The secret behind every relationship comes down to rapport. This applies to your relationship with the local fish store you frequent. Think about how you feel when you go to an LFS and the staff, often the owner, answers all your questions with confidence, helps you find what you seek, and offers suggestions on how to proceed with a project. While an employee at the local box store may be confident, it is doubtful they have the experience or expertise of a LFS. The point I make here is simply that good people are behind every LFS, with exceptions of course. Those LFS’s without a good rapport with their customers will not be around very long.
How well you get along with the staff/owners of a LFS will determine whether the store works for you and if you return. I know I enjoy going to a store where I feel welcome and can comfortably chat with the staff/owners. The store also has to have what I am looking for or offer to get it. It’s not always about the fish. We go to a LFS to find support in our hobby and in our lives in general. This has always been the way of retail. Most box stores don’t offer this. Stores with high turnover rates will suffer in customer relations whether they are big box or not.
Thinking back over my experiences in LFS’s in Colorado, I cannot remember any LFS that I did not feel confident with the advice I received. This is not so with big box stores. Remember, I have been to every LFS in the state and many of the big box stores too. The only business which can compete with the LFS in my view is the online retailers. Unless you need an item that day, the convenience of home delivery at a low price is hard to beat. So what does the LFS have which other pet retailers don’t? Rapport with the customer and a friendly face to greet them when they visit. Now I don’t envy the LFS owner having to serve so many diverse people and personalities, though his just makes me like them more when they can be friendly to me every time I visit.
Gratitude motivates me every day. While I cannot say every experience I’ve had at LFS have been good, I will say most of them are. Some things just cannot be replaced digitally. Our purpose on this earth is to serve others and having this exchange in person is simply irreplaceable.
Sequoia Elisabeth
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