lancer99 August 31, 2008 August 31, 2008 Since my tanks are pretty much maxed out, I've been avoiding aquarium stores for the past few months, including AquaCo...even though it's about 15 minutes from where I work. But fueled on by the great reviews here, and a fat escrow rebate check from my mortgage servicer (there is an upside to declining house prices!) I finally ventured in yesterday. First impressions: Very nice, clean, almost minimalist layout to the store. Tanks pristine, excellent lighting, and (from what I could see) great support systems. No sickly looking or obviously dying corals like you often see in other marine stores, even their closest competitor I hate aquarium stores where prices aren't listed, so I was glad to see that this wasn't the case at AquaCo. I thought their use of little numbered flags and numbered discs next to the corals, which referenced boards on the wall that had species ID/pricing info, was ingenious. But here are my (slight) criticisms, which I hope will be taken as constructive. First of all, it wasn't always clear (to me) which coral matched up with which numbered disc in the vats. Slightly more judicious spacing would make it obvious. Second, I quickly grew tired of having to walk from the tanks to the walls to check out prices. It's probably just coz I'm old, but by the time I got to the wall, I usually forgot which numbers I was checking out. I would have found much easier if the prices were just written on the front of the tanks in magic marker, or maybe a sheet taped to one side of the front of the tank, that had the same info as on the boards on the wall. (I'm not suggesting that I know better than them how to run their business, just expressing my personal opinion.) I probably wouldn't have gotten so tired of walking back and forth, if they didn't have so many nice things that I wanted to buy! Selection? As I just implied, great. It's an LPS fancier's wet dream, and (from what they said) there will be more great SPS in stock soon. And their frag tank has IMO some great bargains. Prices? Reasonable. Staff? Very friendly and knowledgable. I met Jeff and Sean, and the guy who checked me out (didn't catch his name) was very personable too. Had a good chat with Sean....surprised when he mentioned that trendy designer corals (Blastos, chalices, etc.), which seem to sell in a heartbeat on the net, are slow sellers from the store. So, all in all, I would give them an A. After only a few months, already one of the best (if not the best) marine aquarium stores in the DC area. I will certainly be back soon. -Robert
DDiver August 31, 2008 August 31, 2008 AQUACO is an awesome place.Sean and his staff are very helpful and knowledgeable..i go there for all of my aquarium needs..if there is something they dont have..Sean will be happy to order it for you..i have frequented many aquarium stores and I would have to say that AQUACO is my favorite..they have a great selection at great prices..
ctenophore September 1, 2008 September 1, 2008 Second, I quickly grew tired of having to walk from the tanks to the walls to check out prices. It's probably just coz I'm old, but by the time I got to the wall, I usually forgot which numbers I was checking out. I would have found much easier if the prices were just written on the front of the tanks in magic marker, or maybe a sheet taped to one side of the front of the tank, that had the same info as on the boards on the wall. (I'm not suggesting that I know better than them how to run their business, just expressing my personal opinion.) Sean, I noticed this a bit too. Why not have a set of clipboards where you can keep a printout of the current list of numbers/prices/info that a customer can pick up and carry around with them as they browse.
AQUACO September 1, 2008 September 1, 2008 Sean, I noticed this a bit too. Why not have a set of clipboards where you can keep a printout of the current list of numbers/prices/info that a customer can pick up and carry around with them as they browse. Thank You for the Great Review! Feedback is good. Please keep in mind folks that we have only been in business for less than five months. It is amazingly hard for us to keep our store in the condition that it is in, keep healthy fish, and corals coming and going so fast. Many times pieces are selling before they are inventoried I also run a very busy service company that is growing with the store that takes up alot of my time. We now have a full time manager that will definalty take heed to this post. It is the reason why I hired him and we hope to make improvements soon. I am trying hard not to have the "grease pencil" look that is very popular. We have thought about a "menu" of sorts or even a computer screen above every tank with numbers and such. Funny that this post has surfaced, I had a long meeting with my staff about this Saturday night! I am shooting for a quick fix by the next social! I am only 40% where I want to be and this is the slow time of the year! There are many great things to come! Thanks for the feedback and Im glad to see that with only a few months in business we are respected so well. Kind Regards, AQUACO
Amuze September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 (edited) Sean, I think having screens above the different coral tanks is a great idea. You would think this would also make updating the lists easier for your employees. Since the way it's set up now, they have to calculate everything at the tanks, break it down by price, make a list, write the list on the board and then add it into a database on your store computer anyway. Or something like that, correct? With the monitors, all of this can be done from one keyboard. And would certainly be original. Well, until the "others" copy the idea that is... Many of the LFS's have had their chance to get their acts together for years. Personally I have not seen any improvements made in the scene by the LFS's and sadly, have only noticed things getting worse. That is until AquaCo opened it's doors. Some will sit there and tell you they do this because they love it, but it's a usually a lie and often LFS owners are doing this to make their pockets fat. Sean has set himself and his store apart from this negativity, loves this scene and you can tell by his enthusiasm whenever you have a conversation with him. Actually, everyone working there has been this way so far. An employee there has so much information stored away in his brain that I wouldn't be surprised if he is in fact, a computer. Edited September 2, 2008 by audible
stratos21ss September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 Run a digital picture frame above each bin. Then you could run a slide show that has an image of the coral with its respective name/number/price or whatever superimposed. You could get double use of the nice images that you post here...
