Tanker Posted June 24, 2007 Report Share Posted June 24, 2007 Hey! I am almost done the results of the Vendor Review Survey everyone filled out in May... the response was amazing (nearly hit 200 surveys!) and I want to do you one better with the results. I am going to be going on a shop-tour of the top five most visited stores in both Edmonton and Calgary. This is where YOU shop, and these are the stores that people should know about, IMO. I am going to be going in unannounced sometime next week, and will do a tank count and a dead-fish count and report back as well I would like suggestions from YOU on "What ten items can I do a comparison shopping list on, to gauge the prices in our cities?" I would like these items to sort of span the hobby - things relevant to either fresh or salt, and in a lower price point without being the cheapest stuff going. This is my sample list, tell me what you think?? - 20 gallon tank, no accessories - Glass top for 20g - Single Florescent light fixture for 20g - AC 200 Filter - Rena XP2 Filter OR Fluval 305 (everywhere should have one or the other) - 300g jar of NLS Grow - Wardley Premium Algae Discs - 250 ml bottle of Prime - Price for ten Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi) - Price for one Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) Now, not all of the stores I'll be going to will carry all of the products, but at least it can be used as a gauge. If a certain shop only carries 5 of the ten items... that says something, to me. And if their prices on the five they carry are 10-20% higher than the average, then THAT says more to me... So what would you like changed on the list? This is for YOUR VRS results, and to give YOU more value to the numbers... Believe me I have a LOT better things to do with my time and gas money than drive to 10 stores and not buy anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Chris - not to be overly anal but the NLS Grow comes in 140 g, 270 g, or 2270 g. not 300 g. You of all people should know that. ha! IMO I would strike Wardley Premium Algae Discs, as there is nothing 'premium' about them, and I certainly wouldn't consider the fact that a store doesn't stock them to be a negative. You're more likely to find one of the Hikari formulas in all of those stores, and choosing one of them might be better suited for your survey. IMO I would also up the Seachem Prime size to 500 ml. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Chicklets Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I would also sugest either one of the more common live bearers and or angel fish as you are more likely to find them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wibber Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I am going to be going in unannounced sometime next week You just announced it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syno321 Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I am personnally NOT interested in how cheap the prices are. I would not want to know if this store sells a certain product for pennies less than the next. I would want to know the number of varieties of species they carry and how many of them are rare, not neccessarily bread and butter. This tells me that that store caters not only to the general hobbyist ( they need to to stay in operation ), but also has taken the time and effort to develop a client base that is interested in the more unusual. This client is also willing to pay more for the unusual, and VALUES the effort that that store went to to provide something out of the ordinary for their clients. As the prices for these more unusual fish are dearer, to avoid losses, these stores have usually developed a certain level of expertise amongst their staff in keeping such rarities. These are a couple of the more important traits that I consider when evaluating a store, healthy fish and knowledgable staff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duff Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I am just curious if you are known to any of the shop keepers.... would almost be better if someone from edmonton shopped calgary and vice versa.... and perhaps red deer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 I would be interested to know if you get greeted and offered service within 5 minutes of arrival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 How about asking if you can purchase "6 bettas and a goldfish bowl", and guage the response you get? :smokey: Looks good all around Chris, especially the price point. It would be nice for people to see the price differences in each city, and realize that just because a store is cheap does not mean that the quality of service and knowledge is matching the price. I still find it funny that high prices are justified by "shipping costs", even though it is no more expensive to ship through Calgary than Edmonton or vice versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 One issue....the following drystock items are invalid without specific brands and/or models (ie, a Hagen standard 20 gallon tank vs an Allglass or Oceanic or Concept...framed or frameless...clear or black silicone; light fixture - T12, T10, T8, T5, RO, HO, VHO, Allglass, Hagen, Helios, Coralife), as the prices would vary greatly: - 20 gallon tank, no accessories - Glass top for 20g - Single Florescent light fixture for 20g ...and the following livestock items are invalid without sizes (i.e. Riverfront's neons range from $1.09 to $2.49 based on size, and are half that during monthly sales, and our Ocellaris clowns can range from $7.99-$24.99 depending on FO, F1, size, and season, and are 30% off that during sales): - Price for ten Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi) - Price for one Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 One issue....the following drystock items are invalid without specific brands and/or models (ie, a Hagen standard 20 gallon tank vs an Allglass or Oceanic or Concept...framed or frameless...clear or black silicone; light fixture - T12, T10, T8, T5, RO, HO, VHO, Allglass, Hagen, Helios, Coralife), as the prices would vary greatly:- 20 gallon tank, no accessories - Glass top for 20g - Single Florescent light fixture for 20g ...and the following livestock items are invalid without sizes (i.e. Riverfront's neons range from $1.09 to $2.49 based on size, and are half that during monthly