Dear King Koi Goldfish Family,

As news continues to roll out about the changing circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and our governments responses to the crisis, we would like to update you on how we will be responding to these new challenges.  

Like all of you, we have been closely monitoring news and information coming from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO).  Also like all of you, we want to do what we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19  

We intend to stay open to the public as long as possible.  However, the situation changes daily (sometimes hourly) so at any time, we may be asked by public health officials to revise our action plan.  While we cannot guarantee uninterrupted service, we will work to minimize the impact to you.  

In an effort to protect our staff and customers alike, King Koi Goldfish has made some very difficult decisions.  Outlined below are the temporary changes that will be implemented;

• Effective Friday 3/20/20, King Koi Goldfish retail store will operate by appointment only until at least 3/31 at which point we will reconsider what further course of action to take. UPDATE 12/2/20: We are accepting walk-ins 

• Online store and shipping orders will continue - business as usual - and will not be impacted in any way

• If you are sick, please DO NOT come to the store. Stay home and get well.  Please do not visit our store if you are considered AT RISK or have been exposed or exhibit any symptoms.  PLEASE stay home and get well. You WILL be asked to wait outside if you are suspected of exhibiting any symptoms.  Please consider the safety of our staff and their families. 

• We will have reduced operating hours.  New appointment hours will be from 10am until 4:30pm PST (Tu-Sat) and 10am - 4pm PST (Sun).

• We will be introducing a new appointment scheduling tool via our website that will allow customers to schedule their preferred visit time.  Appointments will be limited to 30 minutes to allow for the maximum number of customers to be serviced.   

• You will need an appointment to enter the store.  Please book your appointments online at www.kingkoigoldfish.com/pages/appointment

• Based on the OC Health Officer Order for social distancing, we will be limiting the number of customers in the store to 2 groups and no more than 4 customers at a time. All children will need adult supervision at all times.  Please ask your children to keep their hands to themselves and not touch any foreign surfaces.  

•  We will also be introducing a new curbside pickup option to allow for local customers to pick up their orders without entering the retail store.  Just call us when you arrive and we will bring your order directly to your car. We will be able to process your cash or credit card transactions at your car so there is no need to enter the store.   

• For our regular local customers, we have all supplies and dry goods ready for pickup.  You can call, txt, email or place your orders online. Just call us when you arrive and a member of our staff will deliver to your car.  

• We want to encourage all customers to take advantage of our virtual shopping service and online store.  To accommodate, we will increase our capacity to a 30 minute slot every half hour from 10am until 4pm daily except Monday.  We will also allow for same day appointments (previously not available). While we recognize this is not quite the same experience as visiting the store to pick, we hope that this accommodation will help protect our community, customers and staff. 

• We want to remind customers that as always, most dry goods ship free. Drygood orders placed before 4pm PST (7pm EST) will ship the same day.  For our local customers, most drygood packages will arrive the following day.  If you need the products urgently, we can accommodate with a curbside pickup service of all goods we have in stock.  Please call in or place your orders online. We will notify you once your order is ready for pickup.

• We will increase the frequency and intensity of our cleaning of common areas and surfaces to help decrease the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  While many disinfecting sprays and chemicals cannot be used in our store due to the sensitive nature of fish keeping, we will diligently work to disinfect when applicable.  

On a personal note, 

While the health and safety of our animals has always been a top priority, we have always considered our staff and customers to be part of the family. As a family run business with our children growing up around our animals and in the store, family is our reason for being.  As such, we want to protect our family as much as we can and do things to keep them safe and out of harm's way.  

Please be patient with us as we navigate these uncharted waters together. We are facing many challenges for the first time.  Daily, we are struggling to find regular business supplies for our store. Furthermore, many of our vendors are out of stock on products.  There are shipping delays for all imports and international flights are being canceled left and right. While we are figuring out how to deal with all these challenges, there may be some delays and inconveniences.  We appreciate your understanding and patience with us in these challenging times. 

Also like many of you, our children's school has been closed so Lauren and I are working around additional childcare responsibilities as well.    

We want to thank you for all your support and patience.  If our doors must close, our businesses expenses will not stop.  I presume all small businesses like ours will struggle and many will not survive.  We want you to know, our family deeply appreciates your support.  We know you always have a choice and we appreciate you choosing us.  

King Koi Goldfish Family

Richard and Lauren Lin