A SUCCESSFUL OPEN DAY

I am just going to give you my account of the day! This is purely personal and I am sure others will add more detail! There are many we should be thank to many to mention. I would have to say was a great day for the club and for Petstop.

i will start with what i saw in Petstop do this was my first visit i was sure what was been said could not be true no shop can change so much i here by eat those words the shop all round was excellent i took time to look at all the pets they had available i knew it would tell me a lot and there was staff taking care of and cleaning cages etc there were sighs everywhere that asked people to take care of their pets and to avoid stress all the pets there were clear signs that no pet would be sold to a person under 18 without a guardian which is a must as far as I am concerned. All the staff were giving or asking for information and i noted that staff did not leave people standing they spoke to everyone and if they were busy they let you know that they would come to you soon the personal touch goes a long way in my book the staff were rushed off their feet but they never showed it.

the fish were in excellent shape considering this was a new order in they did not look as stressed as i have seen in other places(my end of the country) even the cold water were to be admired which these days you don't see to often either even father jack would have been impressed. Now for my personal favs the livebearers What can i say and were to start the guppys i was spoiled for choice the males colours were show standard the females what can i say i did not have to try and pick out 1 tail type or colour because they had enough tanks there, this was one of if not the best collections of all types of Livebearers i seen there are so many good things i can say I don't know were to start.

Today was also a big step forward for the club and i would strongly suggest that the other clubs follow this up by organising more open days/recruitment days and if at all possible i will attend and help out too. It was one of the most enjoyable days i had in a while.

For those of you who did not make it today, Petstop is an ideal place to visit! and would be a choice place for a family day the collection of shops was great smyths toys, Argos, lidl and M&S to name but a few. and had i took the time i am sure i would have found a lot more..

sorry about hte spelling and bad english

Excellent report Mickey, sounds like it was a great day. Thanx for posting - I didn't make it out.

I am delighted the day went well. May you have many more.

Nice one Mickey.I,unfortunately couldn't make it,I hope everybody who did,enjoyed their day.From what I hear,it was certainly a good day for the club,with many new members joining up.
I would like to give a huge thanks to all that turned up,and those that helped.A big thanks to Damien and his crew.
And of course a massive thanks to Chris,who got the whole thing up and running,he's put a tremendous amount of his time and effort into organising this day.

Dave

Unfortionly could not make it:( .Wanted to put names to faces:huh: .I am delighted that it went great and i hope that more people take up fish keeping and i say that we had a lot of good men there to keep the flag flying. WELL DONE LADS..

The Open Day seems to have been a huge success.The amount of people who just were not aware such an organisation existed!
We enlightened everyone we could, and it seems we have got on to some very keen fishkeepers.We gave a lot of advice on questions like White Spot, Breeding Discus, Buying Fish, Cycling a Tank, Feeding Fish, Removing Algae, Removing Fry from Tanks, Setting up a Marine Tank and a few more.Also everyone we talked to was handed a document with info on it regarding the site so we can expect a lot of new members hopefully?

Some people deserve a special mention, Mickey for just being so enthusiastic, friendly and knowledgeable, Dave and his girlfriend for making all that effort and running out of ink, Ken for his meticulous article, Pierce for his recruitment and money handling skills and Damien and Adrian for orchestrating things and having 175 spotless tanks full of fish.

A special special thanks goes to Anto and Paul for showing up after downing 6 bottles of Champagne and god knows what else the night before?

Also thanks to everyone who showed up on the day to say hello , to help or to join the club.I had a great day and would recommend to other shops to host such a day.

What an excellent shop Petstop has become.
As if by magic the two lads have totally overhauled the place.
Of course I'm sure they'll say it was 'hard work' or 'knowledge and experience' but I'm convinced there was witchcraft afoot, as that place was nothing like the poisoned hell hole of dying creatures I visited over a year ago.

Now I came late in the day and Chris said lots of good Africans had been snapped up so I had to make do with two stunning cichlids and two gorgeous marines (and 7 tetras that I only asked for six of).

