Petco bought Dr. Foster and Smith...

[kimberbee]

Booooo...

 

(but hopefully it'll all be ok)

[SiRhk]

I don't personally think this will change something. Most companies that acquire others, do not change anything in how the company operates. How the acquired company operates is what made that company worth buying. This could mean even cheaper prices for us idk.

[Halo_003]

Boy I hope this doesn't affect Diver's Den... Where else would I buy healthy fish?

[basser1]

If you're like me where I live, we don't have an LFS. So my only other source for livestock is on-line vendors, or other hobbyists like we have here at N-R.

 

I have ordered several times from the Divers Den section. They have rare and unusual fish selections, stuff you wouldn't normally see in a LFS, not around here anyways. I don't see Petco carrying $600 dollar candy basslets, etc. Plus I liked DDs' Arrive Alive and 14 day guarantees. Now with Petco, who knows? It's my understanding that Petco does not guarantee saltwaterfish?

[CronicReefer]

So much petco hate. My local petco stores are actually quite good. The saltwater petco specialty store sells fish that my LFS doesn't even order and they have a 30 day return policy with a water sample.

[Halo_003]

If you're like me where I live, we don't have an LFS. So my only other source for livestock is on-line vendors, or other hobbyists like we have here at N-R.

 

I have ordered several times from the Divers Den section. They have rare and unusual fish selections, stuff you wouldn't normally see in a LFS, not around here anyways. I don't see Petco carrying $600 dollar candy basslets, etc. Plus I liked DDs' Arrive Alive and 14 day guarantees. Now with Petco, who knows? It's my understanding that Petco does not guarantee saltwaterfish?

My LFS's all just have disease in their tanks, so I prefer to get fish on DD if I can, especially with the 14 day guarantee.

 

My local petco's saltwater fish sections are even worse.

[ninjamyst]

my local Petco put huge full grown tangs in little 10g tanks...and you can see ich on every fish. it pisses me off when i have to see fish suffer like that.

[kimberbee]

My LFS's all just have disease in their tanks, so I prefer to get fish on DD if I can, especially with the 14 day guarantee.

 

My local petco's saltwater fish sections are even worse.

Same.

 

There's a Petco on my way home from work and I'll stop there for cat food. I check out the saltwater section on occasion, but you can barely see into the tanks because they are so nasty. Granted, this is a smaller store than others.

 

Maybe they will work together to improve the quality of the saltwater selection at Petcos all over...

[Chris!]

I think it will be a good thing. Here is what I believe will happen:

 

 

-Most of the products offered by Drs Foster and Smith may be offered in stores now.

-Revamping of saltwater department. Stricter requirements because of knowledge from Drs foster and smith

-Cheaper in-store prices for petco products.

-increased varieties of corals and fish offered at petco stores

 

My thinking behind this is that Drs foster and smith is well respected and will not let a pet store giant just ruin its business relationships and good name. The article stated that it was an agreement so terms have to have been met to finalized the acquirement.

 

That would be likely if DFS bought Petco.... LA is a small portion of DFS and was likely more included in the package then something highly sought after As unfortunate as it is, I'd imagine in the eyes of Petco it will need budget cuts to be worth continuing at its current state. If they are smart tho, they keep Kohen onboard (likely with a huge raise lol) and have him revamp their image and systems from the ground up! Not likely tho...

 

Petco bought DFS for the client base and what that has to offer (increased market share), not the employees, business practices, or even the product. If they wanted those it would have been cheaper to offer their management team $$$$ to switch teams

 

With them being large companies it is standard for this to be announced as an initial agreement while they wait for the ink to dry. If DFS was doing this for anything other then $$$$$$$ they wouldn't have sold, you don't sell because you trust someone else with your name and reputation... and DFS is literally their name as it was started by Dr Foster and Dr Smith LMAO

 

I doubt anything changes actually, management at DFS just has new bosses lol.

 

With new procedures, quotas and budgets

 

I don't think it will because of the current employees there. Those guys/gals have been doing it the right way for too long to start doing it the wrong way. Some may quit though if that were to happen.

