best importer/shop in West coast

I live in Southern California and am told LA area is one of the best places to find fresh imported items at many shops. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what shops I should visit for the best selection available in my area in terms of quality and prices? I live in SD and have found my local shop to be good but want to check out some of the larger shops I have heard about in LA area, my tank is just about ready to begin stocking with good stuff So I may as well take advantage of being local to some of the better importers in my area right?

Thanks for any input.

 

Aqua SD. They are in San Diego and they are a supporter on 3reef too

 

Vivid Aquariums, Canoga Park. Rainbow Pet on Woodman Ave, Pacoima. Age of Aquariums in Long Beach. Oculus in Van Nuys (Must have wholesale license), Socal Tropical Fish Outlet in Fullterton just to name a few, AquaSD is nice also.

Few local farmers too, are Fantastic Frags in Newbury Park. (Must call and make appointment) and Stewart's Frag Farm in Fillmore.

 

A ton of the larger whole and trans shippers are in your area, makes for easy cherry picking by local stores.

 

Thanks guys, thats exactly what I would like to do is take advantage of being local for prime time cherry picking

I'm often up in Malibu or Hollywood on the weekends so I wanted to make sure I stopped at some of the best shops around while in the area.

Thanks for the list Atticus, I will look into each one and plan my drive by it.
I wouldn't want to miss out on a really good special shop that I passed by when going to a different shop ya know. It would probably be wise to visit all the shops I can before making purchases so I don't miss out on something really good.
thanks again!

 

Slightly off-topic: Practically all the shops are in LA. All wholesalers practically reside on the same street. They even share stock with one another. Information gathered directly from Josh (Saltwater Manager) at Pet Solutions. If you watch stock on the various sites, you will notice that particular items become available at the same time across the board. This means, if it's available from one retailer, it's most often available on another. Retailers, such as Live Aquaria, purchase from the same wholesalers as everyone else. Such as:Quality Marine, Exotic Reef Imports, and etc. So, I'm sure you'll get the best selection browsing those local shops.

On another note: If I purchase stock that is not from Divers Den, I still prefer Live Aquaria over any online retailer. If any issues arise, there's no hassels.

 

This is true. An added point to this would be a lot of the retail stores don't have access to cherry pick in the same manner that most of the shops I listed will. They might all get the more common in trade stuff, but I was assuming that if he is hunting through the literally 100's of shops around us, he was looking for something special. They all get that stuff in, because all the importers bring the same livestock in at the same time, far too much for one wholesaler to manage and distribute. Sure, they all go to the same wholesalers and what not, but Vivid for example, gets buyers in there that go through every piece before it even hits the floor for everyone else. LA is the same way. They are tied into a lot of the importers and have access to the most beautiful stuff directly in.

Your typical mom and pop shops definitely have great stuff around us, but the grade "A" perfect products are from places that go the extra mile, get there early, and hunt smart.

A buddy of mine runs a local store here, and they have simply the worst stock ever. Why? Because he's lazy, and they go at the end of the day, after everything "nice" has already been picked up. Sadly, IME that is the majority of shops around L.A. and Long Beach.

 

+1 to atticus on Vivid ( <---- my favorite), and rainbow.