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What store do you go to in South Jersey?

whitebear1020

whitebear1020

Guys, I need your input. Does anyone live in South Jersey? What store do you go to?
I live in Marlton. Two stores went out of business around here. There was one on Route 73 by the circle. It went out of business last year. Then it was another one InLiving Color Aquariums. The rumors are someone poisoned all their fish and corals. :mad: :'( They never did re-open.
So, as far as I know, the closes store is in Delran PetPlus. ???
 
D

Daggnabit

There is a store in Clementon on Blackwood-Clementon Rd called Aquarium Center. If the store you were talking about that went out of business on 73 is in Berlin, where they took out the circle, then it is about another 20 min from there.
 
M

Mbodell

Prices are decent. The selection is average. It is probably better to order what you want instead of waiting for them to get it. They don't have issues with ordering in things when I ask for them.
 
SirFragalot

SirFragalot

whitebear1020 said:
Guys, I need your input. Does anyone live in South Jersey? What store do you go to?
I live in Marlton. Two stores went out of business around here. There was one on Route 73 by the circle. It went out of business last year. Then it was another one InLiving Color Aquariums. The rumors are someone poisoned all their fish and corals. :mad: :'( They never did re-open.
So, as far as I know, the closes store is in Delran PetPlus. ???
Click to expand...

They are going downhill....and fast. It is rumored that they are going to do away with the saltwater section. I would suggest The Hidden Reef.
 
whitebear1020

whitebear1020

Oh, no! :eek: :( I buy my RO water there every week.

I wonder ... the owners of the store that used to be on 73 are working there now. I guess they managed to bring this store down as well.
 
SirFragalot

SirFragalot

whitebear1020 said:
Oh, no! :eek: :( I buy my RO water there every week.

I wonder ... the owners of the store that used to be on 73 are working there now. I guess they managed to bring this store down as well.
Click to expand...

At the Delran store?
 
B

Buffalowing

About 40 mins north of you is Allquatics in Hamilton, bit of a drive but from Marlton it's just Route 73 to 295 and you're basically there (exit 61). They post updates on when they get new selections in and they're usually decent, once stuff's been sitting for awhile it tends to get sad looking so I'd go on a shipment day. Dry goods wise it's not bad. They do give a 15% discount if you belong to our club.

Hidden Reef is huge, ton of dry goods, ton of tanks, definatly worth a trip if you've never been just for the size, also been told there's another fish store with in 3 minutes of it so a good twopher trip. No discount though for members.
 
D

Dave

whitebear1020 said:
Guys, I need your input. Does anyone live in South Jersey? What store do you go to?
I live in Marlton. Two stores went out of business around here. There was one on Route 73 by the circle. It went out of business last year. Then it was another one InLiving Color Aquariums. The rumors are someone poisoned all their fish and corals. :mad:  :'( They never did re-open.
So, as far as I know, the closes store is in Delran PetPlus.  ???
Click to expand...

I live right down the road from you.

My top 3 local spots in no particular order are:

Hidden Reef
Aquarium Center
East Coast Aquatics
 
D

Daggnabit

There is a fish store called Ocean Aquarium in Egg Harbor Twp. not far from Atlantic City. However, I have had nothing but negative experiences with them. The store is about 20 min from where I live and I chose to drive to Aquarium Center. As far as I know brothers own the Ocean Aquarium, or maybe just one and he employs his brother, and one of them is ok, he is at least nice. The other guy talks to you like you are an idiot, I have tried to make it clear that I know some things about fish keeping. On top of poor customer service everything that I have bought from them dies. 2 turbo snails should not die within 48 hours of purchase when other snails have been in the same system for months. The only thing I buy from them if I need to is dry goods and their prices are terrible.
 
r2reyzer

r2reyzer

NJRC Member
Whitebear, I'm in the same exact situation. I live in Marlton as well. Nothing close, except for Aquarium Center in Blackwood (which has mixed reviews). I take a trip out to Hidden Reef (Levittown, PA) and East Coast Aquatics (Prospect Park, PA) every month or so. I bit of a hike, but it's not much of a choice. I'm not crazy over the service at Aquarium Center.
 
whitebear1020

whitebear1020

Nice to meet you, Ray. Thank you for your post. I am glad I am not alone in Marlton.
Seems like there are tons of opportunities around here: the closes store is 15 miles away and not a single good service company.
 
whitebear1020

whitebear1020

I spoke to the owner of the InLiving Color Aquariums when they just opened on Rt.70. He said that it costs millions to open an aquarium store. :eek: The sad part is after someone poisoned all the fish and live stock, insurance never paid them. As far as I know, they are still waiting for their money. That's why they never did recover from this disaster.
 
M

Mbodell

I would imagine you could start a good small store for 2-300K and build from there. I am sure to start up a big operation with a high inventory volume a  million or so isn't that far off.

I do know that the original owner who started ILC he was into a lot of people for money. A new owner was running the store when they got vandalized and I know they were having trouble doing business anywhere because of the first owner's debts. I wasn't very surprised that they got vandalized.
 
Tazmaniancowboy

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
whitebear1020 said:
I spoke to the owner of the InLiving Color Aquariums when they just opened on Rt.70. He said that it costs millions to open an aquarium store. :eek: The sad part is after someone poisoned all the fish and live stock, insurance never paid them. As far as I know, they are still waiting for their money. That's why they never did recover from this disaster.
Click to expand...

I spoke with each owner numerous times and the stories were constantly changing, not only between the two, but each individual story was never the same. I think there is way more to the closing of ILC than any of us know as Mbodell touched upon. Such a shame. Had sooo much potential and was convenient for many of us that I hated to see it go.

Allquatics is about 40 mins from me, the hidden reef is about 45 minutes plus a toll. Most of the time I go to Hidden reef because they are cheaper and have a bigger selection. As much as I dislike Aquarium center I still pop in occasionally. I was there last week with my brother and we were talking about how it looked like they were going to downsize the salt water section. Pickins were slim to none with garbage for coral.

All other stores are at least an hour and fifteen minutes from me so I don't go as often as I like, but it is time to start making a few trips! Maybe someday with any luck we will have a good LFS open up in this area again and be successful. Hopefully owned by one of us that know what people are looking for!

Taz
 
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