Follow up on Petstop Blanchardstown

I dropped in today to have a look and pick up a few things for a friend.I was approached by the manager,Damien,who was very annoyed by the comments posted on this forum.He asked why they were posted and what could be done about it.I explained that most of the comments on petstop were made by people who cared firstly about the fish and how they were being kept and not on a personal level.Damien agreed that the tanks weren't in great condition and went on to explain things to me.Before I explain the situation I feel that we as a society let ourselves down and the common fishkeeper.I take full responsibility for this as I didnt make any efforts to help Petstop improve with our help.

The Situation:
Damien himself is a fishkeeper and does have a good knowledge of fish,with his major interest being in Marines.He has been involved in fishkeeping for nearly 10 years and does know his stuff.He is running the whole section with another guy,Adrien.They have alot of other staff who work there but not solely in the fish section.Therefore they dont have the knowledge or interest or confidence to speak to customers when they are in the fish section.

From what I can tell the owner isnt too intereted in improving the shop.However Damien is,he conveyed his plans to me and he is extremely interested in getting involved with upcoming shows and sponsorship,also displaying posters etc.He explained to me that there are 2 of them looking after the section and the logistics of looking after the section with 2 people just doesnt work!

Some comments were made by myself and others regarding Petstop which Damien was basically pi**ed off with.I explained that people who post on this forum would do so regardless of the name of the shop or the person,essentially its not personal.However it did get personal regarding Petstop staff.The owner read comments and accounts (the accuracy of which are not being questioned) on this forum and slated the staff,even though they could do with a few more experienced staff,which is unfair in my opinion,the place is huge.

I went in there today with no thoughts in my mind of helping them,which Im dissapointed with myself for ,because that is the reason we (the societies)are here.Damien agreed to get involved and has requested constructive criticism or just plain old advice,instead of posting comments here,which is totally fair.

To finish I have to comment on the marked improvement since I last visited.I was impressed at how clean the tanks were and the condition of the fish was good.They even had pairs of breeding fish with fry!Damien is open to special orders or if any breeders have decent stock he might be interested in buying from local breeders.

Petstop want to get involved as Sponsors and should have a section up and running soon.Im glad this seems to be coming to a resolve.It goes to show that we are improving fishkeeping,hopefully Petstop will continue to improve.

Al the best with you and your fish.

Hi Chris,

Great to hear it. I thought I made it clear in my last post on Petstop that I didn't blame the staff and it wasn't personal. There simply aren't enough of them to take care of all those tanks. If you go to Brittas or Wackers, they have much more staff for less tanks.

I'm glad to hear that you got to speak to Damien and that he wants to get involved in the forum. Petstop has great potential and I for one would be only glad to help them if they asked for help or advice.

Excellent stuff Ken!

Thats excellent news.I guess it looks like we will have another very good LFS in the area,a great result,although I guess maybe we went about it the wrong way.(?)
I'm glad to hear that Damien does care and is more than willing to improve the situation.
I would also like to complement you Chris on what you have done to help make this happen.Clearly another fishkeeper dedicated to improving the hobby in this country,and not just looking for personal gain.Great stuff mate.
Anything I can do to help,let me know.

Dave

Personally, I don't know the shop in question but I am delighted to hear that we seem to be able to make a difference. If Damien is sincere and I don't have any reason to doubt it, I wish him all the best and hope the owner will support his efforts.
Staff training is essential. Unfortunately jobs in retail are not all that well paid and there are a lot of muppets working in fish shops (not singling any one shop out here and it's no comment to the shop in question as I have never been to it). You pay peanuts, you get monkeys unless you get lucky and somebody's doing the job for the love of it.
@Damien,
if you read this, don't hesitate to pm me if you need any advise on South American dwarf cichlids, discus, angels and have pretty much kept a lot of other different fish over the years. I used to work retail and wholesale and know where you are coming from.

Holger

Some very positive comments. Up to Damien and Petstop to capitalise on this.

One thing Damien is interested in is suggestions from people who have experience with certain types of fish,such as Killis and South Americans,Cats etc etc.He would like some input on what to order in.Im sure when he comes on he will state his case.All in all he wants the views of the experienced fishkeepers in certain areas to gauge what needs to be done to make Petstop better in those particular areas.

Its great to hear some positive news:)
Looking forward to a trip out there.

Fair play to ya Chris (and Damien), sounds like the foundations have been put in place to improve the shop and health of the livestock.

Its up to Damien now, Good luck to him. I hope he turns things around.

I have to say that this is the real world folks, I very much doubt it that Petstop would have done anything about the situation unless the posters here had said what they did.

What we had was a store keeping unacceptable standards of fish (in our opinions of course) and those comments obviously hurt this guy, and so they should have.

It is a really good thing that Damien has come out and stated his intentions and it can only be good for the store and our hobby.
Well done to all for posting their experiences and keeping them as factual as possible.
There is power in peoples opinion after all.
Excellent news all round.

Is in it us great that you can go from zero to hero in the space of one post. All the bulls have pulled their horns in.
Just glad I had a bucket handy. .
Going to change all of the posters names to characters from the muppet show.Dave can be Kermit, Ken can be Fozzy bear and Chris will now be known as miss piggy.
Only joking lads.
Fair play to everyone that wrote and replied to the original posts. Its not like Irish people to act on anything. We are all
dinner time beuracrats. We talk a good fight but never do anything about it. Its not out fault its because since the Brits left and our irish brothers took over we have alwyas lived in a totalatarion(spelling) and police state.
If you speak out against anything you get beat up by the Gardai and is you go on strike the scabby free state Army will
do your job.
Sorry or the history lesson.

As of giving them a sponsors section that won`t happen for a
while yet.
Blanchardstown has the potential to be one of if not the best
Fish retailers in Ireland. I hope it realises its potential.
Hopefully they will set a standard and stick to it.
Maybe they should look for more money to keep the standard up.
Could be a productivity deal there.
I know I would get them more money;)

As of giving them a sponsors section that won`t happen for a
while yet.Maybe I can talk to Damien about it. Might make the trip out there today.
Well done everyone, It show that the forum and the clubs are
well respected and have more power than we think.
I will look for the rules ofr passing our QT mark.
If someone can find thelink then please send it to me.

Kermit was a frog.Please do not associate me with anything french.
And its not just the rugby......

Let's reserve judgement on the shop for a month or so. If they turn things around it will be something positive coming from our bitching, if not, i reckon they will be stated in biblical proportions.

In the words of Fr.Dougal himself \"As you know Ted, I'm very cynical\"

A MONTH?



But I want it nowwwww......

It wont be a month,itll be set up sooner than that!

is this set up yet?

scorphonic wrote:

is this set up yet?

It one of the best shops around its a must if you have not gone out there yet

i think its a very good shop but it needs more staff.i had to bag my own plants and i had a wet arm walking around the store

Why did you drag up a thread that is a year and a half old?