Bridges Pets - Snohomish

Overall Experience 5
Cost 3-4
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

We drive from Whidbey Island to this store because of their selection. And after our visit last week, will be going more often as they have hired a huge fish nerd. She's very knowledgeable on the fish we keep and seems to have struck up a good friendship in the short amount of time there. I have no idea as to why everyone is rating their prices as high as that has not been our experience while browsing there. And they do give a discount on every purchase I've made there. Just have to ask.
 

Bob

Well-Known Member
Overall Experience 2
Cost 1
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 2

Well i am officially sick of this place. I have been going in here at least once a week over the last couple months. I buy something almost every time i go in, fish or plants. Unless Brianna is there, i have had to seek out someone every time. They walk right past me without asking if i need help. They are always huddled up behind the counter. I went in yesterday, 2 of them behind the counter, asked if i could pick up a couple plants, and got sighed at. Well these ladies dont need to sigh anymore, i wont break up their social hour.

Only reason for rating the service so high at 2, is because Brianne is an encyclopedia of knowledge and is always out helping customers.
 

dleblanc

New Member
OK, so my $0.02 -

Overall experience 3-4
Cost 2
Quality 5
Variety 5
Service - varies

I live in Monroe, so Edmonds is a long drive. As to cost, it is a little more, but not _that_ much. Really - if you're buying 5 fish, and it costs you $4 extra, so what? You'd have spent that much in gas (or more) going somewhere else. They're also a little high on most stuff, except you can often get a very good deal on stands and tanks.

The quality of the help has been all over the place. Had everything from really well informed help, to enthusiastic, but not well informed. Then there was the time they gave me some small Chinese Algae eaters, told me they were otocinclus, and then they grew up into demon spawn, nipped at discus, killed a few other fish, and caused mayhem. Nearly had to dismantle the tank to get them out again (see thread from about 6 months ago on this). Finally captured the evil bastards, took them back, talked to a 40-ish woman, and had a discussion about why they would even carry such a thing.

She claimed that they carry them because they sell well [facepalm], my explanation that they quit eating algae and just become evil didn't persuade her, and they didn't even give me store credit for 3 good sized evil fish. Sigh.

Some folks might get all outraged, never go there again. My take on it is that mistakes do happen, partially my fault for not being better informed to start with, so I'm not out to lynch the kid who made the error in the first place. I _am_ fairly peeved at the poor customer handling when I pointed out the mistake, the consequences, and returned them.

I haven't bought fish there since, but that's more because I've had other stuff going on, and I've been making the drive to Aquarium Co-op more often.
 

zach_discus

Well-Known Member
Over all solid 3
Cost 2.5 this is hit or miss. Something just way out there and the rest hit the upper end cost wise. Would say they use a higher scale mark-up
Quality of fish 4
Verity 3.5 has been getting better!!
Service 2 either understaffed or just lazy depending on the day.

All that being said the actually have 3 pigeon blood/ pigeon blood snakeskin Discus in that are good quality and at this time very healthy looking for a reasonable price :)
 

VickiK

Member with a lot to say
I love to go to Bridges. It's on my way home from work and there are a gathrillion tanks to look at. However, their live plant selection is just this side of hideous.

Review on Live Plant Selection:

Overall Experience 0
Cost 5
Quality of Plants 0
Variety 0
Service 5 <== they'd eagerly fish one out if you wanted one of these sad sacks to take home...
 

Loren

Well-Known Member
Even though only a 20 minute drive from my house I had never visited until yesterday. My intent was not to buy anything but to find another source for selling. Number one the review title here should be amended because the name is Bridges Pets, Gifts & Water Gardens. The store is as big or bigger than a Petsmart or Petco and has a mixture of everything pet related and a large selection of stuff like you would find in a Hallmark Gift store. From a purely aesthetic standpoint the store is awesome and especially if you are taking someone who doesn't just want to see a bunch of fish. My wife went with me and had a great time. The place is spotless and there is staff everywhere eager to assist you. The fish room is quite large and a lot of the space is devoted just to show tanks. The layout is really impressive and has fountains in the middle along with a koi pond. All of the aquariums looked really clean and I didn't notice any dead fish. They have a fairly large reptile room as well. The place almost reminds me of a commercial aquarium and gift shop by design. It is a really relaxing environment and you could spend hours there just exploring everything.

