Well, I visited Skipton today. A good half hour later, I walked away with nearly $150 less in my checking account...
Here are my thoughts:
As far as other pets, I wouldn't recommend Skipton. The people working behind the front desk were very loud, unhelpful, and spent the majority of their time not helping customers, but chit-chatting with each other about a diverse number of subjects, several of which I didn't think were worthy of being shouted for all to hear in the store.
However, as far as the aquatics area, I very much enjoyed Skipton's. The guy working on the tanks was very friendly and seemed to enjoy having some "reef talk" with me as I browsed and he worked. He admitted that the stock of fish was low at the time, but even with "low stock" there were plenty of healthy-looking fish to be purchased. Perhaps the nicest thing was him explaining the two-week QT period before fish are moved into the "for-sale" tanks. This was the first time I'd ever seen a retail store open to the public that actually quarentined fish so thoroughly in a seperate set of tanks. As far as the dry goods, the selection was quite good. I got Poly Filter, a MaxiJet 600, some Chemi Pure, some ROWAphos, some kalk, and some mag additive. All stuff that I needed but really didn't want to buy online. The best part is, I still have money left over from my "fish budget." So, now I can get some other stuff online that I need!
One thing I did note was that I never saw a skimmer running on the tanks at Skipton. I'm sure there was one, but I never saw the "mega huge commercial skimmer" that I kind of expected to see there. Oh well, that's life. Overall, this store was great, and far surpassed the large LFS that I've been to in the Twin Cities. The prices weren't too bad, the fish guy was helpful, and the selection of dry goods far surpassed anything I've seen yet at a retail store. Also, they didn't carry anything that I would consider to be a "bad product." Anything that is universally known to be a poor product is not carried at Skipton's. This leads me to believe they know what they're doing, which I'd expect of them.
As far as back home, I'm still very glad to have Peggy at All-Reef, the LFS I go to to buy my stuff in WI. She also has good prices, good selection, healthy livestock, etc. Naturally, she can't have a huge retail operation like Skipton's in her basement. But, she goes out of her way to make me, the customer, happy. I like that. So, though the size of the store may vary, the customer service doesn't. This was a trip well worth it for me, and Skipton's made Boston all the better for me!
Thanks for all your help, everyone,
Joe Schneider
