West End saltwater aquarium shop spills into Hanover - RichmondBizSense

Reefology's storefront off Parham Road.

Reefology RVA is expanding yet again, this time to Hanover County.

The company, which specialized in saltwater aquariums, has leased a new 1,800 square-foot unit at 10380 Wood Park Court in Ashland, which it soon will transform into a warehouse and storage hub as it looks to continue to scale up.  

Reefology's shop at 1561 N. Parham Road is split half-and-half between retail and storage space. Owner Caleb Kilgore said the new warehouse will allow him to convert more retail space within his existing storefront.

"Instead of expanding on the retail side of things, because retail prices for rent are just kind of absurdly expensive, we decided to look into a warehouse space," Kilgore said.

Reefology, which opened in the fall of 2020, sells saltwater fish, aquariums and other equipment for the hobby. The store also provides maintenance and installation services for aquariums. It moved to an upgraded West End location last year after two years in a smaller space in Midlothian.

With the new Ashland facility, Kilgore said Reefology can more than double its current intake quarantine capacity. Each fish that Reefology buys undergoes a quarantine and observation process to ensure it's not carrying diseases before it gets sold to a customer. Kilgore said he's looking to increase his quarantine capacity from 32 tanks to 74 tanks in the new facility.

Reefology's shop on Parham features lighting that's favorable to the sea creatures.

Kilgore is also looking to start selling used equipment — things such as lights, skimmers, heaters and more — which Reefology RVA will test and certify for quality. Once it gets going, customers can order and pick up used equipment at the Parham Road location. 

With this venture, Kilgore is aiming to make saltwater fish and aquariums a more affordable and accessible hobby. He's been in the business since 2012, but as a kid he'd always wanted to pursue the pastime only to be stymied by the expenses it incurred.

"Making things affordable for people can spark so many interests," Kilgore said. "Money should never be an objective when somebody wants to get into something that can be so educational and so rewarding for them, and so if there's a way that we can provide it at a fair cost to them, I want to be there for it."

The company also will increase its number of tanks for growing its own coral. The new facility will allow the store to build up a larger inventory of bulk materials for its customers as well.

Kilgore declined to share sales and revenue figures but said he expects revenue to triple with the expansion. While he said there isn't one best-selling fish, he said as for equipment, Reefology RVA mostly sells reef tanks with live coral and fish. The business serves commercial clients as well, but most of its customers are residential. 

He said Reefology already has spent around $65,000, mostly in preparation to get into the Ashland space and set up as soon as possible. The unit is an add-on to a warehouse where several other businesses lease space and is being built. The build-out will be completed Sept. 1, and after that, it'll take about a month to get the facility fully operational.