sales, and our Ocellaris clowns can range from $7.99-$24.99 depending on FO, F1, size, and season, and are 30% off that during sales): - Price for ten Neon Tetras (Paracheirodon innesi) - Price for one Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) Then just list the brand, specifics and sizes as well....easy to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrie Lee Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 (edited) As a neophyte, I would like you to ask some simple questions and see if the staff can answer them. For example "All of my fish have clamped fins and are hanging out near the filter intake. Why do they keep dying?" or "My fish look like they have been sprinkled with salt, is that a problem?" Feel free to laugh at the questions, but they are ones that I asked during my first months of fishkeeping. A LFS (That I will not name) told me bettas love being in those tiny cups that are too small for them to turn around in! I stopped shopping there. Edited because I cannot type. Edited June 25, 2007 by Terrie Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORG Posted June 25, 2007 Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 What ever ends up on your list will probably be on sale at a lot of pet stores next week :thumbs: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanker Posted June 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2007 Good suggestions, and far too many for my to get into a detailed discussion here, so I'll paraphrase really quickly. My Grow jar that I fill out of my pail is an old 300g and I grabbed it to glance rather than get the 'proper' sizes of the web... lol The Wardley were on there but the Hikari would have been priced out in their place. A chunk of the stores won't even carry Prime, so that may be scratched completely. I'll have to do some serious digging through the data I collect at the end to determine the validity. I will NOT post invalid information as that does an injustice to the hobby. At this point I am looking at a 70% cut; if an item is not carried in at least 7 of the ten stores, it's dropped from the list. The neons may be scratched from the list in lieu of some guppies... but again, quality, colour, strain, etc all play into the price SO much... angels would be an 'out' for me, as they are even more varied and I know nothing about them. Neon Tetras for the most part are a VERY staple fish, and every store should carry them, at about a 1" size. If a shop cleans up for 'little me' to come walking through prior to posting my findings on this 'little site', then I guess that speaks volumes for the kind of pull this site has in the local hobby trade. I am also sitting here laughing out loud at the thought of Riverfront renovating or Gold Aquariums expanding the store 'because the AA guy is coming'. Maybe Big Al's will quarantine their fish and PJs will dig out the dead fish from their tanks... but really... I doubt it. I 'AM' known to most of the Edmonton shops and at two of the Calgary shops (if the right people are working) but that's the point of my comparison... I was NOT going to tell you what the service is like as 186 of you have already told ME what the service is like. I am going to tell you how many tanks there are, if their stocked with good looking fish or dead and bloated floaters... and what kinds of prices you could expect to pay if you extrapolate from a simple baseline-averaged graph I would present. The point here is that if a store scores high in customer satisfaction and is also higher in average costs for my base items, than the average person would take those two bits if data and deduce that the store is a quality shop but you'll pay for that quality. If the store scores mediocre in sales, high in selection and low on price then you can surmise - without having to have set foot in there - what to expect when you do shop there, should you choose to walk in their door. That is the point of this entire colossal waste of my time unless you use it for it's purpose... UNBIASED information. Christian, some very valid points but I would have gone with a trimmed in black, standard size 20. Whether it comes from Bow Valley or All Glass or where ever, they should all be the same in most regards. Simple glass top (either slider or hinged as both seem to be the same but I will note the style and whether it's a home-made rough-cut or 'proper' [ie Marineland branded and fancy glued handle, etc] lid) and the fixture would be a straight forward t8 18" single tube style, if available. "Just the basic" black plastic crappy one that comes on the "cheap kit" from most of the chain stores and is a fairly staple "first tank" item for a lot of people. The fish prices would be "normal retail" price and since all stores will be shopped on the same day in both cities, fluctuations in season will not affect the data. WC, F1 etc cannot be helped... although I will be asking the sales staff about the fish and hopefully they'll know (suppresses a giggle). Maybe you can suggest a better choice? Something every saltwater store would carry, that is always wild to limit that last variable? I am just not up on my salt enough to really know what other options there are, and guessed that everyone would carry 'Nemo'. Again, I would love to drill the staff and even present them with a simple five question pop quiz... but that's not fair to them, or to me. YOU have already done that part, I'm just trying to help out with a little more data that can really punch this up a notch and hopefully provide some value for my investment of time. That and I am on a hunt for a very specific fish... so a fish tour of the top ten shops in the province sounds like a damn good way to try and find a few nice examples. So much for "really quickly". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Chicklets Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 I should have said this earlier but the overall cleanliness of the store tells a lot as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duff Posted June 26, 2007 Report Share Posted June 26, 2007 I am just not sure how unbiased one could be.... Do you cut your favorite lfs a break if the store is the pitts that day and you know it is usually top notch.,.. I know I wold find it hard to roast my favorite store.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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