Calgary Saltwater Market: Your thoughts?

[kwirky]

I'm curious what others here have to say about Calgary's saltwater community, and Calgary's saltwater market? I notice that the Calgary board on here is quite active, and there are some good shops here (not naming any names). And I've heard of some people road tripping from Edmonton for the shops here.

How unique does everyone else think Calgary is? And if we are unique, what makes us unique? What kind of things do you see in American sellers and associations (via websites, talk on other forums, etc) that you wish we could have here?

And those things you wish for, could they be sustainable, in a business sense?

For instance, places like J&L, and a lot of places in the states get their livestock straight from the collectors, and have their own holding facilities. It cuts costs, but requires a large initial investment to cover the holding facilities, and a large number of sustainable sales to cover the costs of these facilities. Does anyone think Calgary has a market where such an investment would be a profitable one for somone?

And the issue with American duty on goods shipped to Canada. I know, in many different retail industries, some goods have to pass through the states for us to get them, because Canada's small population doesn't garner enough demand for wholesalers to be interested in large quantity purchases. Is that really an issue, or just hogwash?

What are your thoughts?

I'm basically trying to garner a discussion on the status of Calgary's saltwater market, and places it could go, if it's possible, and how it would get there.

[Skimmer Juice]

I think we needmore inverts! No one has shrimp!

[midgetwaiter]

The aquarium trade in Calgary is in line with the retail market in general. The retail market here is going through a incredible growth phase tied to the increase in disposable income most people have. If you look at the growth figures it's almost unheard of, most retail operations are seeing 15% to 30% same store revenue increases for the past 3 years. Edmonton is similar but not really seeing the sectors growing due to demographic differences. SW tanks are largely a white collar person's type of hobby due to the costs involved, although that is changing as equipment gets less expensive and better making smaller tanks easier. There are a lot of new stores in Edmonton this year.

My current job has been driving me nuts lately so I've been looking at what opportunities are available in the aquarium trade. Working full time in retail isn't going to pay the bills and I don't really want to have my own store for a variety of reasons, mostly the capital involved in starting one. The wholesale idea is something I've looked at bit but there are some hurdles.

Most retailers split up their purchases between the big wholesalers and some direct buying from collectors with most of the direct purchases being from Caribbean / Florida sources. Buying direct from the Pacific is difficult here, there are no direct flights from the major shipment points and losses can be quite high. There are two ways to do it, you try and go direct and hope you have good luck with the flights between Vancouver and here or you buy from a transshiper that re works the bags and gets things on their way ASAP. Both solutions have their problems.

For someone to establish a wholesale operation here you would have find a way to provide value for the local retails above what the major suppliers already do. Those operations are all in LA and Florida right next to the airports. They get stuff faster and have many shipping options because those airports are major cargo transhipment ports. Your transportation costs are going to be much higher. If you are going to be selling to local places you are going to have to get pretty close to their prices. You could be a bit higher as hopefully you can deliver with less shipping stress than a purchase from LA and less chance of stuff getting lost but IME the loss rates on shipments from LA is already pretty low provided the airline doesn't screw up so there isn't much room there.

So if you could get just about every major store in Alberta to buy about 25% of their stock from you you could probably do it but you wouldn't be making much money (IE paying the mortgage) for about 3 years, maybe 4. it doesn't look very good to me.

[kwirky]

didn't think it would be so hard to get things from the pacific to here.

I've wondered what it would take for canadians to start keeping canadian saltwater livestock? In europe, coldwater tanks are a lot more common than here. I'm assuming fish caught in vancouver would ship much better than those routed through vancouver coming from the states.

Vancouver aquarium had some nice setups of BC saltwater species. But then, Canada has more laws protecting wildlife, I think, than USA does.

[andrewsk]

For me, Calgary's biggest missing component is a LARGE retail store like J&L where you can walk in and see all of this equipment most of us only read about at any time.

Gold's is great for getting in some items but they need like 4 times the space so they can stock the equipment on a continuous basis.

I also agree that inverts, and many corals, micro-algae and macro-algae are hard to find and need to be ordered online.

I think that the first BIG reef store in the city is going to make a mint as long as the economy stays hot here.

[AndyL]

While I like our boutique stores... They regularly drive me nuts... I hate to say it but I really do miss BA's. That was the only store that actually stocked hermit crabs, snails etc. You know the basics! The other stores are hit and miss on those simple items - yes I know one store usually has em, but I'm not paying 8$ for an astrea.

Hardware's no fun to find lately either... Seems like everyone wants you to wait 2-6 weeks for most slightly-less common items 2-6 weeks? I'll mail order - at least then i'll have it in 7-10 days.

[EG-9]

I just bought some Astrea Snails ($3.5),Hermit Crabs,Cleaner Shrimp
and Peppermint Shrimp from Ocean city !
Finally i got it all in Calgary.

[Nyxis]

I have to echo andy here. It's really frustrating when you go to three stores and can't find what your looking for.

[BMW Rider]

Originally Posted by kwirky

I've wondered what it would take for canadians to start keeping canadian saltwater livestock? In europe, coldwater tanks are a lot more common than here. I'm assuming fish caught in vancouver would ship much better than those routed through vancouver coming from the states.

Mmmmm, raise your own salmon and maybe some fresh prawns too.

But seriously, I'd like to see better availability for inverts too. Also, some more interesting fish (reef safe please). Yellow tangs and damsels are pretty common in all the shops, as are large angels and such for FO tanks. Small wrasses are nearly impossible to find other than the common six lines.

[kwirky]

I agree, and there's some stuff I would like to just walk in and buy. More space would do well for that.

I think an existing store has the best chance to do that, since they already have a large sum of the investment made in their existing stores. And I forsee older stores as those that could be successful in such an investment, because they sport working business models (being in business for so long).

I think a cool idea for an item would be a "nano plug" I guess it could be nicknamed. A predrilled nano tank, that comes with a small return pump, about maybe 5 gallons, that can just be "plugged" into our existing setups. It could be sold with/without fancy lighting. How many of you would like to keep a mantis shrimp, and would do it if you could buy a little 5 gallon tank that you just hook up to your sump, that includes a little 13w PC light? How much would that cost, really? $100 retail at the most? single 13W PC light, 5 gallon tank, 25 feet of hosing, and a little 100gph submersible pump (to cover head of long hose). Mantis shrimp included for $110 lol. I could see Dennis and Albert going "want to keep a mantis shrimp, too? $110! just plug it into your setup!" hah

(watch somone steal this idea of mine. silly me not hording IP)

Instant satisfaction items like that would be a great thing for Calgary's disposable income, impulse purchase market.