Overall Experience 5
Cost 4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5
I have been in to the Co-Op before, but today was the first time I really got to experience it. I got there shortly after it opened and it was busy for mid day on a Monday. I explained to Cory that I've tried several times, without success, to start up a planted tank. I told him what equipment I had on hand and what my goals were and I took up more than my fair share of his time while he explained the right and wrong way to go about what I want to accomplish. At one point, he even talked me out of some higher difficulty plans and a piece of equipment that I thought I needed, but really isn't necessary. That alone was refreshing. The only thing I marked the store down for was price - It is a little more expensive than other LFS's I frequent, and certainly more expensive than anything online, but not outrageously so at all. But as we discussed, I will willingly pay a little more to go into a small store and talk to someone who really knows what they are doing to get it right the first time.
I have my plants sitting in a 20 gallon at the moment until I can clear out the 50 that I'm going to convert over to planted. Stay tuned for a journal type post - I'm going to need a lot of help along the way.