AQUATIC SPECIALTIES [ CALIF] CLOSES THE DOOR

[clarionreef]

Yep, No more Aquatic Specialties.
It was sad to see yet another wholesaler close up shop this past week.
They were the 1st or 2nd largest in Northern California in the mid 2000's..
Their heyday saw 5 million in sales per annum.
It comes on the trail of many of their customers doing the same or reducing their buying so much that the wholesale volume required to exceed the economy of scale wasn't being met.

They had landlord issues and decided to close rather then sign a new long and more expensive lease. The landlord now gets an empty wharehouse for the next few years.
They may open up again, smaller and tighter.
Collectors and exporters are all caught up in the down-sizing as well and scrambling for enough business to stay afloat. The new project in Papua New Guinea is ramping up just as we regard the slowest "good season" in memory.

The Aquarium, The Fish Tank, Brians Tropicals, Tropical Paradise,Octopus Garden, Nippon Goldfish among plenty of others just to name a few have all disappeared from the scene.

Where it ends who knows . Exporters need larger, fixed entities to ship to and they in turn need the same.
To be sure there will be adjustments and evolution.
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

So its a landlord thing not an economy thing?

 

[swsaltwater]

A lot of landlords think the best way to deal with their loss is to raise rent, having opposite effect and business close. Economy is probably the root cause I would bet. Hopefully landlords wise up before they get empty buildings.

 

[SlipperMan]

Hopefully landlords wise up before they get empty buildings.

We are seeing a lot of that around here. People raising rent, businesses either close or move elsewhere.

No aquarium shops have been effected YET but I'm hearing rumors there might be a store or two that will be forced to move or close. Something like a 50% rent increase.

 

[bobimport]

They are a rip off always a slow pay and ripped me for $4100

 

[TuskFish]

We're seeing more and more "fish only" retail stores closing up shop. While the full line pet store is not immune, the percentage of these shops closing is considerably lower. It is an unfortunate result of both the faltering economy and poor business management that often leads to their downfall. So many business owners do not have the ability or desire to think outside the box to devise ways of keeping them afloat. This does not just effect the fish business. Open up any newspaper and you'll read about closings or layoffs.

The strong (or the government "backed" :lol: ) will survive!

 

[Raskal311]

My partner has tested a few reptile stuff and a few other non fish related products… I think that stuff just stink up the shop but who knows, maybe he’s on to something. I was telling him we should also stock phone cards and air soft guns

 

[swsaltwater]

Reptile shops see no decline, mpst their income is feeder rats which do stink to high heaven. Just as an observation a lot of reptile clients are lower income and have always felt economic crunch, they still find the cash to buy a 200 dollar snake and put it in a shoe box.


Good store idea if you can eliminate the stink Reefs and Rats

 

[SlipperMan]

The one store around here that did reefs and reptiles went out nearly a year ago. Mismanagement of funds but business was dropping off.

The only other store that does fish and reptiles (and not a chain store) is doing ok it seems. They just replaced a lot of their tanks. But it is run out of a home that is paid for so rent is of no issue...

 

[TuskFish]

Reptile shops see no decline, mpst their income is feeder rats which do stink to high heaven. Just as an observation a lot of reptile clients are lower income and have always felt economic crunch, they still find the cash to buy a 200 dollar snake and put it in a shoe box.


Good store idea if you can eliminate the stink Reefs and Rats

Actually the reptile category is down considerably this year after a decade and more of sales growth. Reptile supplies are down >18% nationally and livestock is down approx 9%. Dog products, and to a lesser extent, cat products are some of the few remaining growth categories this year.

A question for you LFS owners here. Do you do freshawater fish also,a nd if so, how do sales of these fish and related products compare to what you're seeing with the marine side?

 

[swsaltwater]

I saw this coming about a year back and added FW, plants and community mostly as well as super rare stuff about 4-5 months ago. Never knew i would be selling 50-400 dollar FW fish regularly....... All the ones i ever see in other stores are super cheap and they never carry the rare puffers, discus, or arrowanas. Margins are better in FW as well but the volume is also down with the market but no were near what marine is dropping. Right now FW is a section of my business with a lot of growth potential and I did not have to invest much at all. Funny the larger box FW stores are blaming me for their slow down, I doubt I drew that much as they just see mostly the economic slowdown. Now I see a lot of larger retail spaces with the same or cheaper rent as well and am contemplating a move.

Reptile people could care less about livestock and equip being down, they make money on feeeders if they are doing it right. My neighbor is a reptile store and they see no decline at all unless they are not being honest

 

[Anonymous]

PetSmart is opening 6 stores next year in our area.

 

[swsaltwater]

Petsmart seems to have Petco by the balls

 

[JennM]

A question for you LFS owners here. Do you do freshwater fish also, and if so, how do sales of these fish and related products compare to what you're seeing with the marine side?

Interesting thread. Ironically, I am in the final stages of downsizing my aquatics only shop. When we first opened 6 1/2 years ago, we were saltwater/reef ONLY. A couple of years in, we expanded and added in freshwater fish, seeking the higher end consumer (discus and other higher end fish, planted tanks etc.) Didn't find those consumers - at least not in this area. A year or so into that we ended up converting 18 of our 25g freshwater tanks to saltwater and replacing the 12, 20-longs we'd been using for small salties with 2 more 110g coral holding flats.

