Your Opinions are Needed (AA)

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wwildcats04

New member
Hello, my name is Kyle... I work at AA and recently took over the saltwater section after hearing comments that were made on this board I started making an effort to turn things around. Now grant it I have only had the section for roughly a month but the fish/tanks are already making a turn around... as well as the prices. I have a few ideas in mind of things that I still need to do such as changing the lights out and get some MH lights running in some of our sale tanks so that will be coming soon. I also have a few others ideas to make us better but am not going to spill those just yet! I know you all appreciate a good LFS so what I would really enjoy is if you guys would come in and check us out and give a few suggestions. I think you will like the turn around that is being made. Now grant it, I dont work every day so there may be algae from time to time but no where near as bad as usual... and keep in mind, I have only had it for a month and its a long way from being perfect because of the state it was in when I took over so bear with me.

Disclaimer: I am not posting this as advertising or because I was told to ... Im doing it because I strive to make the section better and I know I could get good advise from you all

Thanks in advance
 
Glad to see you are working on making the salt water section better Kyle. The store is awesome, but the prices are very high. I think that if you lowered the pricing to normal levels, you could increase the volume of sales. I don't think anyone expects LFS to match internet pricing, but if the pricing is double or triple, people will order online.
 
I think everyone on here would agree with cward's comments.

The only time I can afford to shop at AA is when they have the HUGE sales, and that makes the prices pretty much on par with everyone else.

The variety of fish is usually pretty good, but the corals leave something to be desired.

I got the membership card at AA, but I have found my budget does not allow me to use it. Having special member sales (or group sales you offer to CORA ) could also promote more business.

Will
 
I think its commendable to ask here how to improve the saltwater section but the bigger question is how much leeway is the management going to give you as far as pricing, spending money on the display, livestock ordering, etc. What I've seen at AA is extreamly high prices, fish with ICH, and once when I was there the employees were putting away a fish order without acclamating. I asked the girl if those fish were acclamated and she said they didn't need it.

You've got a BIG job ahead of you but if the store management will allow it, the place has a lot of potential, it just need employees and an owner to want to make it into a competative store that it is not right now.

Good Luck
 
Sammie is correct. When I went from SW to FW I exchanged all of my fish for credit. After looking at my fish and giving me credit, they just dumped them into the tanks. And i know they were not acclamated. Bad thing is my heater in one tank failed in the off position and the water temp was about 67 I think. Also, despite me giving them accurate names for my fish, they dumped some of them in with other fish that looked simular.

About wholesale and retail prices. I bought my fish kinda from a B&M. I found a wholeseller online and called them up for an order. The didn't sell directly to customers so I had to go through a middle man. I had to place an order with some guy about 50 miles from columbus. Good thing was the airport used was columbus. So I was about to pick up my own order from the airport. i never even went to the store I bought my fish from. Anyway, I know the fish I was buying had a wholesale price about 4-5 per fish. And I ended up paying retail of about 7-8 per fish. Almost a 75% increase. However these same fish from AA would b e around 20-25 per fish. or a mark up of 500%. Going back a few days later and my fish were being sold for $25 each. Ok. I had a special deal when I got my fish but the prices the fish were sold to me at retail was the normal price that pet store sold them at.

The bad part is that AA's prices are so far off base that even though I have store credit, I don't use it because I would rather sit on it and wait for the huge sale rather than pay for overpriced items.

On a positive note, I did get a mated pair of pink clowns for about $36 bucks which really might have been underpriced. hehe.

Also not a good idea to have your people just sell fish without asking them general questions as to what kind of set up they have and what fish they already have. Having someone telling me I should get a coral eating fish to put in my reef tank isn't a good thing just cause the fish was cute. However I did continue to let her attempt to help me because "she was cute". haha.
 
another thing that would be nice to bring back was the fish club member's buy one get one once a month. that kept us coming back.
 
