What's going on with BRS

[myclang]

I will start with I absolutely love brs, but I've been noticing they're quickly liquidating any products their company doesn't outright own. First it was geissman t5 bulbs, and now I'm seeing reef octopus skimmers and replacement pumps just discontinued. Does anyone have any info if it's temporary while restructuring or a better alternative to BRS?

 

[stewy14]

I will start with I absolutely love brs, but I've been noticing they're quickly liquidating any products their company doesn't outright own. First it was geissman t5 bulbs, and now I'm seeing reef octopus skimmers and replacement pumps just discontinued. Does anyone have any info if it's temporary while restructuring or a better alternative to BRS?

soooo...
reef octopus skimmers r just out of stock, geissman, im seeing u can only buy in select places, and the skimmer pumps r also just out of stock, its not anything thats temporary or restructuring, its just out of stock. u can buy from saltwateraquarium and others like that

 

[Fenral]

BRS and Coralvue had a falling out, so BRS is no longer able to purchase all the things that Coralvue is the distributor for. Including Abyzz

 

[reeflife3]

try

SaltwaterAquarium - Aquarium Supplies

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[UMALUM]

They are absolutely discontinuing items across board. My guess is 1 they're trying to push only they're products by not surrendering other options and 2 less inventory = less storage = less payroll. All usual signs that somethings up. Everyone who's owned a small business knows that you have to spend money to make it and options are what keeps consumers intrigued. Could we be seeing the beginning of the end? I think so.

 

[jrill]

After being bought by a cooperate giant they are dropping products that are not part of their cooperation,

 

[smiley28]

what would really be crazy is if they stopped allowing other companies the ability to sell their products..

 

[Fenral]

what would really be crazy is if they stopped allowing other companies the ability to sell their products..

That would be economic autodestruct if they did that. From what I understand (indirect - hearsay), they were selling products below the authorized retail price without permission, thus undercutting local stores and other outlets (monopolistic), which caused Coralvue to pull everything they were distributing it looks like.

 

[myclang]

They are absolutely discontinuing items across board. My guess is 1 they're trying to push only they're products by not surrendering other options and 2 less inventory = less storage = less payroll. All usual signs that somethings up. Everyone who's owned a small business knows that you have to spend money to make it and options are what keeps consumers intrigued. Could we be seeing the beginning of the end? I think so.

Which is really weird because they've slowly but steadily been taking over their once multi tenant building. They've doubled if not nearly tripled in the last 3 years. It makes sense if they had a falling out with coralvue. Just a real big bummer that theyve bought up so many companies and then cut out other vendors. As a local company to me it was nice to be able to purchase a wider availability of supplies from them. Its already been tough trusting them and their reviews now that most of what they sell apex, maxapect, AI, etc are just their product lines.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Ryan and Andy no longer own BRS. Aperture Pet and Life is owned by a private equity firm (Bertram Capital). I assume they are trying to maximize profits.

 

[UMALUM]

The train of thought being applied can work well if the products offered are in demand for 50 to 70 percent of the nation but will fail miserably when trying to service less than 1% of the population which is what we make up. It wouldn't be the first or the twentieth time I've seen this type of strategy bury a company. They're gonna run it the only way they know how and will likely have 20 more low end acquisitions before this thing goes belly up. As long as they're in the black as a whole come September small casualties along the way are of no concern.

 

[rtparty]

 

[Monad]

So they were bought out by venture capital? That explains the increase in costs and the decline of BRStv’s videos. Cost cutting?

That’s a shame. I think they fail to realize is that why BRS is popular is the emphasis on “bulk.” I’m afraid downsizing the amount of products they carry will hurt them in the long run.

That’s a real shame.

 

[Spare time]

Ryan and Andy no longer own BRS. Aperture Pet and Life is owned by a private equity firm (Bertram Capital). I assume they are trying to maximize profits.

I don't think Andy ever owned part of BRS.

 

[I never finish anythi]

what would really be crazy is if they stopped allowing other companies the ability to sell their products..

Why would they do that tho ?

 

[rtparty]

I don't think Andy ever owned part of BRS.

Andrew was 50% owner with Ryan

 

[Spare time]

Andrew was 50% owner with Ryan

Ah ok

 

[myclang]

Ryan and Andy no longer own BRS. Aperture Pet and Life is owned by a private equity firm (Bertram Capital). I assume they are trying to maximize profits.

Yeah I've been reading that. Nothing ever good seems to come with equity investment. Unfortunately all I ever see is vulture capitalism, sucking these companies dry to make investors rich and then dump it, screwing all the employees and customers in the process. Seems to be a common theme across the board these days.

 

[rtparty]

Why is it odd for them to not sell and promote a competitor?

Back in the day BRS had additives and that was it. Selling a lot of brands was smart and they didn’t really have any competitors with DIY 2 part early on. Now the parent company owns companies who produce products. Why carry competitor stuff and take up valuable shelf space with it?

 

[Reefer Matt]

Yeah I've been reading that. Nothing ever good seems to come with equity investment. Unfortunately all I ever see is vulture capitalism, sucking these companies dry to make investors rich and then dump it, screwing all the employees and customers in the process. Seems to be a common theme across the board these days.

Ryan explains what happened somewhere in this video. Basically his business partner wanted out, and Ryan didn’t want to buy his half. So they sold the company.