BRS acquires Marine Depot? WOW!

trmiv

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Well, I'm not privy to the details of the sale to say who was or is responsible for the jobs in CA or GA but again from what I can tell jobs will be jettisoned by bringing everything to Minn and like I said, without any partiality to either MD or BRS, I feel sorry for the workers who will have to seek new employment.
Certainly, I 100% agree. I just hope since it seemed MD wanted to sell for awhile that either finding someone who wanted to keep the warehouses were part of the plan, or if not that they ensured the workers were taken care of or possibly given the option for positions in Minnesota for the few that wanted to move. Since MD seemed like a well run place, I'm confident they did.
 

timry2

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I think most are missing the pint. Its not that BRS and MD merged, its the fact that MD carried things I rely on at an affordable price and BRS do not carry. We as the consumer are loosing out by not having sufficient options. For some of us we have to shop online. A tray of frozen food is $10 at the LFS. I can buy it on MD in quantities that equates to about $3.50 a tray. The small online shops cant stock the minute items that many of us need from time to time. MD did, and now they are gone. So where do you find those items without having to take out a second on your house
 

trmiv

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I think most are missing the pint. Its not that BRS and MD merged, its the fact that MD carried things I rely on at an affordable price and BRS do not carry. We as the consumer are loosing out by not having sufficient options. For some of us we have to shop online. A tray of frozen food is $10 at the LFS. I can buy it on MD in quantities that equates to about $3.50 a tray. The small online shops cant stock the minute items that many of us need from time to time. MD did, and now they are gone. So where do you find those items without having to take out a second on your house
They are bringing many product lines over. Ryan mentioned in the live stream they’ve been super picky about what they carry, and sometimes that has been a mistake. He picked out like API test kits specifically as an item MD carries but not BRS that they will evaluate because they now have access to all of MD’s sale data. So see what they bring over and then worry about it.
 

Cell

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I think most are missing the pint. Its not that BRS and MD merged, its the fact that MD carried things I rely on at an affordable price and BRS do not carry. We as the consumer are loosing out by not having sufficient options. For some of us we have to shop online. A tray of frozen food is $10 at the LFS. I can buy it on MD in quantities that equates to about $3.50 a tray. The small online shops cant stock the minute items that many of us need from time to time. MD did, and now they are gone. So where do you find those items without having to take out a second on your house

How do you know what MD products BRS will or wont stock now that they own them? I think too many people are jumping to conclusions here.
 

rhostam

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Walmart and Amazon killed many small towns and shopping malls. Stores like Sears, Montgomery Wards, JC Pennys, Macys, etc got gutted in the process. True shopping has evolved to online, overnight but consumer choice is now controlled by a few.
Consumers had a choice to shop local [and even American].

Some consumers don’t want to pay more for anything. The advantage Walmart had was bulk. Their model is sell volume at lower margins. Opposite of businesses that sell fewer premium at higher margin.

Consumers are responsible for Walmart and Amazon. Their spend made it happen.

And so will it be with BRS.
 

Montiman

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Having worked in the industry in the recent past there are some things I think people are missing.

I do not believe that MarineDepot was very successful. There has been writing on the wall from an industry perspective that they had shrinking margins and might not be around. MarineDepot switched to contract warehouses and stopped doing their logistics in house. This is convenient but expensive, A large part of this was driven buy the cost of doing business in California, MarineDepot Employees have told me this. Many MarineDepot long term employees have left in the last several years and gone to BRS or SaltwaterAquairum.com. Vendors have mentioned that MarineDepot has been later and later paying their bills and that sales volume has fallen. If it wasn't for the pandemic I thought MarineDepot might just go away on its own.

I believe BRS saw a great deal and took it. The question is why. Given that MarineDepot was using contract warehouses. I doubt BRS will have Georgia and Nevada distribution centers. They could just hire their own contract warehouses. MarineDepot was never as geeky and this may represent a move towards BRS having more entry level products. I was surprised when BRS started carrying brands like reefbreeders but it may be the case that the only way for BRS to gain more market share is for them to expand into lower end products and possibly freshwater items.

To be honest I also question the profitability of BRS. The advertising and customer support cost a fortune and the insider knowledge is that higher end products have lower margins than entry level ones. BRS also specializes in many products that are likely loss leaders due to freight. Salt, Frozen Food, Rock, and Substrate are all near impossible to make a profit on after freight and yet BRS really pushes them.

I strongly feel that the BRS founders likely always planned on selling out after gaining market share. Today market share can mean more than profit.
 

timry2

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How do you know what MD products BRS will or wont stock now that they own them? I think too many people are jumping to conclusions here.
They are bringing many product lines over. Ryan mentioned in the live stream they’ve been super picky about what they carry, and sometimes that has been a mistake. He picked out like API test kits specifically as an item MD carries but not BRS that they will evaluate because they now have access to all of MD’s sale data. So see what they bring over and then worry about it.
Look at Live aquaria when petco bought them, merged or whatever you call it. Selection dwindled
 

trmiv

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Look at Live aquaria when petco bought them, merged or whatever you call it. Selection dwindled
Bulk Reef Supply is about as far from Petco as you can get. Marine Depot appeared to be motivated to sell regardless so be happy it was a good company in our marine hobby and not Petco or Petsmart it that did it. What gives you any sense BRS would operate like Petco?
 

Cell

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This should ultimately be good for BRS's inventory over all. They will cull poor selling/poor quality BRS stocked products and replace them with MD's best selling stuff.

Quality > Quantity
 

trmiv

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Also 100% they will cut product lines. They will also keep product lines. They have access to what sells and what doesn’t from marine depot. If there’s stuff you 100% love that marine depot carried, they said to let them know and they will consider that stuff. But the top selling stuff at MD that BRS doesn’t carry now sounds like it’s coming over.
 

tehmadreefer

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Regardless of who’s side your on and apparently the majority isn’t for BRS, this thread I GUARANTEE, is an eye opener for BRS! We shall see what transpires. Cos you know they are monitoring our replies lol
 

trmiv

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Ultimately who knows? In 5-10 years maybe this looks foolish and Ryan is like Jeff Bezos and cashed out while keeping young on the blood of 18 year old blood transfusions and talking about colonizing Neptune. I can only take them at their word from past behavior and what they say now, not theoretical stuff they may do in the future. Ryan said a lot of good things in the “why’s” live stream so we’ll see where it goes.
 

rtparty

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Regardless of who’s side your on and apparently the majority isn’t for BRS, this thread I GUARANTEE, is an eye opener for BRS! We shall see what transpires. Cos you know they are monitoring our replies lol
The negative voices always speak louder.

The majority of reefers are for BRS. Their market share and dominance prove this. MD was their closest competition and BRS was 3x larger.

Today's live answered a ton of questions. For those cynics, it won't matter what BRS says or does. History supports the many of us that believe this will be a good thing.
 

ZoWhat

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Ryan Batcheller is turning into Jeff Bezos.

Lololololololololol

Good for Ryan. He's a great guy


.
 

joe0813

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geesh some of the bashing is just ridiculous... Deep down BRS is a business. They had an opportunity to expand their business. Why wouldn't they? Its their competition, buy them. Anyone of you would do the same thing. Growing your business equals more money, bigger warehouses and more jobs. Also I recommend the bashers watch the video BRS streamed earlier today.
 
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