In this day and age of tough economic times it's common to see many businesses cutting corners and sometimes they will even "modify" their morals to save or make a dollar or two. Luckily this isn't ALWAYS the case.
A couple of weeks ago while traveling in Myrtle Beach South Carolina Julie and I took a trip to "Sea Critters Depot" (suggested by Woodstock aka Doni). Now let me warn you... this isn't a place you'll drive by on the way to somewhere else because it's back off the beaten path and somewhat out of the way. The way Bruce and Sue have taken a storage building and converted the end unit into a retail store was just way cool. We were driving by these storage units and WHAMO there's a Salt Water Store sticking out. This isn't conventional wisdom but it works none the less and I'm sure they save a ton on lease/rental fees. Way to go!!
When you first walk in the door you're greeted by a SWEET frag tank straight ahead right over top of the cash register. Then you see a couple of Nano Reef tanks at eye level just off to your right. Step in further and in between the Nano systems you see tank after tank after tank of Fish, Crabs, Clams, Shrimp, SHARK and just about anything REEF/Ocean related. In the corner was a set of "Vats" holding pound after pound of Live Rock. Some of this was mouth watering it looked so nice. Oh to have been setting up a new system this day . . . Stepping in deeper and behind these main tanks you come up to the Quarantine Tanks (a LOT of them too). It's exciting to see someone actually not only USING a QT system but showing what they have in it. I enjoyed just walking around pressing my nose from tank to tank to tank (sorry for the nose prints on EVERY tank LOL).
What really made my day was when a customer picked out a fish they wanted and asked Bruce to bag it up. He had to confirm which fish the customer wanted and then explained that this fish was in "Quarantine" and not available for sale for 2 more weeks. The customer mildly tried to change his mind but Bruce stood his ground and flat our refused to make the sale. He offered to put a "Hold" on the fish for this customer but the full QT was mandatory and not something he was willing to budge on. Julie and I just looked at each other and grinned. That was IMPRESSIVE especially in this day and time!! Job well done!!
Ok now back to the tour... we slipped into the other side of the "shop" where the majority of coral and many other inverts were housed. This was where the BIG frag tank was and boy was it sweet. It was a LOW tank so you could look through the front or look from above. I spent a LOT of time just walking around looking here and there. He had everything from mild to OMG WILD in this tank.
We had just gotten into town so we didn't purchase anything but told Bruce we would be back on Sunday to get some stuff for the road. I told him we would be checking out of our room and then get something to eat and hang around waiting on Sea Critters Depot to open (Open at 1pm on Sunday). Bruce said, "Give me a call. If I'm not already committed to something else and you're serious about buying I might be able to come in early and get yall on the road sooner." Once again IMPRESSED!
Well we got a late check out and by the time we ate and got going it was exactly 1pm. We went back and I picked out some shrimp and a couple of coral for the road. Truth be known the LAST thing I needed was more coral but Bruce made some great price offers I just couldn't refuse. He bagged everything separately (with O2), wrapped each in newspaper, used newspaper as padding and secured them in a nice Styrofoam cooler so they couldn't slosh around. Heck he even went so far as to use packaging tape to tape the bags and newspaper so nothing could move around. I thought once I might say, "Bruce I'm not dropping these from a plane for delivery..." but just chuckled and watched the man work. When he had Sue ring up my order he once again gave me a deal on pricing and we were off down the road towards Western NC.
Got home late that evening and everyone was in great shape (only a 5 hr drive). I acclimated then added the coral and shrimp to my tank. It's been almost a month and all looks great.
I have to say Julie and I both had a very nice experience and would for SURE go back there again. We both highly recommend visiting Sea Critters Depot when you're in Myrtle Beach again. Tell Bruce that BigAl sent ya
Sea Critters Depot
Bruce & Sue Campbell
3002-A Airport Blvd.
N. Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
(843) 272-3657
In closing I have to give
Sea Critters Depot
A couple of weeks ago while traveling in Myrtle Beach South Carolina Julie and I took a trip to "Sea Critters Depot" (suggested by Woodstock aka Doni). Now let me warn you... this isn't a place you'll drive by on the way to somewhere else because it's back off the beaten path and somewhat out of the way. The way Bruce and Sue have taken a storage building and converted the end unit into a retail store was just way cool. We were driving by these storage units and WHAMO there's a Salt Water Store sticking out. This isn't conventional wisdom but it works none the less and I'm sure they save a ton on lease/rental fees. Way to go!!
When you first walk in the door you're greeted by a SWEET frag tank straight ahead right over top of the cash register. Then you see a couple of Nano Reef tanks at eye level just off to your right. Step in further and in between the Nano systems you see tank after tank after tank of Fish, Crabs, Clams, Shrimp, SHARK and just about anything REEF/Ocean related. In the corner was a set of "Vats" holding pound after pound of Live Rock. Some of this was mouth watering it looked so nice. Oh to have been setting up a new system this day . . . Stepping in deeper and behind these main tanks you come up to the Quarantine Tanks (a LOT of them too). It's exciting to see someone actually not only USING a QT system but showing what they have in it. I enjoyed just walking around pressing my nose from tank to tank to tank (sorry for the nose prints on EVERY tank LOL).
What really made my day was when a customer picked out a fish they wanted and asked Bruce to bag it up. He had to confirm which fish the customer wanted and then explained that this fish was in "Quarantine" and not available for sale for 2 more weeks. The customer mildly tried to change his mind but Bruce stood his ground and flat our refused to make the sale. He offered to put a "Hold" on the fish for this customer but the full QT was mandatory and not something he was willing to budge on. Julie and I just looked at each other and grinned. That was IMPRESSIVE especially in this day and time!! Job well done!!
Ok now back to the tour... we slipped into the other side of the "shop" where the majority of coral and many other inverts were housed. This was where the BIG frag tank was and boy was it sweet. It was a LOW tank so you could look through the front or look from above. I spent a LOT of time just walking around looking here and there. He had everything from mild to OMG WILD in this tank.
We had just gotten into town so we didn't purchase anything but told Bruce we would be back on Sunday to get some stuff for the road. I told him we would be checking out of our room and then get something to eat and hang around waiting on Sea Critters Depot to open (Open at 1pm on Sunday). Bruce said, "Give me a call. If I'm not already committed to something else and you're serious about buying I might be able to come in early and get yall on the road sooner." Once again IMPRESSED!
Well we got a late check out and by the time we ate and got going it was exactly 1pm. We went back and I picked out some shrimp and a couple of coral for the road. Truth be known the LAST thing I needed was more coral but Bruce made some great price offers I just couldn't refuse. He bagged everything separately (with O2), wrapped each in newspaper, used newspaper as padding and secured them in a nice Styrofoam cooler so they couldn't slosh around. Heck he even went so far as to use packaging tape to tape the bags and newspaper so nothing could move around. I thought once I might say, "Bruce I'm not dropping these from a plane for delivery..." but just chuckled and watched the man work. When he had Sue ring up my order he once again gave me a deal on pricing and we were off down the road towards Western NC.
Got home late that evening and everyone was in great shape (only a 5 hr drive). I acclimated then added the coral and shrimp to my tank. It's been almost a month and all looks great.
I have to say Julie and I both had a very nice experience and would for SURE go back there again. We both highly recommend visiting Sea Critters Depot when you're in Myrtle Beach again. Tell Bruce that BigAl sent ya
Sea Critters Depot
Bruce & Sue Campbell
3002-A Airport Blvd.
N. Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
(843) 272-3657
In closing I have to give
Sea Critters Depot
