Did you hear this?

[oyam123]

#1 the Petsmart will open in Rochester soon. same locetion that was talked about the old UElectronics store.
#2 New small reef/fish store to open in Barlows plaza....this is news to me.
LUK if you have info!

[mjsandbe]

I heard the first, the second is news to me.

[StellaMN]

Ditto to what Michael said....


Very exciting news about the small store at Barlow. Competition can only be a good thing for us reefers!!!

Edit - Found out today that a guy named Tom who works for Century 21 is the owner of the new store. They were scheduled to open today (1/2/06), but are running behind schedule...


Jodi

[jknut]

I've been holding out on you guys about this info for a bit in respect to Tom. I know Tom personally, and he'd been a regular and FnP for quite some time. I told him tonight that somehow a few of the Roch Reef Club members found out about the store, and that you all were looking for info. Well he said it was okay to post updates, and let you know a little about what is going on.

First off you are correct about the new store location being in Barlow Plaza, it's right next to Weight Watchers for those of you who are wondering. The store was scheduled to be open the 2nd of this month, but they are running a bit behind, and they hope to be up the end of the month.

The store is going to be strictly aquatics and supplies, and with SW alone there is going to be 60 tanks, otherwise they plan to carry dwarf cichlids, and some other exotic fresh. It's not a very large store, but for what they lack in space he plans to make up for in variety, quality, and competitive pricing.

Tom told me to post also and ask what you all (The RMAS, and TCMAS clubs) would like to see in the store in terms of saltwater, and equipment. He wants a store that club members would like to frequent, and really is out to help the clubs. So let me know some of your ideas, and I'll shoot him an email, and talk to him about some of the ideas.

Sorry for holding out on you guys, but I wanted to make sure it was alright with Tom before posting.

Jason

[oyam123]

Take special orders.
do group orders.
Price, price, price.
Club Discouts
Have meetings at the store.
Good Luck!......Keep your day job, this is a hard way to make a living.

[tito]

jknut - That is some exciting news! Did the new store recruit you? I would like a store to carry a variety of corals, from softies to sps. Not just mushrooms, polyps, etc. I would like a club discount or frequent spender discount. The store needs to be aware of online prices of livestock and equipment to be more competitive and sell more items. Not saying they should sell for online pricing though. I will gladly pay more for items locally but I will not pay $100.00 for a Mag 5 pump (example).

[mjsandbe]

I fell pretty excited about this but I feel I have heard this type of story before. I hope I am not Charlie Brown and this is not another football.

[mjsandbe]

I would like to see live foods for salt water.
Good Selection of Frozen food.
Salt at a reasonable price.
...

[oyam123]

More like the "GREAT PUMPKIN"!
Hard to keep SPS on hand, $$$$.
Could do a consignment store...like play it again sports.
recycle the corals.....drop for store credit...store sells for less $ to us.
if it dies then we are SOL.
How about a Club aquarium......we set it up and frag swap out of it?
gets people into the shop!
Well, you did ask for Ideas!

[jknut]

Originally Posted by tito

jknut - That is some exciting news! Did the new store recruit you? I would like a store to carry a variety of corals, from softies to sps. Not just mushrooms, polyps, etc. I would like a club discount or frequent spender discount. The store needs to be aware of online prices of livestock and equipment to be more competitive and sell more items. Not saying they should sell for online pricing though. I will gladly pay more for items locally but I will not pay $100.00 for a Mag 5 pump (example).

He hasn't recruited me as of yet. And with the competing with online prices, well Tom has rarely ever bought a fish at FnP, he does most of his ordering online.

Originally Posted by mjsandbe

I fell pretty excited about this but I feel I have heard this type of story before. I hope I am not Charlie Brown and this is not another football.

I told him the RMAS situation with FnP, and he said he wants to work with the clubs not against, he knows the power of the clubs word of mouth. Win-win.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I'll shoot an email to Tom this weekend.

[Scolet112]

is tom looking for an aprentice lol

[Ben]

Hmm... He certainly could earn a lot of good will by just hosting a few club meetings or similar. If he has goods a bit more reasonably priced than FnP, he could reap the rewards of club members diagnosing each others' problems and recommending products he has on hand. Even if he gives no discount, those are sales much less likely to go online. Plus, it would be a win for the club, as we could post a meeting time in the store and get some new blood showing up for meetings.

In general, if he has a decent variety of fish and corals, prices that are not 150-200% of online costs, and quality dry goods & live rock for sale, I am very likely to shop there. If he provides realistic guidelines to less informed customers on what they really need to keep a particular fish/coral healthy and happy, I will shop there just to help keep him in business. I strongly recommend labelling tanks clearly with what sort of environment you need to keep the inhabitants healthy. I've already seen a lot of people unpleasantly surprised by the natures of fish they didn't know enough about.

I'm going to start up a 125 gallon in a few months. If he can compete at all with Jerry & online sellers, he will probably be getting some business from me just for the proximity factor.

[StellaMN]

You've all hit on my thoughts, so ditto from this end!!

I can't wait to hear how all of this is going to work out. Thanks, JKNut...

Hey, BTW, Jason - I'm all moved into my new apartment. Don't you live in the neighborhood? If so, we should get together.

Jodi