Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley and Taylor Burre. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Ashley and Taylor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
We strive to educate our customers on every level possible of this hobby. We break down, for our customers, the chemistry of water and how certain species need different types of mineralization depending on where in the world they come from. Every team member here, walks our clientele through the biological setup of an aquarium and what is happening so that the customer can anticipate any and all things that may occur when the aquarium is establishing itself organically. Southern Aquatics LFS, separates itself from the industry standard because we not only educate on a higher level but we try to deter sales for the benefit of the animal and the hobbyist. If the customer fails, we believe we have failed them. It is our duty to make this hobby not only fun, but the hobbyist to be successful in creating an environment that sustains life.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Taylor, my sister, and I started Southern Aquatics LFS out of frustration in the hobby. As former customers, we struggled to gain knowledge from the surrounding aquarium stores. Conflicting information seemed to follow us from store to store eventually frustrating us to a point where I decided to pick up a side job working in an aquarium store. I personally believed if I could get proper training with the right specialist, my education would increase. I worked literally from the ground up. I was allowed to scrub algae, bag fish, and sweep the floor. That’s was it. As I grew in the industry, I eventually was able to identify fish/coral, diagnose water quality issues, identify bacterial/fugal/parasite issues on fish, plumb/connect aquarium setups, and then finally order the species and manage the team. Taylor and I talked extensively about possibly opening up our own store. We wanted a place where we could offer all the education they we craved earlier in the hobby. We knew one challenge we would have immediately, other than startup capital. We were women and, at the time, younger women. The aquarium industry is a very male dominated hobby. Specifically dominated by older gentlemen that come from an era that almost doesn’t exist anymore. We were young and a minority in the industry. One of my former bosses in fact, said Taylor and I could not climb the ladder any further in his business as we were and I quote “Breeders”. I was to be married in 3 months and he was referring to me possibly having children and that impacting my schedule. As you can imagine, this fueled my sister and I to proceed with opening our own place.
Second challenge, was not as tricky but still a hurdle . Our father was very impressed with the commitment we had shown and therefore offered to finance our new business adventure, however we are now considering being family owned and operated. If you have every tried working with family then you know this is not for the faint of heart.
Flash forward to 2015. We are breaking ground challenges in front of us and behind us. One year later, Southern Aquatics is open for business. Taylor and I quickly developed a reputation for education and quality of service via that education. The people we met seemed to appreciate fully the time we took with them to make the best decision possible. We established with our team and customers that we would rather say, “I wouldn’t recommend buying at this time” than just swiping a credit card and making a sale.
We, here at Southern, truly believe by eliminating the frustration we once felt, we have set the bar for aquarium keeping.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Simply asking for assistance via friends, family, and existing clientele. It’s not uncommon to hear me throughout the day simply say ” if you felt we were helpful in any way, a google review goes farther than most people realize” or “Make sure to tell your friends and family we are here!”. To date, we have generations of family members that shop with us!! Sure, we market with professional companies and use our social media, but many of our door swings are from recommendations and referrals from existing customers.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Honesty and Education absolutely has been and is our foundation for our reputation. We work closely with stores in our area and when they feel like they can not go further with the customer they recommend our store to further assist them. We are known for talking people out of a sale, not just for the animal’s well being but to save the customer money or harder work in the future. We have gained not only the consumers respect but that of what many would call our competition. We strive to make this hobby enjoyable, fun, and budget friendly.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SouthernAquaticslfs.com
- Instagram: @southernaquaticslfs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernaquaticslfs