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Re: Allcritter's,"Working in a Pet Shop"



>I work in a local small pet shop and your right the pay is not great minim 
>wage by the way is 5.15 an hour. You mentioned Pets mart I would like to 
>remind people that by shopping in stores like Pets mart and wall mart and
all 
>the other mega marts you are slowly killing the small local pet shops where 
>sometimes the advice may not be expert but at least they will be able to
tell 
>you more then the guy at mega mart. If the local stores go so go the 
>specialty fish and plants. You may pay a  little more but with it usually 
>comes service 
>Not Yelling Just telling
>AllCritter

You will get much support here for your point-of-view.  Here in So.
Florida, I've seen the incremental demise of the Maw-Paw version of the LFS
as the mega chains push them out of suburbia into metro districts (lower
rent).  They have been able to hang on only because they can do salt water
stocking them (you have a net and a boat to the keys and you're in
business!).  This is something that is not easy to homogenize into farm
production, so the chains can't do it seriously....yet!  

I personally HATE salt water though, for a myriad of environmental and
esthetic reasons and I try to make the argument to those Maw-Paw shops that
know plants that they should invest in someone to develop and maintain
Amano & Dutch style aquarium designs & redecorate every six months.  If
their costomers don't SEE attractive (and cheaper) alternatives to
saltwater tanks they will continue to see freshwater as "beginner's
fair"("fish-tank, Goldfish-Bowl w/ tacky castle and diver or Koi-pond) and
they won't demand such quality.  They could make a killing converting
saltwater people back to fresh since the planted display is cheaper and
customers can thus afford a larger display for the same price.  They could
sell said customers Co2/Ph auto-water change apparatus as they get more
into it.

I strongly believe a LFS with moderate pockets and a series of LIVE display
"Amano-Dutch" style aquariums with a PLANT focus can succeed.  But
convincing people pushed to the margins to take a bet on what they don't
perceive to be a "sure thing" is challenging at best.

D.Chang;

"The secret to long term SUCCESS and HAPPINESS is to find what you LOVE to
do best.....
...and get someone to PAY you for doing it !"

See my NEW (12/1) Plants and Driftwood  at; 
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