Friends of Swiss Tropicals
Spiezer Zoo
Bahnhofstrasse 33, 3700 Spiez, Switzerland
This is the pet store I used to work for in the 1990s. Spiez is next to Lake Thun, about 25 miles south of Bern in the beautiful mountains of Switzerland. Peter Bircher - the owner - taught me much about fish and pet care, business sense, people skills, and foremost friendly customer service. I will always remember the good old times when I was a member of the "Spiezer Zoo Team". If you happen to visit Switzerland, take a tour to the "Zoo", you won't regret it. I took the pictures in September 2005 on my last visit there.
Thanks for the hospitality, Peter & Nicole!
The entrance, check out the pile of aquarium gravel to the left. It stays out there 24/7.
The show tank. Peter's pride, nobody else touches it. Well, maybe Nicole.
Part of the aquarium walls and plant system.
A picture from the other side.
A plant system really sells plants. If you take care of it!
This view makes people wanting to have a planted tank.
The supplies are neatly stacked, the Swiss are really - well, Swiss!
The fish dry goods section. The customer is "King".
You can get any product you want.
If it is not in stock, they will order it for you, no exception.
The bird and rodent room, everything is clean!
Tons of cat and dog food are stored in the basement.
The bird food cellar, careful management is required to keep feeds rotated.
Various small parts and products are stored in drawer units.
They only sell what they would want to buy themselves.
So, sometimes you have to talk Peter into selling you a certain fish.