Overall Experience 5
Cost 3 (like every pet store I have ever been to some prices are low and others are high)
Quality of Fish 5
Variety 5
Service 5

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Bullyboy

Member
I loved it there, i just found this spot a couple weeks ago and its so vast and well laid out that i couldnt even stomach going to the usual ones in town that week ..

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cjag

Well-Known Member
Overall Experience: 3.5
Cost: 3
Quality of Fish: 3
Variety: 5
Service: 3

So I drove from Duvall to get there, which equates to about the same time as driving to the Co-Op. The overall layout and presentation of the store is very impressive. Their fish room is the largest I have seen and as a side note their reptile room was incredible as well. They of course have all the community fish you would usually think of, and a decent selection of cichlids of varying ages. Some of the display tanks had some questionable stocking levels(10 large Amphilophus in a 90g tank) but the overall health of the sale fish was decent. I was happy with the amount there was to explore. It probably took me about 30 minutes to do a full lap around the fish room just admiring and judging the health of the fish.

I ended up purchasing backgrounds for both my tanks, a battery powered air pump for emergencies, and a Julidochromis ornatus for my Tangayikan tank. The prices were pretty hit or miss for many products. Definitely recommend calling ahead if you're looking for something in particular.

They definitely pipeline students from the high school to work there as I do not think I interacted with an employee my age. The employees were willing to help and I was asked several times if I needed help with anything. Just don't expect a good chat about fish or any sage wisdom as they all seemed pretty clueless when I asked them questions.

This place is really cool on the inside and was fun to spend some time there. I'm thinking of going back to purchase some fish once my new tank gets cycled. We'll see though. Even if you go just once to visit and not buy anything, the experience would be worth it.
 

DMD123

Administrator
Staff member
Contributing Member Level III
Overall Experience: 5
Cost: 5
Quality of Fish: 5
Variety: 5
Service: 5

Bridges is an awesome store! The walking into the fish room is just a 'WOW!' moment. The tanks were nice, the fish were in good shape. Lots of variety and some really nice show tanks set up. Not a huge selection of really unique fish but still great stuff nonetheless. Wife came along and was impressed and was happy to look through the gift shop portion of the store. This has to be one of the best fish show rooms in the area. I was impressed!
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Keiji

Member
Overall Experience 5!
Cost 3 - average
Quality of Fish 4 - some tanks under quarantine.
Variety 5!
Service 4

Massive aquatic section. Largest in area for sure. No saltwater fish. Small on live plant selection but some to get started. Very little Compressed CO2 system support. Lots of teen employees so if looking for info you may need to find a seasoned employee. Store also supports many other pets with large sections. Definitely got to see. This store is also a gift store with neat goodies throughout.
 

Madness

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Overall Experience: 5 (fish experience 2)
Cost: 3
Quality of Fish: 3ish (lots of tanks marked NFS)
Variety: 3 -
Service: 4

I mean it's an amazing place definitely makes u go wow. But when it comes to fish, not impressed. The wife doesn't even do fish and she was not impressed much at all. Very few cichlids, loaches, cat fish, plecos, bichirs, all things i like. Tons of bread and butter stuff like tetras and such. Lots of Africans but not my forte so didn't look much. The only big cichlids i saw was what looked like a 40 or so gal bowfront full of what looks like midevils 6-10", way overcrowded, and an easy 14"+ midevel in a very small tank

O and lots of goldfish. So if you like bread-and-butter stuff and goldfish this is your place. I didn't even see the latest craze of things, i didn't see plants, shrimp, or snail tanks. And i would have thought that for how creative and cool the fish area is that they would have a better set up for their Bettas, nope they were in small cups outside of the fish area.

And yes full of teenage employees that know zero about anything. A couple go getters and you can tell which ones they are, the rest not very helpful.

We stopped because we were heading home from Whidbey island, if i were to have takin a trip up here just to see the hype, i would have been thoroughly upset.
 

DMD123

Administrator
Staff member
Contributing Member Level III
Overall Experience: 4.5
Cost: 4.5
Quality of Fish: 5
Variety: 5
Service: 4

A long drive from Lakewood... and on a Saturday to boot when they seem busiest. Great experience with friendly staff and fish I wanted at a decent price for one and a bit high for the others.

Picked up a large (apx. 6") L200 hi-fin for $89, reasonable for the sheer size.
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Also some Bocourti growouts (apx. 1 3/4" - 2") at $17.99 each which is a bit high but hadnt seen then available for a bit and these guys are looking nice and healthy.
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