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DFS closing down...


hlem

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Saw it over r2r earlier. I used DFS many years back for pond supplies and then for reef. It’s really ashamed that we will loss yet another pet supply. :(

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That is a bummer, I have ordered from them on and off over the years, always received good service. Makes me nervous for Live Aquaria's future.

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53 minutes ago, Matt LeBaron said:

That is a bummer, I have ordered from them on and off over the years, always received good service. Makes me nervous for Live Aquaria's future.

Agreed. But something to consider is how distinct Live Aquaria is from the rest of the Petco brand. The DFS brand largely overlapped with Petco - nutrition, dry goods & supplies, equipment, meds, etc. That may have made it redundant and, with the added overhead to operate and maintain the brand, unjustifiably expensive in a very competitive market. Also, you can't ignore that, by eliminating it, Petco has reduced our options and consolidated some of its buying power with suppliers that supplied both them and Petco. 

 

Live Aquaria is a bit different in that it focuses on livestock as it's primary offering with other parts being supporting rather than the other way around. It's also got the strength of a well-regarded brand. So, on the whole, it stands for now.

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Very very troubling, reduced competition always sucks. Live Aquaria is by and far one of the best shippers of online aquatics... they are 10/10 in how well their animals are packed and arrive their alive arrival guarantee is also one of the industries best with refunds as opposed to store credit. I pray that they stay afloat otherwise this hobby is getting more expensive. I've used a lot of online live fish shippers and their animals always arrive happy and colorful unlike half dead ones I get sometimes elsewhere....

Edited by realypk
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I would not say reduce competition. DFS and Liveaquaria was bought by Petco. Consolidating their stores makes a lot sense, especially since DFS and Petco sells the same product. Liveaquaria stock Petco's fish so I doubt it will go away.

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1 hour ago, littlelise1985 said:

I would not say reduce competition. DFS and Liveaquaria was bought by Petco. Consolidating their stores makes a lot sense, especially since DFS and Petco sells the same product. Liveaquaria stock Petco's fish so I doubt it will go away.

Right. Not reduced competition so much as the perception of fewer choices by consumers and possibly a touch of emotion over losing an old friend. Since there was a very large overlap between DFS and Petco, twice as many supplier agreements had to be managed, there were probably a lot of duplicated corporate functions/services (although a few may have been consolidated in the few years since the acquisition of DFS), etc. Maintaining a second, largely redundant business most likely didn't make sense  once they crunched all the numbers. Unfortunately, there are probably DFS-lifers - those with decades of service invested with DFS - that will be out of a job in Rhinelander, WI. There will be some that saw the writing on the wall after the acquisition; but there are probably others that rode it or will ride it to the end. This kind of thing happens in a lot of industries, including many in our area.

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Origami said:

Right. Not reduced competition so much as the perception of fewer choices by consumers and possibly a touch of emotion over losing an old friend. Since there was a very large overlap between DFS and Petco, twice as many supplier agreements had to be managed, there were probably a lot of duplicated corporate functions/services (although a few may have been consolidated in the few years since the acquisition of DFS), etc. Maintaining a second, largely redundant business most likely didn't make sense  once they crunched all the numbers. Unfortunately, there are probably DFS-lifers - those with decades of service invested with DFS - that will be out of a job in Rhinelander, WI. There will be some that saw the writing on the wall after the acquisition; but there are probably others that rode it or will ride it to the end. This kind of thing happens in a lot of industries, including many in our area.

 

 

I saw the note  about the worker too. That is a very unfortunate part of the closure. I hope they keep up their promise and help those who will lose the job.

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