The sign issue: I've had more than a few conversations with the owner over the past couple of years, and just recently this year, (March 2015) I asked him why the old sign was never refaced? His response was
"We got a new sign put up." So the old pale blue "pet station" sign remained on the building...while the new red "TAIL FINS" sign had been installed directly on the front of the building for quite some time. It took them quite a while to take the old blue sign down. It probably happened around when you started this thread? The reason I asked him this legitimate question was that I assumed the old blue pet station sign would've been grandfathered in with the city of Dearborn so it could have been re-faced? Their new sign is incorporated into a modern shared sign which is nearly invisible. If your heading Northbound on Telegraph, and you don't remember where the old pet station was, or to look for the "America's Best Contacts" you will blow right past this place now...hence the reason for me asking about the old sign. Possibly the buildings owner seen an opportunity to rent that sign space out to multiple businesses there?
It appears the renovation has come to a complete stop.
Store Review: They regularly have some nice SA/CA cichlids in stock pretty consistently, and African cichlids come in once a week. They also get some pretty rare odd ball fish in, especially predators and so on.. Whether you hate or love this place, it's still worth stopping in if your heading in that direction IMO mainly because of the stock. They're located on a very high traffic area of Telegraph so I believe he is trying to carry more types of fish and appeal to both types of cichlid customers as well as the community tank keepers.
It's usually only Tristan or possibly one other employee in the store Lee, which essentially means if more than a few customers are in the store, you're going to be waiting which is typical at almost every LFS nowadays. I've personally asked the owner why he doesn't greet everyone that walks into the store...his answer was inconclusive.
"You can't show everyone each and every tank in the store and give them a complete tour." While this may be true, I feel that it should not discourage you from saying "Hello, Welcome to Tail Fins." or saying "I will be with you in just one moment." That is an extremely bad business practice and I'm certain it has cost them more than just a few customers.
Trade-ins have improved, he gave me a really good store credit for a Juruense Catfish I had earlier this year and I was able to pick up an awesome wall hammer coral which is still my favorite coral in my reef tank. He gets corals in on Fridays and his prices are more than fair on corals and SW fish. Almost all the regular FW fish are buy 2 get 1 free all the time unless it's something super special or odd.
