All of them. SPS, LPS, softies. They just look very dull. Even the zoas just look very dark and almost brownish. The lights in both stores definitely look like they or on the white side, at least to the eye.
That will do it.
That certainly could be a factor! I bought a lovely tan cabbage coral from a store a couple of months ago. Two months on, and it's turning a neon green in my Evo. I guess that they're not too invested in caring for stock that has a high turnover with even mediocre lighting.
Every LFS I have ever been to that sells coral, they are drenched in nothing but blues.
That’s fair. I don’t expect them to have as vibrant of colors as you see in pictures online, but I do expect to see some color. Otherwise, why even care about coral color?
The "LFS" closest to me -- a ten-hour drive away -- does not. They have blues, but the lighting is kind of dingy overall, and it's therefore somwhat difficult to judge true coral colour on display. I typically buy coral from them only on impulse when I'm there for frozen fish food and other supplies. The online sellers in Canada do a pretty good job of displaying their WYSIWYG corals under standard aquarium lighting spectrums, and I haven't yet been disappointed by any frags that I've bought through them.
Ha, no, I would not have described Pedro and other chain stores as reputable when it comes to fish and corals. Both of these stores are specifically geared toward fish and corals. Both are very well regarded and highly rated. They have a couple of display tanks where the corals look much better in terms of color. But their tanks with the coral they are selling are...meh.
