What's missing in your LFS?

[Olefreebe]

Any store would be nice. The closest pet supply store, not even fish store mind you, is an hour drive away.

 

[Casket_Case]

He does have permits to be a business, that's about it and does not equate being a store. It's illegal to run a retail location out of your residence. Insurance companies don't allow it, zoning doesn't allow it, ADA doesn't allow it, etc. There's a reason he has no website, no Yelp, Google or other reviews or online presence. The only way to find him is to be accepted into his private Facebook page. No employees, no hours, ignores vendor agreements on pricing. No guarantee on livestock, he'll actually meet you outside the wholesaler and hand them directly to you. He maintains a job as a contractor and only "opens" when people come over. He circumvents every requirement to be a legitimate store and cuts every corner. Absolutely not a store and a real danger to shutting down the legit businesses that actually serve the Atlanta community.

He is legal to my knowledge and he’s been great to every customer that walks in, uses fairest pricing, extremely knowledgeable, and just a great dude. He is not a danger to the Atlanta community because he’s not in Atlanta. Stop being such a pain. He’s the only decent reef shop remotely close to me. The other one is a total scam. It’s a shame you can say these things without even meeting the man.

 

[Tplummer]

Air Fresheners

 

[Super Fly]

I wish mine had a non-condescending way of talking to people. Ive been reefing for 9 years and going to his shop for 15 years. He will only take frags as surrenders then sell them at his normal prices.

sadly this is exactly what my lfs needs also! Spent $130 on livestock this weekend and the worker helping me was so gruff ... I keep trying to support lfs around me by going out of my way to drive there but lfs staff r often very unfriendly. Perhaps I'm just getting older and less tolerant of big city attitudes. But with such unpleasant shopping experiences, I often ask myself why bother when prices are so much cheaper online.

 

[ScubaSteve77]

He is legal to my knowledge and he’s been great to every customer that walks in, uses fairest pricing, extremely knowledgeable, and just a great dude. He is not a danger to the Atlanta community because he’s not in Atlanta. Stop being such a pain. He’s the only decent reef shop remotely close to me. The other one is a total scam. It’s a shame you can say these things without even meeting the man.

The formation of his business is legal and not much else. It is not legal to run a retail location from your residence.
Who said I've never met the man?
Sorry if the truth is a pain. Try investing hundreds of thousands of dollars being an actual retail location only to have some due flaunt all the rules to undercut your business and you'll feel some real pain. He absolutely is impacting the Atlanta community, I know many store owners here personally. Villa Rica isn't a far drive. Besides he has people meet him in the city to pick up the livestock he literally just picked up at the wholesaler. Which by the way also goes again Dept of Ag regulations for another rule he ignores. So he never had any money invested in his purchases, they never even make it to his store. How can an actual store compete with that?

 

[725196]

All the stores have clown fish, and more clown fish and of course the are well stocked with clown fish...

Other than clown fish most of the stores have a good selection of weeds...um... soft corals.

to be honest I cannot complain too much about the stock. With everything going on I am glad they are getting anything and selling it quick. Good for their business.

And if you want clownfish this time in history is probably a Nirvana.

 

[bluesy1213]

The formation of his business is legal and not much else. It is not legal to run a retail location from your residence.
Who said I've never met the man?
Sorry if the truth is a pain. Try investing hundreds of thousands of dollars being an actual retail location only to have some due flaunt all the rules to undercut your business and you'll feel some real pain. He absolutely is impacting the Atlanta community, I know many store owners here personally. Villa Rica isn't a far drive. Besides he has people meet him in the city to pick up the livestock he literally just picked up at the wholesaler. Which by the way also goes again Dept of Ag regulations for another rule he ignores. So he never had any money invested in his purchases, they never even make it to his store. How can an actual store compete with that?

I’ve never given this much thought. This post has been an eye opener for me. I live near Atlanta and have a fair amount of Interaction with the reefing community around the area. As a consumer I haven’t considered that what he is doing is or could be damaging to other LFS businesses In the area. I guess it’s like a lot of things in life, there’s always going to be a percentage of people who don’t mind ignoring rules and willing to take that risk of getting caught. I have never bought any livestock from him and will probably never do so after reading this. It’s not that I don’t like him or anything, I would just prefer to shop at a business that is ran according to rules and regulations set forth by our society. I’m also a believer in “actions speak louder than words“. If you can’t run a business the legal way that’s gotta say something.

 

[ScubaSteve77]

I’ve never given this much thought. This post has been an eye opener for me. I live near Atlanta and have a fair amount of Interaction with the reefing community around the area. As a consumer I haven’t considered that what he is doing is or could be damaging to other LFS businesses In the area. I guess it’s like a lot of things in life, there’s always going to be a percentage of people who don’t mind ignoring rules and willing to take that risk of getting caught. I have never bought any livestock from him and will probably never do so after reading this. It’s not that I don’t like him or anything, I would just prefer to shop at a business that is ran according to rules and regulations set forth by our society. I’m also a believer in “actions speak louder than words“. If you can’t run a business the legal way that’s gotta say something.

Thank you for getting the point I was trying to make.
I spent 20+ years in aquarium retail and have opened and managed several stores. Competition is a good thing but it needs to be played with the rules applied equally. LFS have a hard enough time, especially now. The last thing they need is someone undercutting them by shortcutting all the rules. Lowest price does not mean fairest price.
I honestly wish he would put he effort forth to open an actual store, he could probably do well. But currently his biggest selling point is price, which he wouldn't be able to keep once he picked up the expenses or liability of a legit retail location.
A guy like him pops up every few years and takes a chunk of the market before the officials catch on and shut them down. In the meantime he only hurts the local community.

 

[ichthyoid]

What’s missing in my LFS is...me

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

An ATM that shows up as something else in the statements....

 

[alimac122]

I would really like to see my LFS have a larger variety of marine options with slightly more detailed care. My LFS does it all, salt brackish fresh and betas. So, it is hard for them to hone in and excel in the marine department. They honestly do a pretty phenomenal job with what they have space availability wise; and I trust their wholesalers a lot. They are always up front and honest and even shut the doors for a week while one of their employees was getting tested for covid (switched to curbside/phone orders).

Also, if they could stop using API test kits for their "free water sample testing" that would be phenomenal.
Whenever they don't have anything I want/need the always try and order it for me.