Are you still buying in the USA? Why?

[mseepman]

I really try to buy local but as everyone else in the Okanagan knows, that's an expensive process. Using a local LFS keeps options open to me when I'm in a panic but paying $89-$99 for a bucket of IO salt is too painful so I end up stopping in a J&L a couple times per year.

Many of our LFS are under the same pressures that book stores have been under since the inception of amazon.com Bricks and Morter locations have different costs and I understand that the convenience of that has a cost to me. I hope that more of them look to move part of their business to the web so that they can off-set some of their fixed costs with a few more sales.

Sadly, the bigger problem with the LFS is that they have stayed in the traditional rut of carrying only the big suppliers like Hagen, Coralife or Marineland. Sadly, the quality of those companies goods are sad or worse.

The bright spot for me is that I've convinced my local LFS to join me at MACNA this year so he can see what advances there have been in the industry. Even though this is their profession, I think the store owner is in for a big surprise.