what keeps you going back?
 

i was just curious what keeps you going back somewhere to get your stuff.

I voted customer service but I also considered price when I frequented other LFS. I refused to spend money at a couple lfs because of a lack of customer service and bad advice.

You can choose more than one option

It varies.

If the location is far away, but the price/customer service is good, then I will make the effort to go out there once in a while.

If the location is really close by, then I'll pop in out of convenience (whether I buy much will depend on selection & price of livestock/goods).

Rarely go to big box stores though. Generally poorly informed, poorly trained employees compared to smaller LFS.

Overall, the most important factors are probably customer service (if I don't like the people, why bother spending my money supporting their store?), selection of livestock (oooooh new corals), and price (wow, I can afford to actually buy what I see).

I can buy anything I want online and get free shipping 90% of the time so location and customer service doesnt apply. Also, all of the retailers who are online serving this market are aware of their competition so drygoods and prices are pretty much the same throughout the industry. What makes me drive +800km several times a year to a LFS is to see the livestock in person and not just a stock photo.

I voted for everything except location because I don't care where it is, that's what shipping is for! I shop in many different places because no one vendor can give me everything I'm looking for. First, and foremost though I refuse to pay too much. I don't care how good the personal customer service is, I think good prices is part of customer service, so if the prices suck I find that to be ignorance of the vendor. So to me, price and customer service is the same thing. I like to chat with the employees/owner a bit, and am interested to have some more in depth conversations about different methods or results from experimentations, but when people say they don't mind paying a bit extra at a more expensive shop just because the customer service is good I just gawk at them, I don't get that. I won't pay for that, but maybe that's because I've been in the hobby since the early 90s, and (trying to say this in a humble way) I don't need much help.

For dry goods I buy wherever it's cheapest, period. For livestock, I go wherever has what I want. I will pay what I think it too much for a rare fish or an exceptional coral.

If I can phone somebody, and have a conversation with them, even if its not fish stuff the whole conversation thats always nice. Also if I need something they will go out of their way to get it and not give me the " yeah we'll have it when we get around to ordering from that one distributor", but order it that day. In the end its all about price, if you give me a good price and if you know me personally, Im going to be loyal.

As a hobbyist I voted customer service & livestock, if pricing is good even better but it's rare that pricing alone determines my buying decisions. I don't mind paying a little more for good service & high quality livestock because you generally get what you pay for.

When I first got into the hobby I used to shop all the LFS here in Calgary, but now there are a few I don't even bother going to anymore because of this. Customer service and livestock selection are most important to me.

You haven't listed warm hugs but I doubt Doug wants me to say much about that.