Who works for an LFS?

[rdnelson99]

LFS take a lot of bashing on this site, some is justafiable but I am sure there are some good ones too. I suspect, many of the very informed and trust worthy on this forum who chime in and help us all own or work for LFS. I am just curious how many of them are out there and who you are.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I am currently working part time as an employee at the one I was running.

It is very different from the other side.

 

[rdnelson99]

I am currently working part time as an employee at the one I was running.

It is very different from the other side.

Sometimes I feel for you guys with all the bad mouthing that goes on. While I know it is true in some cases, not all business people are out for the almighty buck at everyone else expense.

As I contractor, I have to put up with that too. Tell someone your best recommendation and they think you are just trying to drive the price up.

 

[Brensters]

The fish store that I deal with is a dream come true. It's called Finaddicts in Kingston. The people that run this store are passionate aquarists with multiple tanks at home.Extremely knowledgeable; have never steered me wrong. They are known to try out new products themselves just to be able to report the results to their customers. Clean tanks, healthy fish, good plants and they are super nice people to boot! I'm so lucky!!

 

[azure bones]

I work at uncle bills in Indianapolis and as long as you get me your good to go now there are few other ppl who can get u down the right path but just don't really care. And if you get one of the chicks that works in small animal dept to help u its just a big mess. Chick sold a $150 flowerhorn. As a $15 oscar. Just say we took a loss on that deal

 

[foster53]

When you own an aquarium shop you need to screen your prospective employees. If they are interested in the hobby they make great employees. As an owner you need to continually educate your employees, and yourself. When I owned my shops I had terrific employees, they could answer questions with confidence because they were taught the proper way to handle illness, and compatability issues, and were educated on the products we sold. Most of the problem these days are the big chain pet stores that don't take the time to teach the employees a Grouper, from a Guppy. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[rdnelson99]

When you own an aquarium shop you need to screen your prospective employees. If they are interested in the hobby they make great employees. As an owner you need to continually educate your employees, and yourself. When I owned my shops I had terrific employees, they could answer questions with confidence because they were taught the proper way to handle illness, and compatability issues, and were educated on the products we sold. Most of the problem these days are the big chain pet stores that don't take the time to teach the employees a Grouper, from a Guppy. Just my 2 cents worth.

I would say your 2 cents is worth a couple bucks at least. While I don't own the business I work for, I run my department as if I did. I stress to all our employees that the General Contractor does not hire an Electrical Contractor but hires a problem solver. If we take care of them, they want us on the next job even if we are not the cheapest. That is the kind of LFS I am looking for. I would much rather spend my money locally than on line but at the same time, you have to be reasonable and you have be passionate and want to take the time to help.

The whole reason for this post was so I could see who might have "real" training yet care enough to spend his/her time on this site helping others who are passionate. Those are the ones I want to listen too.

 

[foster53]

I would say your 2 cents is worth a couple bucks at least. While I don't own the business I work for, I run my department as if I did. I stress to all our employees that the General Contractor does not hire an Electrical Contractor but hires a problem solver. If we take care of them, they want us on the next job even if we are not the cheapest. That is the kind of LFS I am looking for. I would much rather spend my money locally than on line but at the same time, you have to be reasonable and you have be passionate and want to take the time to help.

The whole reason for this post was so I could see who might have "real" training yet care enough to spend his/her time on this site helping others who are passionate. Those are the ones I want to listen too.

Thank you for your reply. While I know some about aquariums and fish, I don;t believe the learning ever ends. I learn something almost every week while in my fishroom. I am currently running about 70 tanks so I have a great classroom Back when I had my shops you are exactly the type of sales partner I would have been looking for. I am more than willing to share any knowledge that I have gain through the years. I have noticed that there are several members that are always there offering help, and seem very knowledgeable.This is a great site and I am happy to be a part of it
The great part of this hobby is everyone has their own ideas on any given subject, which leads to more shared knowledge.

 

[azure bones]

I work at a lfs and I was the guy they hired to replace the kinda ppl who are all talking about. And I make conmision and still won't sell ppl an Oscar or a pleco for their 10 gallon or whatever else. And that effects my pay check.

 

[hiltymj]

I work at a store in coumbus, Ohio called aquarium adventure. I have learned so much from working there it's amazing. Ha I thought I knew a lot. But nope I was wrong!

Stop on in! Lol

 

[rdnelson99]

Stop on in! Lol

Next time I am up that way..... LOL

 

[fldeputydiver]

I just recently left my job in order to go back to school, my LFS offered me a job and I'm seriously considering taking him up on it, even just for discounts on aquarium stuff and dog food (we have 3 big dogs too).

My LFS is a great place to learn more about the hobby, and meet others who know about the hobby. The store only makes about 6% off his money off of the aquarium stuff, but he will keep it no matter what because he enjoys it.

 

[RedFlame]

We actually have a few really good ones in Northern CA, and it of course, is not a chain. Not a fan of their prices but I am a fan of their experience and information and I'm happy to support them to keep them in business.

 

[Talvari]

I work at a pretty well known pet store that is like the rival of petco. Im pretty happy with the people I work with... My manager has a background in Marine Biology, and also has alot of tanks of her own. I have a tech degree in Animal Science and have been keeping tanks for years.

 

[steamer51]

Many years ago I worked part time at an excellent LFS for four years. The owner's philosophy was to sell people what they would be successful with so they would enjoy the hobby and come back and buy more livestock and even bigger and more tanks in the future. Newbie’s sometimes are sold too many fish for a new setup or livestock that will kill each other and pretty soon can't keep anything alive and the tank goes into a yard sale. We did not sell sick fish with the medicine to cure them (it's so easy to treat them LOL) like some of the LFS did at that time. The sales force was hourly so there was no incentive to sell a bunch of stuff people didn't need or would not succeed with. The business was very successful and doubled in size (expanded into the vacant store next door) while I was working there because all the employees were hobbyists who knew the products and livestock and could build lifelong customers instead of just making a bunch of profit today and finding new customers tomorrow.