Potential New Aquarium Store in the Vancouver Area

[Fansons]

There are not many stores carry only aquascaping product, most of them mixed with fish ans other pet stuff. It's really upset to see crappy plants and cheap products in fish store. I like aquarium west, their plants are healthy and beautiful, water is clean, I really enjoy shopping in their store (not with wife).

Like a couple of member mentioned previously, I really wish there is a professional aquascaping store in Burnaby. Every time I go to king Ed to buy plants, I usually go home empty handed.

[gklaw]

I like aquarium west, their plants are healthy and beautiful, water is clean, I really enjoy shopping in their store (not with wife).

Every time I go to king Ed to buy plants, I usually go home empty handed.

Never been to Aquarium West. Judging from their location, you will be paying a premium for rent. That is just fine. The fact they have been in business for this long means good service and good customer base.

KE is geared more the average hobbyist, at least for now. I don't find their plant selection that bad at all. I walked out with a tub of AquaFlora just yesterday.

Well Grant got huge stores in Richmond and Bby. If there is a demand and people would pay. I am pretty sure Grant would have started a display and carry the products. BTW, plants display and selection is pretty good.

[Hi Im Mike]

I like aquarium west, their plants are healthy and beautiful, water is clean, I really enjoy shopping in their store (not with wife).

This I agree with. I've only been to Aquarium West once (1 month ago) and wow that store is nice. All the equiptment are stacked neat and kept clean. The store is very nice and the tanks are also very clean! I feel alot safer buying my livestock from them because of this.
As Gordon has mentioned, the rent there is high and therefor her prices are also higher then the other stores.
I'm sure if other fish stores are kept cleaned and their tanks are not dirty more customers will buy fish from those stores.

[alexafg]

pet habit is closing in Brentwood mall , if you open your store there it would be good

[Tarobot]

I've shopped at a lot of stores from JL, KingEd, IPU Burnaby/Richmond, Fraser, Fantasy, April's, PJ's, PetSmart(new one open in Richmond btw!) and from CanadianAquatics and other members, I find that I often have to go to several places to find the equipment that I want and I always end up getting livestock and some equipment from CanAqua.

It seems to me that a lot of LFS doesn't really have much of a back and forth in terms of conversation in making sure that I understand what I am buying. When I first started in this hobby I bought a 10g kit from PJ Pets in Richmond, 6 Minnows, 2 common plecos, and 6 RIDICULOUSLY OVERPRICED LOWEST GRADE CRYSTAL RED SHRIMPS (now that I know) on the same day, I had done a bit of homework on cycling beforehand but the 10g doesn't really prepare me for 2 common plecos.

For me personally I think issue is that I find that LFS staff don't really make an effort to make sure their livestock is going to be taken care of? I've had friends whom I've enticed into the hobby and they always go to the LFS and come back with little or no knowledge. It feels like LFS is trying to unload their stock onto new comers whom give up after the first tank and its livestock dies due to lack of knowledge.

Personally if I were working at a LFS, I'd want to make sure I knew exactly what we were selling and make sure the customers know what they are buying. It might seem very tiring and repetitive to explain cycling, gh/kh/tds/lighting/gph/planting(substrate choice) to every customer but I think once educated and done correctly, the customer will definitely come back, which would maybe minimize the 10000+ 2months old 10g tanks selling for $50 on craigslist? I realize it costs a bit more than people think to start the hobby, I would personally recommend tank/filter/heater/Prime Or Neutral Regulator and ask the customer what they are trying to get before they buy random things. NOT TO SAY THAT LFS SERVICE IS BAD OR THEYDONTKNOWANYTHING, I find the British guy from IPU Richmond very informative(I'm bad with names) but in general I feel like I have to KNOW WHAT IM ASKING in order to get a response instead of the LFS saying "Hey did you know ..... ? or Hey you should probably watch out for .... if you're getting that!" Which I think would've been more helpful to begin with. No one has ever mentioned TDS to me until I talked to Mykiss and Jiang604 one year into my hobby, I'm beginning to think it's a secret code of the aquarium world? Like once I know it I'm part of the hobbyist crew. I am also the kind of idiot that bought a sponge filter and an airpump but no airline tube...

The new PetSmart in Richmond has a good design of good livestock description from PH/Temp/Max Size in a card right on the their tanks. I think it's very beautifully done with colourful pictures and uniformed printing.

I think I might have strayed a bit from the topic but I think stores have their difficulties as well as April pointed out. I would personally really like to see a store that has a very good collection of equipment.

This is usually how I shop.

JL for chemicals because I don't think I've seen Neutral Regulators liquid form anywhere else, I heard they got the new 4g cube sets and i like to look at SaltWater things and imagine that one day I will stop renting and have a big SW setup -> King Ed for random stuff like 2.5g tanks, corner filter, undergravel filter -> Fraser for anything that I couldn't find at King Ed, 2.5g tanks, corner filters yada yada -> April I go out of my way for once in a while for wood, nano tanks, substrate -> PJ Pets Richmond for sales on stuff like Fluval Spec -> IPU because my friend's high school works there but have pretty much stopped going because they rarely have new wood/substrate/chemicals in -> CanadianAquatics Mykiss's house where I spend more than the entire day's shopping+gas put together.

