That Fish Place Anniversary Sale

[Altohombre]

Well I went today. I got up at 6:45 and drove 2hrs 20 mins and got there at 9:20am. By 9:45 all the 120g and 150g Perfecto tanks for $1 per gallon were sold.

Outside under the tent they had many used, slightly damaged, etc tanks and stands and the were mostly spoken for by 10am. Under the tent was a madhouse of people grabbing all sorts of things in damaged boxes, containers, and a whole lot of other stuff that looked like junk to me.

Inside was pretty crazy as well, tons of carts and things and people grabbing buy 3 get one free of the salt. The layout of the store is a little confusing because there were vendors that were not always in the section that had most of their products. For example the lady representing Two Little Fishies (40% off) was in a section that only had a couple of their products and their PhosBan stuff was in a whole different aisle.

I was slightly disappointed in terms of light bulbs with the store. I could only find a UV Super Actinic and no sight of any GE 6500k, or ATI bulbs I was looking for.

I went in the Fish Room and people were buying stuff like crazy, but I didn't feel like the stuff looked that great and I definitely wouldn't take the risk of buying fish or a coral in the overstocked tanks and expecting it to last a 2+ hr drive in 88 degree heat.

All in all it was a fun experience, I got a couple freebies in terms of a Aqueon 20g filter for my freshwater tank that the rep wanted me to use when he noticed I bought Whisper (Tetra) filter pads. I also got some kind of Essentials suppliment from the Kent Marine guy. There seemed to be a lot of that where the Reps would look in your cart and then ask you a question. They did it politely enough that it wasn't bothersome at all. They do a fairly nice job of restocking things that sell out fast, but I was waiting around for at least 45 mins for a PhosBan Reactor and finally after asking a 2nd person she stopped what she was doing and went back and found one in a box they were just about to bring out.

I will most likely try to make the anniversary trip from now on. I doubt I could do the trip without a big event unless it is to spend my 30% off on Wednesdays coupon on something major.

Trip totals were $13.90 on tolls, about a half tank of gas so lets say $25 bucks, and I spent $199 on odds and ends.


Matt

 

[monsterfishkeeper]

I wish I could have gotten there as well but today was crazy for me. Glad to hear you had some fun out there ;D

 

[Hawkeye]

We got there around 2pm. I had to wait for my daughter's ballet class to end and then go... :

I didn't bother with the tent since my last trip into that hot place was exactly as you described it-chaotic at best.

I never walked into the live /fish area - just went thru the dry goods. Picked up bulbs for my herps, a few backup heaters, ground probe, test kits, a 10g tank to set up a qt (which came with a free aqueon filter thanks to the rep). Total was around $225 or so...

Mostly my kids spent the entire time if not messing around with the free balloons or trying desperately to touch the sting rays or flying fish. It was amusing to watch.

There were a lot of nice raffles though...I just didn't bother. That python they had in there had all of us ooohing and aaahing.

It was a nice trip for us since we also got to meet up with some old family friends afterwards and have a nice dinner. We also took an educational tour of one of those amish farms...I forgot how manure smells... :-X

 

[Wannareef]

This was the 2nd year for us with going to this sale. The trick is to be as prepared as possible and to get there early! We got there at 8:30am and there was already a line to go into the store and a line to get into the tent.

We made up a shopping list the night before and my husband and I split up. He got in line for the tent and I got in line to go into the store. As soon as I got into the store I went to the the fish room and grabbed a number. {very important} I shop at that store often as it is the only decent store near us {50 mins from us}, so I know where all of the good stuff is. They stock up the night before so I knew better than to look at the fish. I went straight to the back tanks where the corals are and looked at what they had, made a mental note, then went to look at the rest of the corals over by the inverts. Then I just waited, before I knew it my number was called and I was buying my corals. I snagged some beautiful corals and was quite happy with myself! LOL {We are starting a frag business and I wanted some unique corals.}

While I was in coral heaven, my husband was out in the tent snagging a brand new sump for the 120gal we are setting up. He got a sump that is usually over $300 for $65. We also were along with the salt people and picked up the buy 3 get 1 free salt as well.

I do agree with the comment about the vendors not being with their products. Some of them were right in front of it, some were not and it didn't make sense to me.