I really appretiate all of the replies and Im going to answer to some of them but stuff such as changing acclimation procedures I can not do (all of saltwater is drip acclimated from our vats in the back by the way, FW is not and the reason is that once a fish has been sitting in a bag for 24 hours roughly it is much better to get them right out of the bag because the environment that they are in is not adequate ... you can read up on that) The fish club is also not a thing that I can change... in regards to employes giving advise... when you go in ask for someone who knows saltwater and they know who to point you to.. some people just dont know it yet but know enough to get themselves into trouble. This here is my opinion though but a person who is purchasing a fish should do research on the fish other than asking the opinion of a LFS. Prices have been reduced big time already I have really cut down on the margin and I spoke with the owner today and as soon as we get all the systems re-started (we're bleaching all of them and starting over) we are going to have a column of 75g tanks that is going to be switched weekly of sale fish! for some quick examples of fish that we have lowered our price (not fish club price but the reg price) black percs-$19.99, royal gramma- 16.99. rusty angel and bi color- roughly 35 I dont remember exactly. and in most cases w/ our fish club (the way it is now) we are right in line with everyone else if not better... this is one concept I've been working on. such as a nise size chevron tang we have right now marked 209.99 but you take the 25% off and that takes it down to $153 which is 3 dollars more than a few other places that I have seen... sick fish... yeah we currently have two fiji fox face and two purple tangs not doing quite that great but we have been treating them.. I have not been using the usual FW dip that the last associate was doing but trying different methods. I have been treating the fishes food that just arrive with metronydazol for three days and feeding everything garlic and zoecon enriched food as well to rid them of internal parasites. as far as corals.. we need a lot of work but im in the process of getting new lights and getting our chiller fixed so that we can run our halides... its a start right? I plan on getting rid of a lot of the not so great looking corals by putting some stuff on sale big time and getting in nnewer and better corals along with having a new tank with just specialty (expensive) stuff that we havent been able to get in such as blastos and nice acans and the works. it all takes time though but all should be running like a well oiled machine by the august sale (last two weeks of august by the way)

PS.. for those of you who have not been in for a while to see we totally re-did the what used to be a poor excuse for a reef tank and Im re-doing the bottom 72 bow front I think you'll all like it. a new shark tank is somewhere in the future as well (im trying to get rid of her)
 
$20 for a black percula is sweet. I may have to stop by since I havent been there for months.
 
Glad to see some initiative to improve AA. I was in there a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, the reef and most of the sw was aweful. Utterly depressing in a sense as most of the coral life be it zoa frags or whatever was all in a slow melting death mode. Maybe I caught it all on a bad day but... A sad sight for sure, plus aptasia in nearly every tank I looked at. Had a long talk with Jason while I was there and he agreed it was a sad state of affairs and much is a result of poorly designed infrastructure for the tanks holding reef life. We also talked much about how the net, fedex and places for info exchange like RC are going to continue to eat away at the biz for the LFS. Glad to see maybe some changes are in the works.

Fix the lighting, fix the flow rate/tank volume turnover, fix the substrates, keep 'em clean and pest free. R/C here is a great place to learn how to do it all the right way.

I was also disappointed to see some examples of aquatic livestock that were poor choices to have for sale in a LFS for the general public. Its so wrong to go into a place and see a critter for sale that is unlikely to survive in the store for long and very unlikely in an average consumers tank. Better for the zoo perhaps or special order stuff.

As I perused every tank in the place, I also got to overhear several instances of LFS employees giving customers incorrect information on SW and reef livestock, for ex regarding compatibility, feeding habits, and habitat of specimens.

Additionally, the dry goods section IMO is a poor offering of not the best options. And beyond that the pricing of about everything on the shelf is usually around 300% or more of what DrsFosterSmith, or most any other online, charges even incl delivery costs. Not to mention they didn't stock the one basic thing I needed 'in a pinch' which prompted me to go there in the first place. Though I did need an excuse and was hoping there might be something reefy worth picking up.

Sorry to be so negative, but I did come into the store with a fat wallet of cash and left empty handed and actually pretty bummed out after seeing the poor tank conditions. Found my 'in a pinch' item at Byerlies less than a mile from home, duh... but don't like buying too much there anymore either, but they did finally get their aptasia under control it looked like. Personally I miss the original building, high hopes for the new store.

