Austin Aquariums - CLOSED?

[captexas]

I was up in Austin today and heard that Austin Aquariums is now closed as in out of business.

Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone that were waiting for stuff they had paid in advance for at the store.

[caferacermike]

Say it's true, please say its true..... This will be one of my happiest days.

[prof]

Interesting. I was in there last week and they seemed to be fully stocked and doing fine.

Anyone know anything about this?

[BIGBIRD123]

delete

[thedude]

Yes, they are closed as of today. The details are still a bit sketchy but suffice to say that the same reason Chapter 11 was filed played into this. The IRS does not like it when you owe them over 21k of back taxes.

John

[caferacermike]

Not only ripping off customers but ripping off the IRS? Wow that really trumps the bogus sales and dodgy consignments.

[brewercm]

That's a shame when any LFS goes out of business. I know that I had only been to the store one time several years ago when we had a meeting there. Doesn't sound like too many customers have been happy with them for a while though. I have to say that when I went there the store was very neat and clean and a really nice looking place.

[blueboy]

they had a nice store, and some knowledgeable staff, i think it was the management that was lacking

[demodiki]

Wow, was just in there the other day. Really, one of the only places to get decent LR (IMHO and at high prices, though) locally.

[MikeP]

Too bad. Whatever quibbles people had with Mike he had really worked hard to make that store fly and in the past few months it looked really good. I thought they were going to make it go.

Financial issues aside the things I always saw that seemed rough was the size of the store (both a blessing for more space and a curse with high rent) , and way too many employees at any given time. If the store was half the square footage it was now and wasnt built around those crappy DAS tanks I might even consider buying it.

[KyleV]

It's open again and Jim is running it. Michael's out.

[txstateunivreefer]

the guy at the meeting w/ the shirt said that there was a new ownder who was going to pay off the comptroller and he was gonna give it a go so we will have to see if the place turns out any better

[blueboy]

well, if it's under new management, i'll give them another shot next time i'm up that way!

[Jynxgirl]

I will make sure I stop by as well. I always liked this store.

Jill

[txyaloo]

Michael burned me 7-8 months back and I haven't set foot in there since. If new mgmt is confirmed, I'd probably be willing to try them out again. As it is, I warn everyone I know not to shop there because some of the unethical business practices of Mike...

[Stacy]

Wow! That's the only place I have ever bought anything in the last 2 years (which is when I started my tank). Yeah, their prices were high, but everything always looked nice and I rarely had bad service/experiences there. I only recently found out about all the other choices. What is the best place in town to buy quality stuff, in y'all's opinions?

Thanks,
Stacy

[jroescher]

What is the best place in town to buy quality stuff, in y'all's opinions?



I'm sure the new management at Austin Aquariums will tell you the best place is Austin Aquariums.

[Stacy]

Right, I'm sure he would. I want to know what the rest of you think? I've been by a few of the stores in town, but since AA is the only place I have experience with (apparently a sad thing...) I'm looking for the place(s) with the best prices/quality/reputation. I also understand that when you ask a question of this many people, you're likely to get a ton of different answers. Just curious what y'all think :)

[txyaloo]

Personally, I think the better selection and price is at River City. There's no BS on their prices which are pretty reasonable, and the selection has been getting better since they started carrying saltwater. I normally go to Aquatek just because it's closest and was around the corner from AA. I know some folks really like Austin Aquadome, but it's too far south for me to go most of the time.

[jroescher]

These are the one's I hit in Austin:
River City Aquatics
Austin Aquadome
Aquatek
Austin Aquariums

It's also worth a trip to San Antonio sometime. There's a list of really good stores to hit, and the prices are way better.

[GoofBall]

What is the best place in town to buy quality stuff, in y'all's opinions?


I'm sure the new management at Austin Aquariums will tell you the best place is Austin Aquariums.


Right, I'm sure he would.

Let me blow your minds. AA isn’t the best place in town to buy quality stuff. I’d be a fool to say so. I think it is a good place, but the best place is the place where you feel comfortable about the staff, service, reputation, and have a nice relationship built around all of those things. And, usually, have compared them to others, or they can’t be best, just good.

For a lot of folks, AA has fit the bill over the years. For others (see below) it has been quite the opposite. Even if you’re happy, why not shop around? You didn’t even know where to start looking when AA closed its doors? I’m not going to be so stupid as to go ahead and list my favorites amongst my competitors here (I'm a hobbyist, too, after all), but others are doing an admirable job of it for you. But I have sent a customer to some of those places when I wasn’t able to find a part for her. That was on just day 3 after we reopened.



Say it's true, please say its true..... This will be one of my happiest days.

Sorry to have cut your celebration short.



The IRS does not like it when you owe them over 21k of back taxes.

John

I’m not usually very comfortable airing other people’s dirty laundry, but don’t mind clearing the air a bit...

Just because Michael posted it on the door on Monday, I’ll share - it is the Texas State Comptroller that is the issue, at least for the moment. The state of Texas is not the IRS, and vice versa. Just a different kind of taxes, but still...



Michael burned me 7-8 months back and I haven't set foot in there since. If new mgmt is confirmed, I'd probably be willing to try them out again. As it is, I warn everyone I know not to shop there because some of the unethical business practices of Mike...

If you ever feel burned by me, please give me a chance to work it out with you. I’m sure you tried with Michael. Did he double prices before his half off sales? Close enough. I’m not here to beat up on him, though, just asking for a fair shake myself. Consider it confirmed and come see me.

