Heaver Tropics in Ash near Sevenoaks, Kent was the lucky CASCO competition winner at last years GLEE. The prize was a FREE store refit including £12,500’s worth of new aquariums, equipment and store fittings. The work is now completed, the ‘before and after’ pictures tell an amazing story and so do the increased takings at the till! CASCO generously wavered the installation costs.

Starting on January 14th the CASCO team took just a few days to completely transform Heaver Tropics tropical and cold-water section. The refit included 17 aquarium racks in several configurations, a variety of filtration systems, including individual compartment filters and stand-alone systems. Included was a new cascade plant display system, with circulating water and lighting. CASCO used leading edge CAD (Computer Aided Design) 3D computer software to provide a ‘virtual experience’ of the proposed new layout to make sure Heaver Tropics got just the store they wanted. 

Heaver Tropics now has the WOW factor, is a pleasure to visit and a total pleasure to work in. Since the dramatic changes word has spread in the local area, the store has gained many new customers and takings are vastly increased. So much extra business has called for additions to the Heaver staff with further recruitment on the cards!

Kerry Ellis owner of Heaver Tropics said, “Winning this refit has had the biggest impact on my business in its 27 year history. We are incredible busy now”. Kerry added, “The CASCO guys where superb they took pride in their work, finished everything off to a high standard and made sure all the equipment was installed and working perfectly. They cleaned and polished too before they left”. 

Aside from new tanks, equipment and lighting, the refit has brought a colour coded labelling system to the store making it easy for customers to identify fish species. The CASCO labelling system uses colours to categorise fish, for example ‘green’ for a peaceful species and ‘red’ for aggression. Heaver reports the colour coding system to be a great success with many positive comments from customers.

Since the refit Heaver Tropics have had several promotional opportunities, including a feature in a local magazine and a local newspaper has photographed the store for publicity. The refit has spurred Kerry to arrange an Open Day on April 6th, with several specialists attended to offer advice to customers. Other promotional activity will take place at the Open Day for visitors and to publicise the business in the area.

Heaver Tropics name was draw from an entry of over 1,500 pet and aquatic stores who visited GLEE 2007. To find out more about the services CASCO offer call 08450 60 99 60, or visit www.casco-group.com. Amazing examples of work carried out by the company across the UK and Europe can be viewed on the website.