But unfortunately for the LFS's in general, until they find a way to be as competitive as the online vendors for dry goods they all s*ck and are just ripping off naive consumers and beginners. Places like Best Buy, CompUSA, CircuitCity, Microcenter, and even small stores have managed to do this in recent years, why not the LFS? INDUSTRY GREED and POOR MGMT. I don't buy the stocking or staffing arguments, I've done the mgmt of wet and dry sides of an LFS years back so know all the detail$. Look how many goobers Best Buy has walking their floor, and yet they've managed to keep most of their pricing on par with online vendors.

Oh I do miss getting to cherry pick from the wholesale tanks at Buckeye Aq. For now I'm resolved to stick to online and mail order for my purchases. And until the tanks at AA look waaaaaaay better it's unlikely I'm going to put any reef stuff from there into my system. Which is the one area where an LFS would be a really nice option to have, but getting livestock fedex'd to me overnight, is just the same way we got it at the store. Plus most of the mail order livestock vendors I deal w/offer 14day warranty. So unless ya 'gatta have it right now', the LFS needs to improve tank quality standards a lot before I'll use them as a middleman. If I pay a premium, I should get something for the premium. IMO with the current state of affairs, there is a huge price premium and a quality/selection loss.

Here's hoping you can make a difference. My advice is study up the info here at RC with regards to reef and saltwater husbandry and fix up them tanks. Will be in to check them out when the tank sale starts! :D

ps - and how ridiculous is it that I can have huge heavy bags of aragonite sand and 5gal buckets of salt fedex'd to my house and even after the shipping still have them be a fraction of the LFS cost?

my 2 cents... sorry hope I didn't turn this into a bash the LFS thread
 
I think there is a lot of constructive criticism in this thread.

Quite frankly, I applaud you Kyle for having the balls to post in this forum which is typically very very hateful/harsh of AA. I appreciate what you are doing for the local hobby. I was indeed in there a couple of weeks back buying some frozen Cylopheze, and I swung through the back as usual (most of the time disappointed). I saw some of the usual problems, but was actually wondering what was happening because there was a noticeable difference in the saltwater area. The only thing I can say is, keep up the good work in that section, build your reputation again, and you will get business. That's all there is too it. This isn't an overnight fix, but you will see more traffic as things improve.

As for the dry goods, I restate the same as everyone else. Quite frankly, I have no issue paying a little more locally and supporting the hobby (I was in Remote Control very competitively and HATED and completely understood how the Internet could DESTROY a local shop killing local hobby growth permanently). However, it needs to be in check. If a person doesn't have to think twice about ordering online, then that's a bad thing. If they have to think about hitting up your store before ordering online, then you've hit your mark. Don't try to be the Internet, it is impossible. Just make people think.

I also honestly applaud the local CORA members here too for keeping this thread on track. Let's keep it that way.
 
I want to say real quick that Im sorry if bad advise is given by some, but thats not really my field to train people, my job is to get the section looking good and keep it that way. If you want someone who knows SW than ask for someone who does... not everybody knows... thats a pretty unrealistic goal.. a good one but unrealistic. and we all were beginners at one time.. I have been trying to take time and talk with people and explain some t hings but it takes time and first hand experience.
Thank you every body for attempting to help me out with ideas but I have to say one thing... I can only help the fish section I have no say in dry goods, although we now carry euro reef and with the fish club it takes it to only being a little more than marinedepot also we as of last week started to carry CPR aqua fuges and such. we are in the process of weeding out the crap materials for dry goods and getting in useful stuff but we have to get rid of the old stuff first ya know... but I dont have any say in that.

Im not to sure what fish we have that should not be kept by a hobbiest at the moment, I know we have had morish idols in and I disagree with that. Hell, I dont even want to carry scooter blennys but thats a stable so we must but this is the first time we've had them since the change... if you notice there have been no mandarins there for a while because I dont feel people can maintain them for the most part.
Please stop in and see me Im the young kid with the shaved head just ask for me and someone will get me.
I work mondays until 5, tuesdays until 5 (not this tuesday though) all day thursday, and 12-6 on sundays
Im aware that I have my work cut out for me but every bit of advise helps
 
Kudos Kyle; who knows why no one in the past never actually asked a large forum of potential steady customers as this before. Kinda makes sense if you want to sell stuff.
 
