Not sure if this is the right place for this(Mods move if nesessary). But who is old enough to remember Aquarium stock FS on Warren st in Manhattan? My father used to take us there when we were kids, it was huge! It ran from one street to the next. I don't know how to post a link but if you goggle Modern Aquarium November 2011 they did a nice right up about it. Too bad they are still not around today.
Who remembers Aquarium Stock FS?
1 - 20 of 35 Posts
Joined
·
7,690 Posts
There's been quite a few old shops in the city that have come and gone. Now looking back you sort of appreciate what you did see back then as the way people did business was so different (and better IMHO).
I recall a small shop on west 8th street by 5th avenue. Lots of gorgeous stuff for salt and fresh but alas, i would only window shop and admire from afar without having a tank at home to keep anything.
I recall a small shop on west 8th street by 5th avenue. Lots of gorgeous stuff for salt and fresh but alas, i would only window shop and admire from afar without having a tank at home to keep anything.
Joined
·
140 Posts
I dont recall Aquarium Stock, but there are a few shops i wish were still around. Crystal Aquarium on 93rd St. And 3rd. Ave was a young fishkeepers heaven, rows upon rows of quality livestock. There was another huge store on 23rd street on the east side that also had beautiful quality fish. They had a huge saltwater and reef section also. My favorite shop by far was Trailers Tropicals on Gun Hill Road in the Bronx. This was a little hole in the wall mom and pop store, but this is where i became a fishkeeper. Would go there for a few hours after school everyday and learned everything i could from the owner John. I would catch garter snakes back then and trade them in for fish. Eventually i started asking for more exotic stuff and John asked me if i wanted to go with him to the wholesalers place and i could pick out my own fish. Thats all it took, i've been addicted ever since. Wish these stores were still around.
Ruben
Ruben
Joined
·
809 Posts
The one on W. 8th st. was New World Aquarium, which moved to E. 38th st. before they closed last year. They were overpriced, but they always had fish & plants you'd never see anywhere else. Crystal had 2 locations on 3rd ave., & there was also a Fishtown USA further downtown, also on 3rd. There was another Fishtown on Nassau st. I remember that in both Fishtowns all the tanks had black gravel, like in the one in Auburndale.
Crystal was great too! 93rd and 3rd right on the corner.
Sorry about the slow reply. I, too, was feeling nostalgic and googled aquarium stock, when i found your posting. My dad was a bartender next door, and i was into fish...so...
I bought my first pair of breeding dwarf gouramis there...and sure enough for this 12 year old to watch that bubble nest get built, feed the fry infosoria ...woo! woo! I remember lugging a 20 gallon tank from aquarium stock back home to queens on the subway. As you know it progresses from there.
I miss those days and Aquarium Stock.
Joined
·
1 Posts
Found this while Googling for nostalgia.
Aqua Stock was great. Went there a lot when I was a teen in the 70's and 80's.
The store was huge, stretching from the main entrance on Warren Street to the rear on Murray Street. One block away from City Hall Park. They had a good marine section, and lots of tanks with just plants. The right wall was continuous tanks though a big wood unit was past the middle with larger tanks with discus and angels.
They were big enough to have their own store brand -- Aquarium Stock Company. Their prices were moderate to moderately high. The quality of the fish was very good. They had a lot of experienced employees working there who could dole out good advice. No pressure, I remember a lot of patience - especially with a teenager with limited funds.
A man in dress shirt & slacks with dark hair and a mustache used to stand around the middle near the tanks, across from the long counters. He'd call out in a strong voice asking if anybody needed any help.
I think that one of the things that contributed to their demise was the rise of the discount pet store chains with flashy, tiny tanks with several colors of glass gravel and cheaper, immature fish. Petland Discounts, Fishtown USA, etc. Aqua Stock was more old-school, and from pre-all-glass tank era. I'm sure their rent wasn't cheap either.
Thanks for the reference to the Modern Aquarium article. Here's the link to the issue, it starts on page 11.
http://issuu.com/modernaquarium/docs/modernaquarium_november2011
P.S. several storefronts up Warren St. was the small, cramped original location of B&H Photo, before one of their several moves and expansions to the current location.
Aqua Stock was great. Went there a lot when I was a teen in the 70's and 80's.
The store was huge, stretching from the main entrance on Warren Street to the rear on Murray Street. One block away from City Hall Park. They had a good marine section, and lots of tanks with just plants. The right wall was continuous tanks though a big wood unit was past the middle with larger tanks with discus and angels.
They were big enough to have their own store brand -- Aquarium Stock Company. Their prices were moderate to moderately high. The quality of the fish was very good. They had a lot of experienced employees working there who could dole out good advice. No pressure, I remember a lot of patience - especially with a teenager with limited funds.
A man in dress shirt & slacks with dark hair and a mustache used to stand around the middle near the tanks, across from the long counters. He'd call out in a strong voice asking if anybody needed any help.
I think that one of the things that contributed to their demise was the rise of the discount pet store chains with flashy, tiny tanks with several colors of glass gravel and cheaper, immature fish. Petland Discounts, Fishtown USA, etc. Aqua Stock was more old-school, and from pre-all-glass tank era. I'm sure their rent wasn't cheap either.
Thanks for the reference to the Modern Aquarium article. Here's the link to the issue, it starts on page 11.
http://issuu.com/modernaquarium/docs/modernaquarium_november2011
P.S. several storefronts up Warren St. was the small, cramped original location of B&H Photo, before one of their several moves and expansions to the current location.
