+capty99 Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 When I started my nano someone suggested this place to me, and I went over there and it had disappeared from airport blvd so I never checked it out. Yesterday driving along and I saw it on the 35 frontage road, just south of Home Depot (I think you have to exit 38th street and take the frontage for a while instead of exiting for home depot. It's about a mile and a half from my house so I was really excited . Mostly its freshwater right now but I talked to the lady today and she was really helpful and says they are just starting their SW supplies (they've been in this local since late july) and should be adding more SW stuff. There are basic clowns there and that sort of thing but dry supplies are few. I was just excited to see the food there so I can swing by, and the RO should be up and running soon (it was broken today). I'm sure some of ya'll are familiar with it since everyone told me it was a fun place to go at the old location so how do you rate it? The online reviews are not very nice so I wonder if the new location will help it out. If your into the freshwater thing I saw some pretty cool specimens that you don't see everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I rate it : Horrible and deplorable. Sorry I hate to do it but it's true. When I was way into freshwater we would go there, generally on their Friday night late night specials. Most of the fish were in bad shape. We found several plecos falsely ID'd and we argued with the staff about them way overcharging for common fish being sold as rare. We left, went home, got our Aqualog books and went back. The employee agreed that the fish was not as listed but said they would continue to be sold as listed as that's what they were going to be sold as. I had a workmate who's girlfriend worked there on and off. The going story was that they generally allowed just about anyone to work there for store credit and fast cash, no real employees. No dedicated employees, a couple of high school kids here and there= nobody with any experience. They generally keep low rate equipment and sub-par specimens. I've been cringing at the thought of them attempting saltwater as that has been the rumor for about 4 months. Since it is generally frowned upon here at ARC to talk down about a shop, I will stop now and allow you to ask for more experiences via PM. I have quite a few before we said we'd never go back in to their store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 why is it frowned to talk talk down about a shop if the shop is down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Not sure why it is bad news if it is true and actually happened to the poster but: 8) Vendor Bashing: You may not post any negative comments about our sponsors. If you have an issue with a sponsor, work it out with them personally. If you cannot resolve the issue personally, you may submit complaints to the staff via pm or email. Negative comments about any vendor may be removed without notice. This is at the staff's discretion and will not be challenged. Click on "Guidelines" in the upper right hand corner of the forums page for more rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 The reason it is not allowed is there is no way for the staff to monitor if what being said is true. There would be nothing to stop someone who has a personal vendetta from making up stories to hurt a business. So to avoid the problem altogether it was decided that no bashing would be allowed. If you have a problem with a sponsor that they are unwilling to solve PM a staff member and we will try to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+capty99 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 interesting comment, i attributed lack of sw goodness to being new, but glad to know. honestly 90% of my purchases come from the internet bulk companies (price) or the community (price + knowledge) but it is nice to have a store if a light breaks or something to run to really close by. i will just go knowing what i want. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Capty they've been open on and off again and moving around that location for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prof Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 It is my understanding that they are under new ownership. I am interested in how they progress over the next year or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteorflower Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 The new manager is a serious hobbyist, and he seems very knowledgeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSHROOM13 Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 It's not under new ownership or new management, Caroline has owned it since it's inception and Monte has been involved with it for several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill B Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 I have bought FW fish all over the city and it has always seemed to me that the quality of the 'advice' is dependent on the employee that happens to wait on you, regardless of the store. I used to frequent 4 national fish forums, 2 on FW and 1 on goldfish and 1 on ponds. They all said the same thing: if you don't know the person you are talking to is highly knowledgeable, ON THAT PARTICULARLY TYPE OF FISH, do not assume they are. Unfortunately the answers you can usually trust the most are when they preface it by saying "I'm not sure" JMO I was by Amazonia this week, to check on their SW progress. Obviously they are still gearing up. The store seemed very clean and both of the people there offered to help me. I bought an Electric Blue Ahli at a nice price. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinite79 Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I didn't have a good experience at Amazonia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowdog Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Even though it's the closest LFS to me, Amazonia is one that I avoid if at all possible. This is due to multiple bad experiences with them. When they were at the old Airport location, the Friday "Happy Hours" were anything but. More often than not, no discount would be taken on the items for sale. Instead, full price would be charged. If an attempt was made to get them to honor their own sale prices, the person at the register would often grumble or give you a hard time about trying to get the better price. The new location is not much better with the entire back quarter of the store taken up by their office space. Announcements about "sustainable saltwater livestock" is made months before anything is actually in the store. The dry goods are minimal and covered with a thick layer of dust. I often wonder how they can stay in business with the general apathy and bad attitude that I receive from staff and management. Customers are treated with contempt and an inconvenience to the staff. With so many good choices in town, I vote with my money and choose to shop elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 This thread is breaking guideline #8. Closing topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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