Recommended Stores In VA

[Sph2sail]

I think the $4mm/year is probably achievable, if you look at total marine inventory flowing through:

 

- live rock

- fish

- inverts

- corals

 

I suspect that live rock is a larger part of the business than folks are discussing.  I'd love to learn more about the business of LFS.  Michael, if Houston has it so good (in terms of store quality), how could we arrange to learn more about them?

 

I would love to see a high quality store in the area.

 

s

[Guest reeffoto]

Roozens does do a lot of Live rock Sales.  I went to a Julian Sprung book signing there once and Josh was showing him around in the back where there were huge pools of live rock.  Julian Sprung even bought a fish from there.  It was a Gold Puffer.

[michaelg]

Steve- I have no idea how to increase what we have in the area.  I really do not understand the dynamics of it and why so little is  available around here.  I will have an 8 hr layover in March when I pick up my daughter for spring break.  I don't know if it is on the supply or demand end- but Houston is a relatively smaller city than our combined areas ( if you take NoVA, my part of MD, and Baltimore).  Plans are for EB to pick me up, to go visit the coral farm, and then go shopping with a stop at the best empanada shop on the planet for lunch!  Oh yeah- a quick stop to Eric's garage to bansaw a coral that is 1/2 mine :D There is most certainly room for more vendors in the area IMO....  Perhaps you and Reefmon can open a new shop?  FME, it is all on the vendor end and knowing what to order and the knowledge of keeping it alive.

[ReefMon]

I saw this in todays Post:

ULTIMATE SALTWATER AQUARIUM

 

11101-B2 Indian Head Hwy, Ft Wash, MD (4 mi outside Cap Bltwy, Exit 3A)

GRAND OPENING SALE MARCH 1

4pm-8pm 301-292-8351

 

Anyone in that area (near Roozens), want to go check it out and plug the club for us?

[ReefMon]

Just found this, (warning VERY slow page, with little to no content)

http://www.usaquariums.net/about_us.htm

 

Doesn't look very promising to me... :(

[Guest reeftanklfs]

Hey Guys:

Just our .02 - this business is owned by a young man named Anderson, and is primarily a maintenance/setup business.  He gets most of his livestock from Roozens.  We drilled some tanks for him, and that's how I met him.

[ReefMon]

Thanks Grimm!

 

From what I can see on thier site, it looks like rubber corals is their specialty!  :p

[Guest tgallo]

i luv rubber corals, there cheap and last forever.

[Guest tgallo]

i'll tell you why we dont have a quality reef store in the dc area, high rent for the store owner.

[Aquariareview]

The main reason we don't have a high end shop here is the high cost of doing business in this area. we live in an area that has one of the highest sq ft cost for business and retail of the country.  we also have some of the most business unfriendly local govs. in the nation. The return on this kind of business is a margin that doea not work in this enviorment. If I were opening a retail fish & coral store I would go to tx, fl, ga, any state with morebusiness friendly regs.

 

Friends of mine with a small chain of pet stores (8) in central Fl, looked at going all up the east coast. As they did a profitibility study on 12 stores in NY, MD, NJ, VA, PA, they found that the cost of doing business was so high that if they did the business that they thought they could do out of each store the net profit on all 12 stores was less than any three of their stores in FL. They opened 4 stores in FL instead of the 12 up here.

 

Any place that the gov. over regs business, narrow margin business's are destined to fail. I work in the automotive business and this area has almost regulated it out business. I dont understand how any small business can really profit here.

 

ps. What do you feed the rubber coral and what kind of light do they need

[luceneck]

my favorite is Tropical lagoon in Silver Spring, .....  In a bad part of town but a trip there is worth it.

Goblin,

 

Not sure what you mean by bad part of town.  The area is actually not bad at all.  ild  I do think that the store could use more parking.

 

IMO if your going to make any drive to go somewhere it should be up to the Aquarium Center.  They have tons of things, including live stock.  It is off of 695 so it would take some time [tm]  to get there from N. VA.  Now that the weather is nice, why not.

 

I abused my icon priv

 

Luciano