I do. I worked there during 1960-63. It ran from Murray Street (No. 27) to Warren Street (No. 29 or 31) parallel to Church Street. It was a five story building with a basement and subbasement. The first floor was its retail floor with about 300 tanks of fish and 30 or so of live aquatic plants. The subbasement was for storage of heavy materials and for some heavy metal, such as steel and glass. The basement is where tanks and hoods were manufactured. The second floor was the warehouse for finished finished goods (aquarium supplies) and where the shipping department was located. Aquarium Stock sold wholesale and mail order retail in addition to having a retail floor. The 3rd through fifth floors were manufacturing and warehouse floors where, among other things, its line of fish foods and remedies. When in business, it was the largest store of its kind in the United States.
It is with great fondness that I remember Aquarium Stock. As a youngster living in Brooklyn my father would take to the store when it came time to stock/restock our 29 gallon tank. As a teenager, when it came time to find a job, Aqua Stock was the first place I went so in the mid 60's I worked for the company for several years - it never considered it work - I loved working there and truth be told, I probably never brought home any significant money as I rapidly became "fish poor." I virtually spent what I earned but the work experience was well worth the effort. I worked on the floor as a salesman and occasionally I was asked to deliver fish to some of their more prestigious clientele. One such person was Peter Jennings. Great memories. My tropical fish addiction lives on and continues to grow.
Even though from 1960 to 2015, I lived in New York City. I came up from Columbia, S.C., when I was 20. In Columbia as a child, I ordered tropical fish from the Aquarium Stock Company on Warren Street. None were sold in Columbia in the 1940s-1950s. The parcels arrived by Railway Express. "Express" then didn't mean "fast". Even today, the only daily train between Columbia and New York City takes 14 hours. The huge granite station bulding for freight, Union Depot, still exists, now as a restaurant. The other in-town station, Seaboard Air Line Depot, that also remains, is also a restaurant. The unattractive Amtrak station that serves only two passenger trains a day (roundtrips to New York City and from Miami) is a couple of miles from the city center. The trains are never on time — the rest of the world shames us with safe, pleasant, attractive, reliable passenger-train service, particularly Europe (not Britain) and Japan.
Hi,
I'm just a little late joining in, 6 years or so. I was cleaning a shelf this morning and came across The Twenty-Fifth edition of ASC catalog. I remember pouring over it. It has followed me through several moves. I still have fish, mostly goldfish. I'm now 76 and t6hink it may be time to retire my catalog.
Glen
I'm just a little late joining in, 6 years or so. I was cleaning a shelf this morning and came across The Twenty-Fifth edition of ASC catalog. I remember pouring over it. It has followed me through several moves. I still have fish, mostly goldfish. I'm now 76 and t6hink it may be time to retire my catalog.
Glen
Joined
·
1,988 Posts
Incredible. How were the prices back then? probably high since most fish were still being imported.
I LOVED Aquarium Stock company on Warren street. i went as a kid( well i was 15) with my friend Howie.We took the train from Rye NY , got off at Grand Central Station , took the subway down to City Hall and walked a few blocks over. The store was long and narrow, it ran thru the block from Warren Street to Murray Street. The store was a fantasy for us, more variety and quality of fish than could be seen anywhere. We would also make our way over to Nassau street where there was another smaller shop amd occassinaly to Crystal Aquarium on East 93rd street.
Aquarium stock made its own line of medications, heaters, pumps and accessories. Its catalog, in full color , is a collectors item now, published for a few years in the 1950's , complete with pictures of the fish( watercolor reproductions) and I have luckily managed to find copies of each of the years it was published.
Howie and I looked for and often spoke with Marvin, ( a salesman )who was a wiry guy in his late 30's with a pair of the thickest glasses Ive ever seen, he was a virtual computer( there were none back then ) .
Some of the most memorable moments of my early years were spent with tropical fish and Aquarium stock was the gem of gems to vist.
Charlie
Hi yes I remember Aqua Stock my father took me there every weekend in the 70s.
He bought our 55 long metaframe stainless steel frame tank with iron stand in the mid 60s they were new.
The metaframe tanks sold till the late 70s and were phased out for the newer all glass tanks today. Issue of metal frame tanks were of electricusion by the conducting beautiful stainless frame.
I found a picture of Aqua stock store front and interior. It says Tropical Fish big and aquarium stock co. small under it.
It is on my tropical fish authors blog
https://tropicalfishauthors.blogspot.com/2019/12/tropical-fish-authors-tfh-publications.html?m=1
He bought our 55 long metaframe stainless steel frame tank with iron stand in the mid 60s they were new.
The metaframe tanks sold till the late 70s and were phased out for the newer all glass tanks today. Issue of metal frame tanks were of electricusion by the conducting beautiful stainless frame.
I found a picture of Aqua stock store front and interior. It says Tropical Fish big and aquarium stock co. small under it.
It is on my tropical fish authors blog
https://tropicalfishauthors.blogspot.com/2019/12/tropical-fish-authors-tfh-publications.html?m=1
I just saw this through GOOGLE because I was looking for info on this for a storybook my son is doing on me. I had a temp job there filing and typing around 1964/65. I live in Columbia SC now.
Joined
·
2 Posts
Reading all of these posts about the Aquarium Stock Company in NYC warms my heart. My Father, Leonard Berkitz, own and ran ASC after taking over the business from his Father. He went on to open a second location in Los Angeles. Neither stores are around anymore, but my Father shared so many fond memories of this family business.
1 - 20 of 35 Posts
