WHAT RECESSION????????????

I agree with you Kev,

Personal boycott is the way to go, but sadly not every Fishkeeper in Ireland is either a Forum member or reader.
There is no way these sorts of people can be stopped from selling Fish - but the economics of not selling any fish week in, week out would soon make them realise something's 'up' and they would be faced with either stopping the sale of fish altogether or having to look into why no-one was buying them!

This, in an ideal world would be the solution to poorly kept and poor quality livestock. But on the issue of price increases - that's a different matter entirely. The solution is rather the same as you have said Padraig - walk away - vote with your feet. Like Seamus says - find a good LFS and stick with it,

I personally am not very fond of these 'Pet Superstores' there is one within a half-hour drive from me (probably a little further, driving at the speed I do now) - the closest outlet to me by far - but I only ever bought fish in there on two occasions, both time in the hope they 'might just' be OK but neither time were they!!! So I'm forced to either go West or East for hours at a time when I want to buy any fish, but I will say that my chosen shops are always worth the time taken to get to! And all are Forum Sponsors too, coincidentally.
John

I think it would help if they were in a position to recruit experienced Fish Keepers, sadly most often the people working in the Fish Department are little more than complete novices themselves - sometimes having no interest in Fish at all!

It would be handy for them to at least have a modicum of Fish Keeping knowledge before they start working in the Fish Departments!

A couple of years back I can remember the slating a large Petstore in Dublin was getting and it would have appeared that this was little better than no good at all, but thanks to them getting advice (actually from Clubs and Forum) they turned around completely and I never hear a bad word said against them now.

I can think of another, the Fish department of which is run by a well-known and respected Forum regular, which also has great recommendations for it.

But, to price increases - a different issue entirely. I was in retail myself many years ago and can tell you that not all (notice I'm saying "not all") price increases are outright profiteering. Much of the dry goods for sale here (and the 'wet' stuff too) comes from the UK and if wholesale prices rise then in these troubled times the retail price has to rise as well, and remember - it's pro rata. In other words, if an item's wholesale price rises then so does the VAT and, by a relative amount, the mark-up too.
But, for prices to rise far out of proportion - that sounds like just outright profiteering to me and the shops engaging in this practice should be boycotted.

We are, after all, as Padraig initially said,in a recession still (despite what the politicians are trying to suggest) and money's tight for us consumers too. €10 on a €25 fish sounds like outright liberty-taking to me!!!

John
ps, note to Padraig, I understand your anger and was in no way trying to diminish it. I only amended your post to concur with existing rules.