LFS - GREAT Places...

[Chris]

Every negative must also have a positive... threads are included in the equilibrium. ;)


I'm going to cheat and start off with a blast from the past.... 4 words & 2 names...

Aquarium Sales AND Service... and the two names that come to mind are Ken Kohler and Mike Stokes. If any of you are lucky enough to remember this place, it was... imo in the upper echelon of all fish stores. To this day I've yet to find myself so impressed by the customer service, and quality of livestock of any store here in town. Perhaps that's just nostalgia talking.

Anyhow, if it were not for them... I can assuredly say MAAST would be not what is is today(or perhaps most likely even exist). I know for certain that a great many contacts that initially started the club were due to the generosity of Ken & Mike sharing their extensive database of customers so that we might find a means of contacting each other.

I apologize for not sending this sooner. I spent a week writing the letter
below announcing that the shop is closing. You will notice that this time I
have included all the names from my email data base in the Courtesy Copy. I
did this to give you a means of contacting each other. Many of the customers
that have been in the store have asked 'where do we go now?' I don't have a
good answer for you. I would like to suggest this. San Antonio is the only
major metropolitan area that I know of that does not have a functioning
aquarium society of any kind. I urge you to contact each other and form one,
even if you only meet via email. The level of service and quality of goods
available from the remaining shops will only get worse unless the buying
public demands that they change and backs up those demands by refusing to
spend money in their stores. As long as the public will support the way they
conduct business with their purchasing, those stores have no incentive to
change.
Mike Stokes
Aquarium Sales & Service

It is with great sadness that Ken and I have to announce that Aquarium Sales
and Service will close at the end of August. The decision to close is due in
no small part to our refusal to compromise our ethics, principles, or level
of service. We feel this would be a betrayal and a great disservice to those
customers who have supported us, to the animals we feel responsible for, and
to the aquarium hobby.
Since beginning in 1982 we have been committed to providing the highest
quality products, animals, and service. When we began in retail in 1990 we
did so committed to the philosophy of making our customers successful in the
hobby by educating them and providing sources of reliable information
regarding methods, products, and animals. We also committed ourselves to
staying up to date on developments in the hobby and sharing that knowledge
with our customers.
We feel that we have a responsibility to secure the best possible chance of
survival for all the animals we deal in, from the least expensive freshwater
fish to the most expensive marines. We have been committed to the health and
well being of the fish and invertebrates that we sell. We have dealt only
with suppliers who pledged to provide animals collected using ecologically
sound practices or captive bred. We have been committed to providing a
holding facility that quarantines new arrivals and maintains display systems
at optimal levels for the health of the animals. For more than 20 years we
have dedicated ourselves to changing the public's attitude and practices
that treat aquatic life as 'disposable pets'. It has been an uphill battle
all the way.
We also dedicated ourselves to providing a high standard of customer
service, which meant finding real solutions to aquarium problems rather than
just selling products. We have steadfastly resisted the temptation to sell
people products they didn't need or wouldn't work just to increase sales. We
provided a clean, comfortable environment with a trained staff that gave the
customer personal attention. We provided free access to a reference library
so that the customer could make informed choices. We provided a website and
email to further assist the customer in finding information and solving
problems.
Putting these principles into practice and providing these services adds
significantly to the cost of doing business. Unfortunately, the majority of
the buying public in San Antonio attaches little or no value to these
services or principles of operation. Sadly, to our knowledge, our
competitors neither adhere to nor practice any of these principles or
services.