 

Everyone is "replaceable" in the eye of large business. If they are smart they will keep the higher ups at DFS and guys like Kevin Kohen but the 9-5ers they won't care if they stay or go..... They will all have new bosses (and ^) that if they say to change how they are used to doing something and don't do so will face consequences, it doesn't matter how they did things with DFS they may not be DFS anymore and likely won't have the same standards and practices..... you don't generally buy a company to change your company to fit their mold

 

And you don't buy a company because you like the way they run things you shell out some scratch to obtain their big dogs if thats all you want, its alot cheaper lol

 

what i dont want to see is Petco sending "analysts" to Dr. Foster and Smith for cost reduction / process improvement to drive down cost and improve net income...

 

Close your eyes, that is certain to happen.

 

If you're like me where I live, we don't have an LFS. So my only other source for livestock is on-line vendors, or other hobbyists like we have here at N-R.

 

I have ordered several times from the Divers Den section. They have rare and unusual fish selections, stuff you wouldn't normally see in a LFS, not around here anyways. I don't see Petco carrying $600 dollar candy basslets, etc. Plus I liked DDs' Arrive Alive and 14 day guarantees. Now with Petco, who knows? It's my understanding that Petco does not guarantee saltwaterfish?

 

My local petco gets Achilles tangs, purple tangs, rare wrasses etc.... they have been ordering from the same place LA gets their stuff from for years. I can go in and special order basically any fish I want. I prefer to support actual local business or small business 1st tho.

[hey]

your pretty much spot on with how i see it chris, aside from the local petco thing, mines awful.

[Chris!]

your pretty much spot on with how i see it chris,

 

Its simple business. I'd love to say this is a great thing and Petco is finally going to change its ways and improve its SW image but if that happens I promise that wasn't the intent of the purchase

 

aside from the local petco thing, mines awful.

 

Oh, mine isn't great...The employees care and take care of things as best they can, but the systems aren't set up to be bringing in much of anything nice especially coral wise... they just stock those fish and can get anything I want (I know who they use for their suppliers), I like to go in and bs with em once in a while. A couple of the guys actually know their stuff but store/ company policies and equipment don't allow them to really make a difference unfortunately..... If I was going to ever get anything from there I would make sure I was there when it arrived and not allow it to touch their cesspool lol

[StevieT]

UgH. What a hit to our culture in Northern Wisconsin. But it's the way of the world and a way to retire with a ton of cash.

 

Still WTF Drs. We have a great thing going in this state in the industry with you leading. Now you ####ed that all up. Maybe I should be happy true hobbyists like a focused non corporate(ish) store to shop at.

 

DFS was always about more than aquatics which makes it marketable to a petco. I just hope they keep the warehouse and operations in Rhinelander....

 

Next up marine depot AKA Fins, Furs & Feathers, Inc ??

[Weasel Baron]

Boy I hope this doesn't affect Diver's Den... Where else would I buy healthy fish?

 

My local petco gets Achilles tangs, purple tangs, rare wrasses etc.... they have been ordering from the same place LA gets their stuff from for years. I can go in and special order basically any fish I want. I prefer to support actual local business or small business 1st tho.

 

So back when I worked in the business one of our biggest customer contracts was with DFS; a HUGE portion of diver's den was directly from our cherry section

 

our other huge contract? Petco

 

I doubt diver's den will change any in terms of supply or quality, and im hesitant to think prices will change much either. Now that petco can buy large cherry orders in bulk for DFS and ditch the basic stuff to the petco retail stores, it might even get better

[seabass]

It's inefficient to allow DFS (and LiveAquaria) to opperate without changes. Unfortunately these changes will ultimately affect the quality of the product. It's hard to imagine that either company's goods will actually improve from this deal. The goal is to simply establish efficiencies that can save money.

 

I'm just concerned about LiveAquaria/Diver's Den, because that is what I rely on for healthy fish. There are other online vendors for dry goods, so I'm not personally worried about changes in that area.

 

I doubt we'll see the impact immediately. Instead, the changes will probably be much more gradual (with some changes to staff, vendors, policies, culture, etc). I wouldn't be so worried if Petco didn't already offer online live goods. However, since they do, they will attempt to manage these operations in a similar fashion (management, vendors, IT, etc).

 

Of course I'm just speculating based on my experiences with being part of a company that has purchased other companies, and later got purchased itself. If it is included in the deal, it will ultimately be affected.

 

I would assume that they will not close operations in Wisconsin or California unless they are considered redundant or not geographically beneficial. Along with the prescription services, these facilities are probably one of the main reasons for making the deal.

