Our Walmart had more tanks than Petco, and at times, more interesting fish. But the disease issues were disturbing, and while the employees blamed PETA for the closure (PETA would have had a case) I think it was just unprofitable.
As far as changes go, until my early 20s, I had 3 excellent aquarium stores, and a few mediocre ones I could walk to. Every Walmart style chain, and every department store downtown had a full tropical fish section. Plus, if you had a car or a lot of patience for a subway and bus journey, there were 2 very good stores with over 150 tanks each, and 3 with about 70. Now there are none where I Iived, and 2 of the 70 tank ones are still operating. One of the big stores moved and became a smaller set up, with a huge area for dog and cat supplies.
The hobby has lost ground. I'm not saying this for old guy nostalgia, but many younger aquarists don't realize how large a scene once existed. We tend to think the growth of the chains was a growth in demand, but it didn't work that way.
Petco has sort of expanded into my current region, but they don't even sell fish food, let alone fish.
As far as changes go, until my early 20s, I had 3 excellent aquarium stores, and a few mediocre ones I could walk to. Every Walmart style chain, and every department store downtown had a full tropical fish section. Plus, if you had a car or a lot of patience for a subway and bus journey, there were 2 very good stores with over 150 tanks each, and 3 with about 70. Now there are none where I Iived, and 2 of the 70 tank ones are still operating. One of the big stores moved and became a smaller set up, with a huge area for dog and cat supplies.
The hobby has lost ground. I'm not saying this for old guy nostalgia, but many younger aquarists don't realize how large a scene once existed. We tend to think the growth of the chains was a growth in demand, but it didn't work that way.
Petco has sort of expanded into my current region, but they don't even sell fish food, let alone fish.
