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How far would you travel for a good aquascaping shop?

Matt Havens

Member
Joined
22 Jun 2015
Messages
260
Just trying to start a discussion and gauge how successful an aquascape specific shop could be and if fellow hobbyists like myself are willing to travel for such a shop.

I personally will not buy plants from a retail shop as they are generally not very well kept, (There are exceptions) not much choice and really little or no inspiration from display tanks.
I find myself ordering plants and scaping products i.e. hardscaping materials from well known online shops and this is great but when I want to have a good look at plants and play with hardscape before buying there really is only 1 place I can think of which is 60- 70 miles away. Even though this is quite a journey I still prefer to travel to such a store.

How do you feel about aquatic retailers and their 'scaping' and plant ranges? Are they missing out here or are the web based stores too competitive to warrant supplying these products?

Thanks

Matt





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Think its too much off a niche market to be a good business venture myself. Did travel over 100miles to TGM and was a little disappointed with the choice of hardscape materials that I was after but still spent a small fortune. As for hardware happy to buy online or LFS will do a price match if they have it in stock. As for plants LFS does have a contract with tropia so great for the 1-2-grow pots, But for others I have used UKAPS sponsors for other plants and been very happy with their service/plants.

At the Low tech end of the hobby lots of LFS have a good selection of tanks filters etc which may not be the cheapest but they provide to the masses so a dedicated Aquascaping store would have to compete with them hence I think not the best venture.
 
Id be happy to drive for 30 minutes, which is how far I am from Aquarium Gardens although if I didn't have that id probably drive up to an hour and a half to check out an unknown shop for the 1st time.

Having been spoilt with Aquarium Gardens I'm will not buy from my LFS even though it has a good rep as a fish shop, the plants aren't even in the same league.
 
Over here in U.S. we can see aquaphonic shops but police often note the visitor's there and jot down vehicle license.
Mostly generic plant/fish selection's at large chain stores here.
Often marvel at the plant and fish selection's/shops you all speak of, but fear I may become worm food before such places exist here.:(
 
Erm ok, i cant help feeling i'm being naive here but why do do the police note visitors?
 
I travel an hour to the best place I can find near me. Would travel a couple of hours to TGM or Aquarium gardens if I were starting a new project and needed everything for a new setup.
 
I'm planning a trip to Aquarium Gardens as I'm going to set up a new tank (my first proper aquascaping project after a couple of planted fish tanks). It's a 1hr 40 min drive according to google but I like the idea of seeing their set ups close up, picking my own hardscape materials, using their sand pit to try layout options and get some advice from the guys their. I would also like to visit Green Machine to see their displays but with a roughly 4 hr 30 min drive I'm not planning on that anytime soon. I actually wonder whether locating a shop in a busy area with high footfall and great aquascapes on display might actually attract new customers and get them into the hobby? It's just a thought, but I wonder how many people would get into aquascaping if they were more exposed to it and saw what could be created. You could have nice entry level nano tanks with pre-selected hardscape materials and plants ready to go as a starter kit...
 
I used to run a lfs (mainly marine based) and had a proper planted display. It drew lots of interest and complements and a few people set up tanks on the back of it but in truth it was a very small part of the business. For marines we had people travel from hundreds of miles away to us regularly. We might not have been famous for plants but I don't think it's market is large enough to pull many people from such a wide area.
The bigger marine shops, still only a few in the whole country, attract people from afar but I don't think plants attract the same attention. At trade shows there are very few people who seem to buy much from the plant guys which is a real shame as I think they are a part of the hobby with excellent growth potential if people pushed it more.
 
I've been traveling to Aquarium Gardens which is an just over an hour from me. There's nothing like being able to talk to somebody face to face to discuss various requirements. The shop has a great 'sand pit' for pre-arranging hard scape which is invaluable for beginners like me. However because of the roadworks and the traffic they cause i do wish i was a little closer

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A number of years ago when I was first born before last years resurrection, a group of us would plan a full day out covering various establishments around North England visiting many establishments sharing costs it was not unusual to cover 200 miles +
 
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