Today we’d like to introduce you to Louis Snaza.
Hi Louis, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I got interested in tropical fish when I was 15 years old. I kept a number of aquariums at home and raised fish for a hobby. When I was 16, I got a job at a fish retailer in SLC and learned more about the various fresh and saltwater species.
I also learned some of the business. As a hobbyist, I was tired of paying shipping charges that often cost more than the fish themselves. After exploring buying and selling fish on local classifieds, I was confident that there was a market for rare fish in this area.
So I quit my job to pursue this full-time around two years ago. The Waterfront was started to bring a better selection of rare freshwater aquarium fish to Utah. Our value discriminator is our ability to acquire rare fish from over 200 sources.
This ensures our customers will see something they have never seen before every time they come in. We import from six countries, partner with private breeders around the United States, and have started our own in-house breeding facility. We do everything from nano fish to monster fish and source only the healthiest species so we back them with a 14-day guarantee.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We’ve been extremely lucky with starting this business, the one challenge we had with our shop is that the summer is very slow, after a few trials we’ve managed to keep our heads above water by selling our fish across the united states and having a strong social media presence.
After we learned how to ship fish we have been able to keep busy during our slow season.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Waterfront is an ever-changing shop designed to put whatever fish you want into your hands, we spend hours every day looking through our sources stock lists and looking for new sources to buy through.
On a weekly basis, we receive fish from around the world. We take pride in all the exotic fish we carry on hand, the best part of mornings is seeing all of the fish that may have never been in Utah before in person.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The Aquarium industry relies heavily on importing fish, there are possible new laws that will restrict most fish from coming into the United States. We believe that the future of the hobby will rely heavily on private breeders and other companies to breed these fish in our country.
This is why we have started breeding fish in the backroom of our store.
Contact Info:
- Email: thewaterfrontslc@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.thewaterfrontslc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewaterfrontslc/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewaterfrontslc/photos/?tab=album&album_id=123109629410115
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKZbS2F7qRhep3uB7w_0RIw