Before I asked for the marines Damien (Or Adrian, the one with the shaved head?) had the cheek to quiz ME on the health of my marine tank, he actually asked me if the whitespot I had mentioned a week earier had been cured!!! This is a level of input (you could say caring, but it is just great professionalism) that you rarely see from an LFS, especially one the size of Petstop. (I had cleared up the whitespot and the remaining fish are healthy, touch wood).

I was extremely impressed with the all round selection of fish available, although I had an itchy wallet for a nice pleco and I didn't see any of the higher L numbers. What plecs they had looked in great health. The livebearer section blew me away. So many females,so many healthy fish. Incredible. I nearly left with 6 Swordtails, but the missus doesn't like them. They were beautiful, best I've ever seen. Some new variant with two or three 'swords' I'm sure mickey will enlighten me here.

A great day and Petstop really set the bar very high there.
This may be controversial but I really think, looking at the facts here, that Petstop, AV1, and Wackers (long mile only) are on a par.
Three juggernauts of LFS's, all in the Dublin area.
It would be unfair to judge most of the rest as they don't have the space to compete, but overall the standard of LFS in dublin has risen and it make it (for me) a very exciting time to have 980l of water in your house to fill with fish!!!

It was a sucessful day I wakked in to petstop with little money and walked out with lots That dosn't happen every day

Yes it was a sucessful day and It was great meeting people and giving them all the info on the club and forum. The amount of interest was to sat the least astounding. People came to buy fish and instead gave their subs to join the club. Other people show their interest in the forum and as some of them were up from the country they where looking for info on local clubs where they lived and thats where the forum came in.

All in all a very enjoyable day had by all.

(Don't know what to do with all this money)
I might go back over today set up a stall out side Get Anto to sing a few songs No better not

ChrisM wrote:

The amount of people who just were not aware such an organisation existed!

Where's my POSTERS Chris????

you've seen the volume of traffic going through the place, posters advertising the clubs, and forum are a must!

Dayo.

Hi Daragh,
shaved head is me, Damien... Adrian is the good looking one.. I'm sure he was swamped with the ladies somewhere as per usual:laugh:
I'm glad you had a pleasant experience this visit and are always welcome back.

Didihno wrote:

Before I asked for the marines Damien (Or Adrian, the one with the shaved head?) had the cheek to quiz ME on the health of my marine tank, he actually asked me if the whitespot I had mentioned a week earlier had been cured!!!

This is strange? If I know someone has/had a problem, I'll always ensure the Fish-keeper is 100% that everything is AOK, at the end of the day, its them that must make the final decision.

Didihno wrote:

two stunning cichlids and two gorgeous marines (and 7 tetras that I only asked for six of).

They're not 'Tetras' but celebes rainbows.. beautiful fish:)

If you couldn't see the L No's, you should have asked!!
real crackers there at the moment!!
And they won't break the Bank!!

Maybe next time eh?

Dayo;)

Hi everyone,

Myself and Adrian are very happy the open day was successful for the Club.

We look forward to continuing to working with the Clubs, in whatever way we can in the future.

It was great to meet everyone that made the effort to make it on the day!


See ya soon,

Dayo.

Hi Damian
The shop looked well, and there was a good selection of healthy looking fish at very reasonable prices. I was pleased to see the interaction with the clubs and maybe some of the other shops could follow your lead. It reminded me of the old days in the trop shop with Dave Whelan.
You and the rest of the lads deserve great credit for turning things around.
It is interesting the way so many of the original fish antics staff went on to influence and improve the trade and hobby, yourself, Drew, Steve of organic fame, Liam and Dmitri of fintastic and Mick (arabesque)etc. Simon certainly knew how to pick good men.
Derek

derek i agree with you! it something there should be more of and i for one will make myself available for as many as possible. there is a lot can be learned (like the secret I will reveal in further post) but for any one interested in taking part in other events come on let us know!

Hey guys. I signed up for the society on the day. Was just wondering if the membership cards had been sent out yet as I was told about 2 weeks on the day. Cheers

pm sent


Dave