Sorry the phones are still down and credit card machine as well, but those things should be resolved in another day or two. I’ve had a few other things to be dealing with over the last week. :) (And with a few things still to be dealt with, I won’t be back on here anytime soon. Sorry. Come see me in person instead.)

--Jim

[GoofBall]

Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone that were waiting for stuff they had paid in advance for at the store.

Sorry, I forgot about this part. Everything that was in the store and paid for that I was aware of was delivered to its rightful owner on Tuesday. A discus that I learned about later has now found its happy new home, as well.

[erikharrison]

I think everyone should give the new management a try, we'll probably find something there that "we can't live without". Everyone should try to spur new businesses with some cash flow!

[Ram_Puppy]

i must admit all the bad press about AA made me stop going up to austin once or twice a year to see what they had. next time the bug hits me I will definately drop in and give the new management a shot.

perhaps a grand re-opening w/ a maastard party is in order to kick it off.

[Stacy]

quote: *Even if you’re happy, why not shop around? You didn’t even know where to start looking when AA closed its doors? *

That last sentence offends me just a bit which is not easy to do. I'm sure it was unintentional. Just as an FYI, when I got my aquarium a couple of years ago, I tried to do a lot of research on where to buy SW things here. I was sure there had to be lots of places. However, the only place that showed up when I searched saltwater stuff in Austin was AA. Others came up with fresh and I didn't (still don't really) know anyone with a SW tank. Over the course of the past year, a friend who raises cichlids told me about River City and Aquatek and that they had SW things there. I had even searched for a reef club in austin on the wet web forums site and got no response. I was happy at AA even acknowledging that the prices were high, so didn't have a NEED to go to more trouble. I didn't even know that AA had closed until I read it on here. Obviously I am not one that spends a ton of money frequently on corals and such. Unfortunately I don't make that much $ being a teacher so I tend to window shop more unless I find a great deal. Trust me when I say, I am well aware now of my other options and look forward to visiting them all and making my OWN decision of which are my favorites.
Thanks~
Stacy

[caferacermike]

Uhm yeah Goof that is sad to see that you inadvertently put people off instead of reaching out to them. I spend a lot of money in the hobby and I am currently setting up a HUGE tank that will need to get filled in. I'm a reasonable fellow and since I know Mike is out of the picture I had thought about visiting the store. Instead of extending a hand to me saying you'd like to meet with me and see what my problems were (they are duly noted in another thread and verified by others) you tell me my party is over.

Exactly why would that make me want to step foot into the new shop? I was so tempted last Sat to visit... But why would I now? I realize the shops problems were with Micheal and may not reflect your business plans but it'd be nice to see you start out on a better foot then that.


I once spent the night in front of AA to be first in line for a sale, maybe you know this, maybe you don't. For reference purposes, that's how insane about the hobby I am and the extent I am willing to go to shop the stores I like.

[BIGBIRD123]

Goofball,
I first welcome you to Maast. I hope this venture works well for you because we need more stores in Austin. There were alot of problems with the previous ownership of AA and I welcome giving you the chance to make this different and better. That place "burned" alot of good people and left bad tastes in many mouths. I hope this can be rectified.

I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and give your store a try. I'm only one person and one voice but as most here know me..it's LOUD. I will stopping by in the near future and hope that all is well.

I wish you the best of luck.

Steve

[thesponge]

Goofball,
Good luck with your venture and I look forward to stoping in and seeing you.

Not that it will make you feel any better but I spend most of my day apologizing to people I have offended. My wife tells me that I suck at being really good person with good intentions. Doesn't mean I won't keep trying. :P

I think I will change my sig to an apology it will make my day easier.

Joe

[grimwulff]

Just an FYI from Austin Aquariums, thank you for your continued support, or hopefully your new support. Things have been a little hectic for the last two weeks, but we are working on them. I would welcome any greivances, welwishes, or anything else anyone would like to impart (off forum preferrably, so as not to waste space here). We will be receiving a really nice order of Marines and cleanup crews in on this Friday. I would like to say thank you to all those at tyhe ARC meeting and Frag swap, it was great and my personal tanks appreciate it.

Rufus
Austin Aquariums (soon to change)
grimwulff@grimwulff.com

[josephatmbimortgage]

I was at Austin aquaruim today, and I must say, they are improving on everything as I can tell. The prices are now competitive against everyone. Speaking to one of the investor today there and she was telling me what they have plans for the future some very great ideas that she guarentee she will impliment.I believe we will havea new sponser on here and yeah!!! more goodys please!! I notice 2 things walking into the store, first was they have more show tanks with a happy go lucky atmospher and 2nd they have a frag acropora tank. They are heading in the right direction and they are open to feed back to create the store that everyone can enjoy . They have a 48 hour guarentee that salt water fish will live <---- that is crazy! I see it this way, the more store the merrier, and no hatred between stores bc as everyone knows. WE SHOP AROUND for the best deals. I hit all the stores and yes including Aquadome bc I met Anthony there today. It took me Hour and half to see everything at all the stores. Don't take my word or anyone esle, stop by for yourself and give your feed back to them directly.

-Joseph

[bozack]

They have a 48 hour guarentee that salt water fish will live <---- that is crazy!

-Joseph

Wow, they may have me sold right there....