quazi September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 Wow, you guys want technology or low fish prices!?! I would love all this, BUT I really love the low and/or fair pricing. I like the little magnets with the bar code and the description and price. I just wish they were put on when the fish or coral gets put in. On the other hand, the web site could provide all this infromation with out the network, computers and lcd screens all over the store. May just an in store intra-net type page or something self service. I realize that posting prices on an external page would make it too easy for the competiion. Just a thought.
DaveS September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 I'm ok with the grease pencils but if you don't like that, my suggestion: Just move the boards next to where the corals are. That and keeping them updated would address most of the issues. All that fancy computer stuff will cost more and take more time/effort to maintain and update. Right now, if a coral gets put on sale, Sean can just write "20% off" on the tag. Anything that makes it easier for Sean to discount the corals is a good thing.
wdytat September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 I just pull Sean or one of the crew aside and ask them, "how much?" It works for me. :-) A row of monitors chained to a PC would be cool. Update the info on the PC, and you are done. Like an airport arrival/departure screen. But I agree, going tech would be overkill - especially this early. Keep focusing on what you have going for you - clean shop, great corals/fish, and excellent prices.
Amuze September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 Hey, the screens were Sean's idea, not ours. Lol. I was just adding to it's usefulness. Most of the time I know what I'm looking at so it's pretty easy to find it on the board. I like technology though so I think it'd be pretty cool to see something like that (without raising prices of course...Lol).
jamesbuf September 2, 2008 September 2, 2008 Wow, you guys want technology or low fish prices!?! I would love all this, BUT I really love the low and/or fair pricing. I like the little magnets with the bar code and the description and price. I just wish they were put on when the fish or coral gets put in. On the other hand, the web site could provide all this infromation with out the network, computers and lcd screens all over the store. May just an in store intra-net type page or something self service. I realize that posting prices on an external page would make it too easy for the competiion. Just a thought. I'm with you. Keep expenses down and pass the savings onto us. I would be cool though .With the fast flow of livestock going out of that place, there's gonna be kinks in any system put in place. Having a magnetic strip along the actual tanks, to place the prices of the stuff inside a given tank, would be nice though. I would think it'd make it easier for the employees to keep track too. I don't work there, so I can't say what is easier though. Either way, keep up the good work. I look forward to future plans and changes.
lancer99 September 3, 2008 Author September 3, 2008 (edited) Thank You for the Great Review! Thank *you* for taking my minor criticisms as they were intended...as constructive. Many times pieces are selling before they are inventoried Most retailers would be happy to have this problem I am trying hard not to have the "grease pencil" look that is very popular. We have thought about a "menu" of sorts or even a computer screen above every tank with numbers and such. Funny that this post has surfaced, I had a long meeting with my staff about this Saturday night! I am shooting for a quick fix by the next social! Personally I'm not bothered by the grease pencil look, but maybe that's just coz I'm nearsighted....Monitors would be great, and others in here have had great suggestions as well. If the inventory isn't already digitized, (not sure this would work), but maybe you could take digital pics of the magnetic boards, and (stole this idea from ctenophore), print them out, and let customers carry them around as they browse. It would be low cost and fairly low effort. I am only 40% where I want to be and this is the slow time of the year! You must mean stock, because you're at 90%+ in terms of customer care! -R Edited September 3, 2008 by lancer99
GaryL September 8, 2008 September 8, 2008 i would try to keep it low tech....and i would keep all those electronics away from salty things as they go fzzzzt after a while. keep the money in the husbandry so we can get these wonderful animals at existing prices.
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