The aquatic critters that I was most of all disappointed to see in tanks for sale was Mud Puppies and/or possible hellbenders. The tanks were unlabeled, and sub specie identification can at times be tricky, but that is sure what they appeared to me to be. Really seeing these species in the pet trade now I find to be truly disgusting.

These creatures are 99.9999% wild caught, and in many places are on the threatened and/or endangered species lists. Reproduction in captivity is rare. Oh but they sure look cool don't they, bet they get lots of ooos and ahhhs from unknowing customers.

Additionally the habitat requirements, ie water temperature, is well out of the norm for the average pet store customer. They require a water temp below 68 degrees! Anything over 77 degrees may prove fatal. Do you even sell chillers?

In Ohio the Eastern Hellbender is officially Endangered.
http://www.ohiodnr.com/endangered/endangered4.htm

Additionally in Ohio you must have a special license to own or sell ANY of these creatures and "Reptiles or amphibians taken from the wild in Ohio may NOT be bought, offered for sale, traded, bartered, or given as a gift" [emphasis added by the STATE, not me]
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/PDF/pub03.pdf
For anyone interested in giving the DNR a call the #'s are on that pdf.

For example in Iowa mudpuppies are under tight controls:
http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/amphibians/salamanders/mudpuppy.html
"Status:
THREATENED. It is illegal to kill or collect this species by law in Iowa."

In Missouri which also has hellbenders they are all listed as endangered.
From http://www.cnah.org/news.asp
"Jefferson City, Mo. - Pity the Hellbender. For years, its numbers have been dwindling in the face of indiscriminate killing, illegal collecting, and changes in the streams it inhabits. Even its love life has been affected. Now it faces a new tribulation, physical deformities. What's an amphibian to do? This one is getting help from the conservation agencies.

Missouri is the only state that has both Hellbender subspecies [considered by most modern-day herpetologists to be distinct species] - Ozark and Eastern. To the average person, they are indistinguishable. Both are endangered in Missouri. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is building a case for giving both federal endangered status. As recently as the 1960s, the Show-Me State had thriving populations of both varieties. The Eastern Hellbender still inhabits Meramec, Big, Gasconade, Big Piney and Niangua rivers and the Osage Fork of the Osage River. The Ozark Hellbender lives in the Current, Jacks Fork and Eleven Point rivers, the North Fork of the White River and Bryant Creek. However, since the 1970s, Eastern Hellbender numbers have plummeted 80 percent. During the same period, Ozark Hellbender numbers have declined by 70 percent."
 
we had salamanders in at one time... over a year ago apparently, but we have never ordered mud skippers or anything of the such, we are not aloud to order that stuff and none of our suppliers even carry that stuff... I believe Im going to have to disagree with us having that before and if so that was past administration not the current so that cant be held against us
 
Nope, they weren't salamanders. They were mud puppies and/or hellbenders. And it was less than a month since my visit, there were several specimens each in it's own unlabeled tank. When you walk back toward the tanks section of the store they were in the center right side tanks. I hope that this information does not prompt the store to destory these animals, take them to the zoo or contact the DNR. I know I didn't dream what I saw.
Here is a picture of what one looks like:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/images/species/Necturus/N_maculosus1STASNY.jpg
 
Mudpuppies are saltwater??? News to me. I think kyle was trying to talk about the saltwater section of AA......Not salamanders. As for the salamanders being wild caught, one must remember that most saltwater fish are wild caught as well.
 
lol that is a polypterus ornatapinnis and an australlian lungfish before you go getting in an outrage look them up and also that is a customers fish that iw hy they are not for sale, their tank busted
jeez have a cow.... do some research before you go on a tangent or at least ask one of the employees
 
Well I can confirm that the mudpuppies are gone from the displays. Interesting pile of rubbermaids where they were before though.

The reef and sw tanks DO look a little cleaner.

Yes, they're still marketing lots of flame scallops too.

That's about all I can say on the subject and leave it to the rest of the community to do what they will...

And yellertang, just because many of our saltwater fish are wild caught, does not make it right for the pet trade to host species that are threatened and endangered as well as being illegal to collect and trade, regardless of fresh or salt orgins. But considering the overall state of the world these days and the sorry intellect of most americans, it's no wonder the world is going to crap and the last bits of our natural wildlife are being wiped out.
 
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