Before I get started, let me say that I'm all for supporting mom and pop shops. In fact, i'd rather deal with breeders directly when possible. You get up front, no BS info and advice, and they're usually willing to work with you more or hook you up.
That said, I personally find it hard to support certain LFS when I get the same terrible (if not worse) advice from them as I do petsmart/co. When the people at petsmart/co are more professional than some LFS, it makes them look terrible.
I'll be frank, I bought a school of tetras for one of my tanks from petsmart - all 10 of them - still perfectly healthy and growing like champs. I bought 4 fish from sierra, dead in 2 days. I go to midway and every single tank is filled with ich or dead fish - and the staff acts like they're upset they have to get something for me.
Not to mention, I watched a guy literally BLOW into one of the bags containing a fish for a customer, to aerate it.
I've gotten better advice from the day manager at the Tacoma Petco than I ever have at wildside (who is WAY over priced btw, $49 for a glass cleaner? lol).
It's not just the chain pricing and wholesaling. It's the level of service provided. It's the quality of fish. It's the honesty and accuracy of information given to customers.
At Petco I overheard staff telling customers NOT to purchase any fish because they were planning to put them with goldfish and they would kill them. I could never imagine hearing this at a place like Midway or Wildside, where I'd be more likely to wager that i'd over hear "Yea sure, you want 10?" followed by staff blowing into the bags to "oxygenate" them.
I support a couple of LFS, but I will be honest, the reason I don't go to the majority of the ones around me is due to their piss poor service, terrible advice, and disgusting tank conditions. It is a businesses job to help the customer with a smile on their face, know what they're talking about, and provide a quality product.
It's truly a sad day when a conglomerate chain does a better job of that than a mom and pop owned shop that is supposed to take "pride" in their business.
If the LFS need support, step your game up. There is no reason for me to drive an extra half hour and pay $2 to $20 more for my fish when Petco does a better job. Just sayin'
and I know Midway supports this site, I know some of you have great repeat business with them, and I've even gotten fish from them that did fine (actually got one of my favorite fish from there and he's as lively as can be!), but I'm just being honest with my opinion and giving an example as to why some LFS are losing out. This post isn't a "bash Midway" post, so please don't take it as such.
and fwiw, petco in Tukwila has half their tanks emptied with signs saying that they're only stocking certain fish due to customer demand and crappy economy, so I'm sure they're feeling the pressure as well.
Thanks for the offer though; I appreciate it. I'll drag the family up there sometime in the near future. For real 
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