AquariumWest has a very good collection of almost everything but their prices are just too high compared to other places. It's more worth it for me to make a trip to JL-> KingEd -> IPU burnaby -> Fraser -> April -> PetSmart -> PJ Pets -> IPU Richmond than to just buy directly from AquaWest.

These days I pretty much only shop at Canadian Aquatics and any random store that I happen to be close to for Stability/Prime. From CanAqua I get canister filters, sponge filters, lilypipes, compressed co2 setups, almond leaves, ADA substrate, new/used random tanks, cactus wood, driftwood, pleco caves, shrimp breeding tubes, plants, fish, shrimps, TDS meters, electronic PH tester. I have found a lot of cool looking used tanks from CanAqua and I wonder where people got them from because I have never seen them at other LFS such as a TruVu 10g that i really liked but never ended up using and cube 9x9x10 nano tank that currently houses my snowball shrimps.

To be honest I really wouldn't mind seeing a store with a very good collection of equipment and zero livestock. There has to be a market for misc aquarium things, some stuff I have never seen at LFS are almond leaves and cactus wood which I am absolutely in love with. Maybe it's an overhead cost and renting issue with LFS but Mykiss's house is possibly the most stocked LFS I have ever been to. What they lack in standard HOB that LFS carries they make up for in used equipment from I'm guessing people that gave up on the hobby. Charles has a collection of wood he sold and when the person quit the hobby he GAVE IT BACK FOR FREE, I mean, that's like 200% pure profit. ***Maybe a fishstore could look into used equipment for store credit?

O and... no one treats Bettas well in my opinion. I saw AquaWest doing water checks for their bettas and it's the only time I've ever seen anyone do it which I give them a super big thumbs up for but everyone else has bettas in a crappy little cup, even PJ Richmond has a betta in a half litre cup on their cash counter which I really don't think is sending a right message for parents that bring their kids to the store and want to buy a fish. I think overall LFS needs to educate the population on the hobby and that it's not as cheap as people assume, the beginners who are willing to spend $100 to setup a 10g are the same people that will spend $1000 a month once multi-tank syndrome hits, or LFS can continue to make money from 5 Beginners that spend $20 each on a betta and a bowl and never come back because the fish is dead within the week.

In the end it's really how you run stores and not what type of store you run. I find that most store share quite a bit of similar stock and equipment with small variances, the main factors are LOCATION 25%, PRICE 25%, SERVICE 50%. I would truly like to see a store that puts the focus on EQUIPMENT, SERVICE and EDUCATION of beginners. It's not like a big order of filters will rot if you leave them in a box on the shelf right? If BestBuy has a GeekSquad that comes over and setups a computer for me, why can't a LFS send a guy over to setup a pressurized co2 with atomizer into a canister, cut tubes to attach to the lilypipes into the tank with substrate on the stand using prime and stability that I got from them. It's the right way to aquascape and cycle anyway and if youre a beginner/amateur you are learning (hopefully) while this is happening.

Again these are just my thoughts as I realize there must be issues that are far more tougher to deal with when running a store and I apologize if I seem to take the LFSs' work too lightly.


But I mean... if you've got enough starting money to run a store
Call TruVu and get this for Bettas. Cause the big empty back part of IPU Richmond's SaltWater section is sad to see.

[charles]

These days I pretty much only shop at Canadian Aquatics and any random store that I happen to be close to for Stability/Prime. From CanAqua I get canister filters, sponge filters, lilypipes, compressed co2 setups, almond leaves, ADA substrate, new/used random tanks, cactus wood, driftwood, pleco caves, shrimp breeding tubes, plants, fish, shrimps, TDS meters, electronic PH tester. I have found a lot of cool looking used tanks from CanAqua and I wonder where people got them from because I have never seen them at other LFS such as a TruVu 10g that i really liked but never ended up using and cube 9x9x10 nano tank that currently houses my snowball shrimps.

Thank you We do appreciate that.

[April]

You mean like
This
For the
Bettas?
That holds
8 bettas. Most
Stores need about 25 to 100 . Some points are good..but
Each brand of equipment is a different wholesaler. There's minimum order amounts and huge amount of money stocking a shop. Stores need to
Delegate their
Space and
Money for what sells. Most if their revenue comes from basic hobbyists.
I have increases my supplies alot lately on every day supplies and some higher quality items but can't have everything as its a small store.
I usually
Carry Katanga leaves. Always have. Out right now but do get them.





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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.235315,-123.185127

[clairel]

'potential fish store owner',
go back and read April's post of 20/10/11 over and over again until you 'get it'. If you want to make $100,000 in the pet industry, start with $200,000. If you want to make $200,000 start with $400,000, etc. you get the idea. And don't forget to send April a cheque for the money she saved you. jmo.

[luckylux99]

'potential fish store owner',
go back and read April's post of 20/10/11 over and over again until you 'get it'. If you want to make $100,000 in the pet industry, start with $200,000. If you want to make $200,000 start with $400,000, etc. you get the idea. And don't forget to send April a cheque for the money she saved you. jmo.

if you would of read the post you would of seen that they are all
ready up and running and very successful