First, I must say a big thanks to all that have posted extremely kind words about myself and our shop. It is very much appreciated, as is any business that we may get from any customer that comes through the door.
I can see Pallobi's point of view, in some cases for sure there comes a point when someone can get everything they need form an online shop. It really comes to someone's personal preference. Some people do not like to leave their house, or have any social interaction. For someone like that an internet online store is perfect. For someone that likes to have a more real experience and a social one, an LFS may be the preferred method of shopping.
As far as a need for LFS at all, even without a bias opinion, I would have to say yes. After working in this industry for over 20 years and at several of the shops in New England I can for sure say that there are WAY more hobbyists that do not go online than do go online. Probably 30-40% of the customers out there shop on line, the other 60% do not. Many do not even know it exists...or could be bothered. And as mentioned earlier many people would never even get into the hobby if they had not done so through an LFS. Not to mention freshwater customers...who wants to pay shipping on 6 $3 fish???? lol
Reasons online does not work for many;
If you don't have a credit card, you can't buy online
you have to deal with shipping and be there for the package arrival (especially depending on where you live)
If you have a problem with something, can be a hassle to deal with.
Advice can be WAY off...and there is no way to double check or get a real read (no face to face contact) Even the advice I read on many online forums tends to be WAY off and with no real experience behind it. ( I love reading posts with someone giving advice that has been in the hobby like 3 years or less...just cracks me up)
For Livestock you are literally rolling the dice without seeing it in person first.
Now there are plenty of issues with many LFS....but those that do it right, I can't see where one could go wrong....
Sure any LFS is going to charge more for products than an online store (this is a long beaten dead horse) It is basic economics. The overhead to run an online shop and a brick and mortar shop are night and day different.....so the markup of the items goes hand in hand with that (if there is a good business model in place) Heck the overhead from LFS to LFS is very different...trust me very different..... Good example My rent cost more than the entire overhead for any of the 3 Southern NH stores, also they have very small staffs, we have a huge payroll with 8 employees. And with all that I know my overhead is less than Tropic Isle. But the markups should be accordingly. Some people can not understand that and think that everyone should just charge the same price as some guy in his basement with an online store that has almost NO overhead. And usually never even ties up any capitol in having product on hand, they just drop ship stuff right from the vendor. Most people don't know but we will match any online legit price if you want, as long as you don't mind us doing the same thing the online guys do...I will order you anything. Once it is sitting on the shelf or in a tank...it has now taken a whole new set of overhead to factor in to the cost of the item...just not the same. Trust me no one I know that owns and LFS is getting rich off there business, most of us do this because we love what we do. I know I do it just so my personal collection of Fish and Coral are a tax right off, and to get the wife to shut up about the 20 tanks I used to have around the house...
