dizzy":fknw9cjk said:
John_Brandt":fknw9cjk said:
For decades we had International Seaboard Inc. They have since closed.
John what caused them to go out of business?
I don't know for certain Mitch. But I can make some guesses.
I think that it was a combination of circumstances that did it. Seaboard, as it was commonly called, was owned and run by a Filipino family. Husband Andres "Andy" Eyas and wife Lily managed the operation for about 30 years in Franklin Park (a suburb of Chicago near O'Hare airport). For nearly all of that time, Seaboard dominated the cash-and-carry marine wholesale business in the midwest. The variety available there, especially in the late 1980's, was truly impressive.
Andy was the first importer of the famous original (and now nostalgic) glass MiniReef aquariums that were being shipped from Holland under the direction of Lammert deHaan (now at Dutch Aquarium Systems in Texas). In 1985 they came complete with protein skimmers, rotating spray-bar, wet/dry DLS with a gravel tray below, HO fluorescents and highly-efficient drip denitrifiers. These aquariums were marketed as never needing water changes, and many aquarists did just that.
Andy also was one of the first in the USA to bring in quantities and variety of
Red Sea fishes. I can remember paying $300 wholesale for a saucer-sized Purple tang in 1986. Red Sea Imper
ator angelfish regularly were retailing for $500. Those were also the days of 10" Sohal tangs whose scalpels could deprive you of your pinkie finger in an instant.
In the mid 1990's, Lily Eyas suffered a massive stroke while unpacking a fish shipment in the warehouse. She has remained partially paralyzed ever since. A few years later Apet opened a huge marine wholesale operation nearby, whose inventory seemed to be twice that of Seaboard. Combining that with increasing competition from transhippers, they never seemed to recover from these events.
Although I do believe that they still live in the area, I have not seen the Eyas family in several years. They will always remain close to my heart, as they were some of the kindest and personable people I have ever met in the business. I do miss them.