[Paandemonium]

The aquarium partition of DFS is probably quite a small part of their revenue compared to the dog/cat parts which was probably the motivator for Petco to acquire them. More than likely, the end consumer in the aquatics section of DFS will never see a difference

IMO it may be a small section but it can easily be the most expensive to maintain. I see budget cuts for the QT section coming up pretttyyyy fast. If this happens I'm not saying they will no longer QT but I am saying that they may not medicate their water as potently as they did before. Since they inherit most other things I believe the coral section and filtration on everything will remain the same.

I think the worst part of this is that the gold standard of the hobby just sold out for retirement money to one of the crappiest big businesses ever. Its mildly insulting to the customer at this point and I hope that they don't restrict their operating budget much. I already assume they will be releasing some employees from their positions in the coming year and that will affect the health of the fish.

[markalot]

I never buy fish online, but only because I don't have too. I bought coral from DFS once and they were ok, but nothing special.

 

I don't see longevity in the Divers Den business model, which might be one reason to sell now. This is also a golden opportunity for smaller outfits to pick up business. People turned to Divers Den and the like because it wasn't Petco. Now it is.

[Chris!]

So back when I worked in the business one of our biggest customer contracts was with DFS; a HUGE portion of diver's den was directly from our cherry section

 

our other huge contract? Petco

 

I doubt diver's den will change any in terms of supply or quality, and im hesitant to think prices will change much either. Now that petco can buy large cherry orders in bulk for DFS and ditch the basic stuff to the petco retail stores, it might even get better

 

Thats exactly what I said..... they have used the same supplier, wholesaler, vendor whatever you want to call it for years. But I think the quality will change over time as Petco implements their standards and practices instead of LA's (especially DD) way of doing things for the almighty $... and penny pinching Petco and DFS already buy large bulk orders, nothing will change there.

 

 

Think of it this way.... if you owned a business with your name on it your going to do things better then if you let someone who's sole purpose is to lower costs and increase profits run things. The difference is you care about your product, quality, customers and your name is on the line. If they lower costs and increase profits they get a bonus and the only thing on the line for them is a job.

[hey]

I will be frequenting bluezoo most likely now, I hear it's "decent"

[brad908]

We spend billions to acquire companies and let them run completely as their own unit.

 

I have faith.

 

I think divers den will stay the same. Petco was already trying to improve their saltwater section before this acquisition, and I think this just further proves they will continue to try and turn their reputation around.

[jestep]

I will be frequenting bluezoo most likely now, I hear it's "decent"

 

Vivid is a good livestock retailer. We've done a few local group buys from them and everyone was very satisfied.

[Chris!]

We spend billions to acquire companies and let them run completely as their own unit.

 

I have faith.

 

On the surface it will certainly be its "own unit" as in they aren't going to go changing it over the the Petco den LOL.... but petco will still be running the show and making the decisions.

[joy13]

what i dont want to see is Petco sending "analysts" to Dr. Foster and Smith for cost reduction / process improvement to drive down cost and improve net income...

That is what I worry about as well. Drive down costs means probably less qualified people in the long run since they won't have to pay them as much. This may effect the local business for me as well since they get fish from liveaqua.

[jestep]

On the surface it will certainly be its "own unit" as in they aren't going to go changing it over the the Petco den LOL.... but petco will still be running the show and making the decisions.

 

I'm not sure how long it will stay it's own unit. I can't think of many examples where an acquired company was allowed to operate autonomously long term, especially when they compete in the same field as the parent company. It sometimes works, but the advertising isn't cheap especially when you compete against yourself. With that being said, they may plan to make DFS their primary online presence and Petco their retail presence as to not overly cannibalize overlapping customer bases.

 

That is what I worry about as well. Drive down costs means probably less qualified people in the long run since they won't have to pay them as much. This may effect the local business for me as well since they get fish from liveaqua.

 

Speaking generally, it could also mean they just use their supply chain leverage to lower COGS. They could also have an immediate and substantial cost-free marketing boost in the existing channels that Petco uses: retail, email, mail, etc.

[brad908]

On the surface it will certainly be its "own unit" as in they aren't going to go changing it over the the Petco den LOL.... but petco will still be running the show and making the decisions.

 

Do you work for petco or dr foster/smith?

[atrox]

Just got my dr foster smith mag in mail...errr I mean now it's called Pet Solutions