Neptune Aquatics

Clear Water Aquarium -California is killing us

Alexander1312 said:
I have been trying to make a similar point in post #14.

Of course not everyone is made to run their own business, and there are so many reasons why businesses fail in general. But I would be curious to figure out how such a business would be able to make money and sustain - otherwise we will all be buying only online soon or later.

I do believe being obsessed with what the customer wants is a great starting point and we are all customers. From a pure look and feel perspective, I consider Aquarium Depot the best run store in the Greater Bay Area. Its clean, folks are very friendly and attentitive, they seem to have truly everything, and there is a ton to look at. Are they treating their animals well, no idea. Better or worse than Aquatic Collection? I cannot judge. But this type of store concept is not broadly adoptable as they have the benefit of signficantly lower rent - and they have reptiles and other stuff. But I would love to have a store like this closer to me and I would primarily buy there vs online.
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Aquarium Depot is probably my favorite LFS. I just wish they were closer. They have a great store with lots of selection and good prices but they also have a good social media presence on Instagram and YouTube.

I have no idea how this type of business is run but speaking from a consumer point of view, a business either needs to either do something different from everyone else or be really good at what they do. I think it’s very hard to be competitive with live stock unless you do something like QT like Kenny does. Especially with a lot of “garage sellers” who can sell the same coral as LFS do at lower prices because they don’t have the high overhead costs. I think a store like Neptune does well because on top of a good selection of livestock, they have a ton of dry goods. I find myself going there a lot for dry goods first, and then I end up looking at their corals. Most of the time when I need something, especially plumbing stuff, I don’t want to wait to get it shipped so I’ll shop locally. I haven’t been to Clear Water recently but last I remember there wasn’t a lot of dry goods selection. I really do need to stop by again soon and check out the changes they did a little while back.
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
Aquarium Depot is probably my favorite LFS. I just wish they were closer. They have a great store with lots of selection and good prices but they also have a good social media presence on Instagram and YouTube.

I have no idea how this type of business is run but speaking from a consumer point of view, a business either needs to either do something different from everyone else or be really good at what they do. I think it’s very hard to be competitive with live stock unless you do something like QT like Kenny does. Especially with a lot of “garage sellers” who can sell the same coral as LFS do at lower prices because they don’t have the high overhead costs. I think a store like Neptune does well because on top of a good selection of livestock, they have a ton of dry goods. I find myself going there a lot for dry goods first, and then I end up looking at their corals. Most of the time when I need something, especially plumbing stuff, I don’t want to wait to get it shipped so I’ll shop locally. I haven’t been to Clear Water recently but last I remember there wasn’t a lot of dry goods selection. I really do need to stop by again soon and check out the changes they did a little while back.
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Never been to aquarium depot sounds like I wanna check it out.
 
PjFish said:
Plus the Depot got reptilians! And good customer service ..
Exotic aquarium is probably the largest store Ive ever been to 16k square feet with over 450 tanks not including the 30-40 vacant ones lol their tank sales area is bigger then most shops.
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Never head if it. Seems like some of us should consider a future road trip. Lfs tour for those slightly further away.
 
dioworld said:
what makes it cost so much more in here.
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Without going too deep into things...

The desire of a LOT of people to want to be here and there's no place to expand, it's as simple as that. While yes "cost of doing stuff" certainly doesn't help at all and absolutely raises the floor on cost to build, but real estate that already exists costs so much because someone is willing to pay it.

And don't kid yourself, Texas is experiencing a housing cost issue too, it's just relative to the Bay Area it seems like they're not, but for people living there for decades who's homes get regularly reassessed for property taxes they absolutely are seeing it.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Without going too deep into things...

The desire of a LOT of people to want to be here and there's no place to expand, it's as simple as that. While yes "cost of doing stuff" certainly doesn't help at all and absolutely raises the floor on cost to build, but real estate that already exists costs so much because someone is willing to pay it.

And don't kid yourself, Texas is experiencing a housing cost issue too, it's just relative to the Bay Area it seems like they're not, but for people living there for decades who's homes get regularly reassessed for property taxes they absolutely are seeing it.
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I'm talking about cost of building a home , even the labor cost more, because of
fees -> in here you have to pay 100k+ just to county just for fee
inspection BS. more regulation, more changes, more rejection, not only that, inspector reject inspection for few times and basically forces owner to pay them under the pocket.

