.

It’s crazy what a mixed bag you get from them depending on the store you visit.

 

[400M1963]

Let's face it, this LFS thing's on a decline for years now. Petco generally does not think about saltwater cause they would have to hire $omeone with more knowledge in that area. Companies now want to pay newbs, esp post Covid. Better to go with larger suppliers via mail order, while supporting any LFS with your loyalty, as they happen. Consider yourself lucky to have a LFS better than the chains. Reef stores were niche, but bigger say, 5 years ago ... not so much now in the current environment. Small/medium businesses have had a target on their back as corporations de-value their own countrymen, offshoring. Now look at the fallout. Why not think about opening a small business that does it right, yourself? Explore the idea, esp if you're in it for the longer haul and interested in helping save reefs. Would shop at your place in a heartbeat.

 

[Reefing102]

I honestly wish I had the funds for that. I’d love to open a small store

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Tough road to survive on. You also have to be able to do service on aquariums.

 

[Reefing102]

Absolutely. I can’t do service. I barely service my own tank (mainly out of laziness)

 

[HumbleFish]

Tough road to survive on. You also have to be able to do service on aquariums.

^^ This. Everybody wants to start their own LFS until they realize that they've invested in a money pit. The store itself becomes a "necessary evil" to support the aquarium maintenance side of the business, which actually makes the money. Speaking as someone who used to spend almost every weekend "LFS hopping"; this new reality sucks so bad because it forces me to buy almost everything online nowadays. Finding a new fish, coral, etc. at a LFS was half the fun.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

How TRUE, I used to travel the island or to Jersey from LI on a Sunday with the wife & kids.