I can’t speak for everyone, but I choose to shop at brs as a way of supporting their ongoing involvement in the reefing community. Their YouTube videos have been invaluable to me.
They also have excellent customer service.
Agreed! That's why everything I CAN buy at BRS, I DO buy at BRS!
I shop at BRS because I know that they will have everything I want. And their rewards program is great. I also love their calculators and videos and use them constantly.
Funny you say that! I'm not trying to be antagonistic but aside from the videos, those are the exact reasons why I'm shopping at BRS less and less. They don't have a huge variety of inventory only the classics and flavor of the month, and their reward program fell behind the pack quickly. SWA gives significantly more, and their shipping is still free. Not to mention SWA gives free 2 day shipping if you spend as little as $50 -- BRS gives "priority" shipping at $200, and their priority is slower than the snail mail from both Marine Depot, and SWA.
As much as I love BRS (and I do, for a LOT of reasons), everything that is being said in this thread is done as well, or better, by ALL of their competitors.
That said i'm not bashing BRS at all, I love what they do. And it's not possible for every shop to have every single brand or item possible, you can fault nobody for that! But what I AM saying, is that the other shops have had to step up their game BECAUSE of BRS. And they are all now competitive in their own way, by exclusively deciding to carry the stuff BRS doesn't (because they can't directly compare to BRS), or by stepping up their rewards programs (whch they didn't have before BRS).
So BRS changed the game, so much so every other big company had to catch up. Not a bad thing, just food for thought for the times BRS doesn't have what you want (And again, as much as I love brs, they rarely have the things I need).
Things I want that BRS never has
- Good sized frag Plugs/Tiles -- I need 2, 3, 4" discs and tiles constantly, i need 1" square plugs with the pegs. BRS never has these in the size I need or want, I need to go to specialty shop or ask vendors who have them custom made to sell them to me. You'd never think frag plugs are such a PITA to get... They are.
- AquaMaxx gear -- I love AquaMaxx stuff. Bang for the buck workhorse gear. They seem to be only a MD brand as time has gone on. They even share a booth with MarineDepot at RAP.j
- Most brands -- BRS focuses on a select few brands that are either Flavor of the Month, or classics, or what I would call "must have" inventory. No company can survive without the must have inventory (EcoTech, AI, Kessil, etc etc) it's the odds and ends I can't get anywhere else.
- Medicines -- It's funny, as much as BRS stresses QT and medications, they offer no medicines at all, and probably what I would consider the least effective dips.
And that's just scratching the surface. You can't be deep in this hobby and only shop at one site, it just doesn't work that way. As big as BRS, MD, SWA are, none of them are "The Walmart of LFS" yet. Waaaaay too much out there for them all to cover.
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And again -- I love brs! Just being honest, because all that said, I can still get at least 75% of what I need from BRS. It says a lot when (IMO) an entire company can be created and sustained based on the crumbs BRS doesn't have in stock. And those other shops are nothing to laugh at either!
). CUstomer service from BRS is top-notch! Anytime I've called, they've answered my question thoroughly and promptly. It doesnt hurt that the guys on the phones are Minnesotans, which means I can understand them when speaking. They've even gone as far as to email Neptune for me when I had a defective module and got them to pay for shipping in both directions for the warranty work that was needed! Based on service alone, BRA will ALWAYS get my equipment and hard goods money! I only wish they'd fire up a live operation as well.