This past summer I was running numbers to try to trim some fat - freshwater fish were actually costing me a LOT more to keep offering than was generating revenue. Between the additional square footage and upkeep, I was losing money on the freshies, but the salties were pretty consistent.

So we've done away with freshwater fish completely, and we're downsizing back to the original square footage. My freshwater customers (the few that there are) worth keeping, understand and they still come to me to have their water tested and they buy their consumables from me - filter pads, supplements, foods etc.

My reef/marine customers are happy because once again I can focus on what I do best, and not try to drain precious resources to subsidize guppies and neons for the Wal-Mart crowd.

I was reluctant to make the decision but upon examining the numbers, it was a no-brainer. In fact, I probably should have done it a couple of years ago.

Our Walmart was NOT one of the 7000 stores that ceased carrying live fish. Add to that, we have a Petsmart coming about 3 miles from here within the next few months - that will help me in many ways, believe it or not (I always get referrals from the big boxes because the kids there can't answer many questions).

When customers ask where to buy freshwater fish, I recommend a reputable dealer not too far away who has a full-line store and does only freshwater in his aquatics department. I send him herp customers too - and he is happy to send folks my way who want a saltwater tank or info.

In the last couple of years we've lost the only full-line store in town (that had a lot of behind-the-scenes issues), and a dog/cat boutique/groomer.

Greater Atlanta has seen a lot of changes in the last few years - lots of stores flipping/moving or closing down outright, as well as some new startups - sort of a "changing of the guard". Six short years ago I was the new kid on the block - now it seems I'm one of the long-timers - same owner, same location - that's a rare bird around here anymore. I can only think of one other aquatics only store on this side of greater Atlanta that's been around longer and in the same location/same owner. There may be others, but none springs to mind.

I probably should have pulled the plug on freshwater fish a while back, but I felt I had to give it a shot to get it up and running but the bottom line is, you have to dip a hell of a lot of $1.49 tetras to pay for the upkeep. In the end, for me, in my particular market, it wasn't worth it. 4 years of that was a "fair shot". I still carry the higher end products to support the handful of higher end freshwater hobbyists whose business I've earned, and they are loyal and for that I'm very grateful. My marine customers have been fiercely loyal, by and large, since the beginning and that's what keeps the lights on and the water flowing and doors open - and each week I earn more people's business - so hopefully I'm doing something right.

This economy is troubling in all industries - I hear it from my clients every day. The task at hand is to trim the fat, find ways to adapt and diversify and hopefully still be around when times are good again.

Jenn

 

[JeremyR]

We gave up freshwater a few years ago too, for the same reasons. There are a million places to buy neon tetras, and most people aren't real concerned about quality on $1.00 fish. In another area with less saturation of fw or full line/big box stores maybe.. not here.

 

[JennM]

Well I'm in a suburb so there isn't a whole lot of saturation - but by the same token there didn't seem to be a whole lot of "market" for the freshies.

Without wanting to sound too condescending - most of my freshwater clientele (and some of my SW clientele) are... umm - unsophisticated. At least with saltwater they have an investment - more dollars spent, so in general people want to do what they can to keep their fish healthy and alive. Freshies, on the other hand - I've heard people say, "If they die, I'll just get more." I'm not about that - so in a way, losing that crowd is a relief.

It's quitting time - I'm going home

Jenn

 

[swsaltwater]

I was told by a few industry salesmen that california stores are going heavy into the Amano style FW stores. Planted tanks seem to be on the rise on the west coast. In the first two weeks with no advertising I sold a ton of plants. By far the best seller.

 

[JennM]

That trend in CA has been going on for a while now. Must be a regional thing because I haven't seen it here.

The sorts of freshwater clients I have/had wouldn't spend that kind of money to do it right.

Case in point... got a call yesterday - lady bought a 3-gal for her little darling, put some neons and a goldfish (!!!) and a pleco in it (!!!!!!!!!!!) all at once. Wanted to know why the pleco wasn't eating the frozen cubes of food she was putting in (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

There are so many things wrong with that whole scenario I barely knew where to begin. Then she told me that the people at Walmart didn't tell her *any* of that. Ya think? I told her that's because last week they were working in Ladies' Wear.

I'm actually relieved that I got rid of freshwater. I have enough "high maintenance" saltwater clients, but usually they have a considerable investment so they are more likely to heed my advice *before* they make the marine equivalent of those faux-pas.

Jenn

 

[JeremyR]

The amano stuff probably does well in greenwich ct too, but I was never able to cultivate the higher end fw market here. Of course, in that area of CT they were selling yellow tangs for 50 bux 10 years ago when everyone else was selling them for 15.

 

[Raskal311]

When we expand I plan on doing 50/50 salt fresh. Reason you see this trend is because so many stores in S cal focus on salt. Few stores offers high-end FW fish compared to years ago. One of the reason is everything is illegal to sell