You need to make up your mind.
but as I said, BRS was not at risk of closing unless they were purchased.
I think you wholly missed the point at several levels.
Short answer:
In context to your misunderstanding of my comments. BRS was not the rolled up company apt to fail, it was a key element in making the rollup work.
Long answer:
This is a rather small market segment (very small) of a much larger industry (pets). There is a a lot of competition from big box pet groups that leaks into this market and siphon money (and customers) off via big box brick and mortar and online retail.
The "high end" side of this hobby is what most of you see, be it equipment, tanks, consumables, etc. BRS and others cater to this smaller segment of the overall saltwater hobby. 13 year old Suzy that wants a fish tank in her room or Dr Bob's office down the road with a fish tank in the waiting room don't shop at BRS or the like. They are LFS or LFS maintenance customers. They are a large part of the market. (more on this later)
BRS marketed toward us/you (a niche of the saltwater aquarium hobby). They built a distribution channel, customer base, reputation and most importantly a predictable and steady monthly revenue stream for consumables. That branched into hard goods sales to add to the bottom line and loop back into brand awareness and loyalty. The "one top shop". They were wildly successful and likely very profitable.
On the other end of the spectrum there are durable goods. Aquariums, lights, pumps, controllers and filters. These items for MOST are a ONE TIME lifetime purchases. The space is crowded and has a LOT of price pressure from overseas. There are only so many light fixtures to be sold and only so much room for growth. These are mostly dead end ventures that typically don't last a decade, or at best can't grow past a certain size. They have no recurring revenue stream, just NEW sales to a shrinking group of potential customers.
An investment group can come in and use shared resources and the strengths of each acquisition to compliment the other parts of the portfolio. An "ecosystem" is built with shared resources to keep the whole thing afloat and grow the marketing footprint and leverage the overall branding.
So no, I did not say BRS sold out because they were going to fail. The investment group likely purchased them on their strength and as hub or compliment to the other acquisitions. Meanwhile regardless if Ryan and other's are happy about the direction, they were given an exit option and exercised it instead of riding it into the ground over the next decade or reinvesting to build it up themselves.
