Is This News, Or Am I Serving Up a Cold Cup of Coffee?

[joeyprice]

Bulk Reef Supply Acquires Controller Company Neptune Systems | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Bulk Reef Supply is the largest online saltwater aquarium retailer in America, Neptune Systems is the largest manufacturer of aquarium controllers and accessories, and now these two companies are…

reefbuilders.com

 

[90gDreams]

Hot coffee sir

 

[snowmansnow]

Woah


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[Cook]

Well, now I can't wait for the GHL clearance sale! I have to admit I haven't been paying attention with what's been going on at BRS until the Marine Depot deal, but this is where the money is coming from:

Bertram Capital Announces Investment in Bulk Reef Supply

/PRNewswire/ -- Bertram Capital ("Bertram") announced today that it has made an investment in Golden Valley, MN-based Bulk Reef Supply ("BRS" or the...

www.prnewswire.com

Let's see what the company structure looks like, I would think that these businesses would retain their own independence to avoid some of the tricky competitive aspects brought up in the article. They will have a financial advantage for sure.

 

[maelstrom79]

Dang. Beat me to it! Haha

 

[maelstrom79]

They took out marine depot and acquired its in house brands- now Neptune? Things are about to get even more expensive in our hobby.

 

[jcook54]

I too worry about a potential price increase across the board since BRS has been able to eliminate their biggest competitor. Neptune doesn't necessarily compete with BRS but when one company holds most of the market, prices go up and up.

 

[Steve Burton]

I'm in the process of making an order from Saltwater Aquarium.com now for items they both carry, because they offer free shipping on all orders.. BRS doesn't ship free until you reach $50. I'm even buying an item that's $2 more than Amazon to support the competition. I miss Marine Depot already.

 

[hiimsean]

I’ll have a cup of coffee please

 

[maelstrom79]

I'm in the process of making an order from Saltwater Aquarium.com now for items they both carry, because they offer free shipping on all orders.. BRS doesn't ship free until you reach $50. I'm even buying an item that's $2 more than Amazon to support the competition. I miss Marine Depot already.

dont forget that saltwater aquarium offers small free gifts on certain order sizes too- it’s not readily apparent from the website but certain items are free at certain order sizes

 

[Steve Burton]

I also remembered when I placed my order that I get an additional 5% discount from SaltwaterAquarium.com (military/civil service) on non map items.

 

[Adam]

I just bought a Hanna Nitrate HR checker and a wand for a par meter from Premium Aquatics. Free shipping on $35, two days from Indianapolis.

 

[Cook]

I had a bit of a dust up with Premium Aquatics because they ship USPS Priority mail, not UPS ground at the $35 level (it's in the fine print) and USPS decided to send my package to San Diego before it came my way which took longer in total than if I ordered from BRS. We are going to have to pay more to support the other reefing supply alternatives for any of them to have a chance in the short term and shipping is not cheap. It's a much larger percentage of the cost on small purchases. I will still order from Premium Aquatics, they were very professional and responsive in answering my email.

 

[iu_gary]

Jason and Luke are top notch guys. I have shopped with Jason at Premium for over 20 years, all the way back to when he started in his garage. I always shop Premium first for the great customer service and quick shipments from Indy.

 

[Jaycen B.]

And no tax at Premium ... for now.

 

[jmcdona6]

Definitely interesting times. Note though that Marine Deport and Saltwaterfish are not BRS #1 or 2 competitors. Chewy actually eats all their lunch. Ryan talks about it in some of their videos. Inside the reefing niche Chewy is less of a behemoth, but next time you go to buy something go look at Chewy...you would be surprised.

BRS was already 3 times the size of Marine Depot when they bought it. Marine Depot's owners have also been looking to get out of the business for a long time. BRS taking them is probably the best of bad outcomes imo.