Same as these small business, more gov regulation, cost a lot more, no profit, going out of business, not to mention our gov promotes thiefs and robbery .
 
dioworld said:
I'm talking about cost of building a home , even the labor cost more, because of
fees -> in here you have to pay 100k+ just to county just for fee
inspection BS. more regulation, more changes, more rejection, not only that, inspector reject inspection for few times and basically forces owner to pay them under the pocket.

Same as these small business, more gov regulation, cost a lot more, no profit, going out of business, not to mention our gov promotes thiefs and robbery .
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The LFS struggle is across the nation, and has been so since the late 90's. That doesn't fit into your model what so ever ;)
 
PjFish said:
Plus the Depot got reptilians! And good customer service ..
Exotic aquarium is probably the largest store Ive ever been to 16k square feet with over 450 tanks not including the 30-40 vacant ones lol their tank sales area is bigger then most shops.
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Did not know about Exotic aquarium. But 2.9 rated on yelp, yikes.
 
I think we also have to really pay attention to the idea that running an LFS is really hard just in principle. For instance, who are your customers is an almost impossible question to answer and it is very very very difficult to cater to everyone
 
Thales said:
I think we also have to really pay attention to the idea that running an LFS is really hard just in principle. For instance, who are your customers is an almost impossible question to answer and it is very very very difficult to cater to everyone
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No recent Finding Nemo boosts.

The reality is, social media is a huge distraction from the real world, and aquaria are a job in themselves.
 
PjFish said:
Plus the Depot got reptilians! And good customer service ..
Exotic aquarium is probably the largest store Ive ever been to 16k square feet with over 450 tanks not including the 30-40 vacant ones lol their tank sales area is bigger then most shops.
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Damn, I used to go there back in the 90's when I was at Davis. Didn't know they were still around, but I don't make it to Sacramento often. Thanks for the blast from the past!
G
 
BAYMAC said:
No recent Finding Nemo boosts.

The reality is, social media is a huge distraction from the real world, and aquaria are a job in themselves.
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Exacly, so if you want to make money fast, you need to cater to new folks who get out of the hobby fast. People who make it through generally stop buying a lot of stuff. So the reality is, you either need new folks, folks who are killing stuff, or folks that keep setting up more tanks as your customers. It can get demoralizing fast...plus since they aren't widgets, they need constant care and they die, losing you money (like the video pointed out). Once you get a certain standing and size, you can last, but if you are small, you it is really hard. We have seen so many stores come and go.
Green Marine tried to do it right, but they had a hard time competing against garage sellers and more, and at some point, you either change course or get out.

But none of this is new. The problem of small businesses making it in any market is a turn and burn reality. 95% of all new business fail in a year (or something like that). If governemnt tries to help, they are commiunist and shouted down after a bit. Then people blame regulations when that really is only the low hanging fruit that does impact, but isnt' the root of the issue.
 
Thales said:
Exacly, so if you want to make money fast, you need to cater to new folks who get out of the hobby fast. People who make it through generally stop buying a lot of stuff. So the reality is, you either need new folks, folks who are killing stuff, or folks that keep setting up more tanks as your customers. It can get demoralizing fast...plus since they aren't widgets, they need constant care and they die, losing you money (like the video pointed out). Once you get a certain standing and size, you can last, but if you are small, you it is really hard. We have seen so many stores come and go.
Green Marine tried to do it right, but they had a hard time competing against garage sellers and more, and at some point, you either change course or get out.

But none of this is new. The problem of small businesses making it in any market is a turn and burn reality. 95% of all new business fail in a year (or something like that). If governemnt tries to help, they are commiunist and shouted down after a bit. Then people blame regulations when that really is only the low hanging fruit that does impact, but isnt' the root of the issue.
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I miss this!

I miss you!
 
Thales said:
Green Marine tried to do it right, but they had a hard time competing against garage sellers and more, and at some point, you either change course or get out.
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I came in when they first opened doors in Berkeley just to browse and walked out with 10 frags for $15.

They were some awesome folks there.

Aquatic gardens or Aqua 123 in burlingame cornered the market at that time for cheap livestock, but I think they were supposed to be a wholesaler.
 
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