Today the reef aquarium world woke up to some shocking news this morning when it was announced that one of America’s largest online retailers, Marine Depot, had been acquired by Bulk Reef Supply. While the announcement may have been of great surprise to many in the United States reef aquarium industry, we all knew Bulk Reef Supply was going to be making some big moves following the big massive influx of cash it received from investment group Bertram Capital.
There are usually a lot of question when large acquisitions like this take place in any industry, and Marine Depot has published a lengthy FAQ page detailing everything about their business that will be affected by the purchase. All Marine Depot customers should refer to this FAQ to find answers about their outstanding orders, product returns, gift cards, and loyalty points but the most startling revelation is that Marine Depot will cease their operations at the end of the month, in just one week!
As of July 30th the Marine Depot website and all its traffic and content will be incorporated into BulkReefSupply.com and the southern California based company that has served the reef aquarium hobby for decades will exist only as a memory, vintage T-shirts and legacy magazine ads. Surely many of us will have mixed emotions about the consolidation of the online retail market and the reduced competition that comes with it but only time will tell how the shuttering of Marine Depot will affect the online sales of reef aquarium supplies and equipment.
