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The Green Machine- a bit disappointed.

I was a little reticent to write here because being portuguese i certainly don't buy anything at TGM.
But i use to see their videos and the promotion of the owner seems to be far more important to them then the promotion to the store. I remember to find that very strange on the first videos, then i got used to it 🙂

... and saying that they invented those plastic things to get substrate higher at the background is something very weird...
 
I ordered some plants from TGM Monday morning , they arrived Wednesday .
Plants are the best I've ever had , I left them on their pots till Friday night and they looked no different .
For me I shall be using them again
Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
To be fair they did win this, but from the comments here, it does seem a bit hit and miss.
PLANT_RETAIL_2013.png

Personally I've found that FreshWaterShrimp have always delivered in terms of quality, value for money, and customer service.
 
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Business is always hard. We do expect the best and shops try their best too but this is a small market. And we not just getting hit by that, but from may til september the hobby is sleeping. Everyone is out on holiday mainly outdoor activities, so you usually see frozen shops in these months. Some owners redo their tanks, interriors some cut down all cost to survive or prepare for the rush season.

Then live plants which also strugle in this season.

I do not know what happening there, but looks like they try to fix things.

I usually recommend for all hobbiest to be out, relax these days and the industry will wake up with dozens of stunning things at autumn. I know interzoo was full with new things.

On live plants when the weather is getting too warm i recommend personal pick up usually.
 
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I have always found TGM very welcoming. Nobody else ever offered me coffee or tea and encourage to relax and look around the store. I know things have changed. Last time I was there which was probably in February they were getting rid of the fish tanks, I understood the reasoning and I dont think it was a big part of their business although at the same time it is somthing that for me makes it whole. Yet who am I to talk I have never bought their fish, but only aquascaping goods and plants.

If the business is going through change then I dont expect everything to be as usual.

This is an independant store, two people who put thier life into this venture and it has been a flagship for many years, I hope it continues to play a key part in the hobby.
 
Offering you tea and coffee?! That's definitely not the shop I went into.
 
I dont know what happened or what was going on the day you visited, but yes everytime i have been which has been many since 2008 or 2009 (I cant remember) Jim or Mark always offer you a cuppa. 🙂
I dont know maybe they were not all in or there was an order crisis, I dont know. First impressions are important and unfortunately it was not the experiance you expected, but a business can have an off day and they are human beings behind it.

BTW you only mentioned two main display tanks, there have always been three large tanks. There is one similar to my tank which is somthing like 7-8ft long and 3ft deep, the squarish one that is 5ft by 5ft and the long 10ft by 2ft.
 
The long 10x2 was empty I'm afraid- it had been stripped down completely and looked like they were gonna scrap it.

There was a full house that day, about 5 members of staff. Only two customers (me and my mum) and as I said we weren't even looked at or asked "can I help?"

The place basically looked like it was closing down. 60-70% of the tanks empty, the others not very well maintained.

Maybe they're just planning a major re- fit.
 
We need greenaqua branch in London
Click to expand...

Meh... London, everything is London centric, it might aswell be a seperate state. I think Middle of the country is in dire need and anyway it is within reasonable access of most of the country.... ummm oooh how about Coventry :wave:
 
I put a thread on here a few weeks ago about a £3000 fish in ADC. and they sold one recently for £7000. That's why the high- end fish stores are London- centric. London is where you will find the filthy- rich sheiks and oligarchs who will spend £7000 on a fish. With rent being so so expensive in central london, they need to make a huge amount of money to keep going.
 
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