AJ's Pets & Things

Fantastic experience: Great pet store. Best aquarium supplies and live fish and things in the interior.

Fantastic experience: Really appreciate the people who work there and very kind and considerate A number 1

Fantastic experience: Love visiting this store. Happy, friendly staff - well loved animals.

Positive experience: Buy local. Not from American owned stores.

Fantastic experience: Andrew and Lisa and staff provide excellent knowledge and friendly customer service! This location is the oldest Vernon pet store that offers animals that you can enjoy and spend some time with while you shop, or just need a break in a relaxing enviroment!! They do not follow you around or try pressure you to buy or leave! They love your patronage and company and treat you as family!

Fantastic experience: One of my favorite pet stores, helpful, best selection love the pets that live in store give it a warm fuzzy feeling

Fantastic experience: AJ’s Pet Store – The Cutest Pet Store Ever! AJ’s Pet Store is hands down the cutest pet store I’ve ever been to! They have a great selection of pet supplies, but the real stars are the animals. They have two adorable store cats that make every visit extra special, and they always have a variety of small pets to see. One of the best parts is that they also have cats available for adoption, which is amazing for anyone looking to give a kitty a forever home. I find myself stopping by almost every other day just to see all the animals—it’s such a cozy and welcoming place! If you love pets, you absolutely have to check out AJ’s Pet Store. Highly recommend!

Fantastic experience: I am so glad I found AJ’s, Andrew and Lisa are the nicest people and were so helpful. I started my saltwater aquarium journey from a blank state and Andrew was so helpful getting me started. Something I really appreciated was Andrew not pushing me to buy a bunch of stuff I didn’t quite need yet to get started, he helped me with the stuff I needed right now. A lot of places just want to sell you as much stuff as they can and take advantage of your lack of knowledge. I previously bought a tank elsewhere and it came cracked, so I ended up picking up an even better tank from Ajs. The shop is huge and has the best selection/qualify of salt water stuff in the Okanagan. Their fish, tanks, corals (and all the other animals they have) all look very healthy and happy. It’s refreshing to see owners who have passion in what they do. The employees are also very nice and well educated. I highly recommend checking out their shop! I can’t wait to buy more things for my new salt water aquarium! I appreciate all the help and advice! Here’s a pic of the tank I got :)

Fantastic experience: We love this store! Friendly and helpful every time. We found our Evie here ❤️

Fantastic experience: The owner was very helpful.

Negative experience: We go into AJs to get a specific fish and 3 of 8 are dead.. in their tank. Shouldn’t have bought any… but we did. We got the remaining 5 and we’re told if they pass away then bring them back and get new fish. All 5 fish have died in 2.5 days and AJs refuses to to take any accountability even though our water tests were fine and have been fine, their test came back with a very slight higher level of nitrite. All our other fish are fine and our water levels are back to normal less than 6 hours later after their refusal to reimburse us. How can they base reimbursements on water tests when the levels can go out of wack out of no where when dead fish are in there or after a water change etc etc. plus 3 of the 8 were dead in YOUR tank… distribution problems? Maybe. But they just grin cause the test water was exactly on point.. Unfortunate for them as we spend a lot of money there and will no longer be shopping with them. Also had a bad feeling when we were told to test a new tank out with “sucker” fish… the employee laughs and says the cheap fish are the poor suckers who get to be the Guinea pigs and see if the tank is good to go… like wow.. that’s not funny or appropriate. Also the candy machine stole my sons .25 cents and it was my last quarter of course… they refused to give a little 3 year old his money back… smooth. They also refused to quote us on a large amount of fish we were looking to get… they said “just come in and get prices off the tanks”. Which they didn’t have all of ones on our list in stock so wondering what prices they could get them for… just bad business practises. Some of the staff have been snotty and short with me before so pretty much on par. The Armstrong staff should train the Vernon staff on good customer service practises.

Fantastic experience: We did a day trip from Kamloops to look at a few pet stores , this was by far the neatest store. Great fish selection , lots of neat little birds & small animals. We actually ended up adopting a lone baby Guinea pig . The girls working were all welcoming & friendly. We will definitely be back

Fantastic experience: A must have place in Vernon. They have a better variety of food for a sorts of animals.

Positive experience: A good assortment of pet items from fish, to lizards and "regular" pets. The prices on most things are decent and the staff can be generally very helpful.

Fantastic experience: Very knowledgeable and helpful staff. Everything you could want or need to care for your critters. Leonard always has a lot of pro-tips

Fantastic experience: Fantastic place in fact the only place I could find the right food for my sugar gliders. If you have tropical pets you definitely want to come here

Fantastic experience: The staff are great and the owner really tries to help his customers. I've been shopping here as long as I can remember and will continue to happily do so!

Fantastic experience: I was only there for saltwater fish, so I can't speak for the other animals. The selection was good, and they looked healthy. I bought 2 Ocellaris clownfish. The corals looked nice too.

Fantastic experience: Big selection for Pet related things. Very friendly and sophisticated staff.

Fantastic experience: AJ's is the best all around pet store in Vernon, hands down, and I have been going to them since I was a little kid - it was seeing real live seahorses there that inspired me to start fishkeeping as a nine year old! They cater to all pet needs, including exotics. They sell 5 gallons of RO/DI water for $3 which I think is very fair. AJ and Chance are super helpful when it comes to needing saltwater questions answered! (Also Floyd is adorable and I love him! More businesses should have a resident shop kitty!) As a marine reef aquarist I do wish that: - They got marine livestock in more often than once a month. It really limits my ability to buy livestock from them instead of ordering it online when they simply don't have any. - They brought in a wider diversity of marine species and that they could actually tell you if a particular species was coming in. Like many reefers I have a livestock stock list which I stick to and it would be super cool if I could get the specific fish that I want from AJ's instead of online. - They marked coral prices on their frag tank. I have severe social anxiety so having to ask for a price for something which I have no idea whether I can afford is often pretty hard for me and talking to staff is intimidating. I haven't bought any coral from this shop because of that; I can't even decide if I am interested in a coral without knowing if I can afford it first! - They had more budget options for lighting, other gear and supplies (more Seachem - I'd love to be able to buy my $35 Seachem Vibrant Sea salt from AJ's!) I am a budget reefer who keeps fish for mental health so I usually can't afford Tunze or even Fluval. I LOVE my green chromi Mer who I got from them; she's easily the prettiest fish in my tank!

Fantastic experience: Great place! Got a beautiful retired breeder hamster who is now named Bianca Leonard was amazing, I got him on my shoulder and was sooo cute Great service, showed us the do's and don'ts of hamster care Beautiful fish room, would go again

Fantastic experience: Andrew and team have been Extremely Awesome over the years, at least 30+ years of just visiting and relaxing with the animals within!! Fish, rodents, reptiles, cats, dogs, birds, you name it!!! Staff always ready ti assist and make you feel welcome as well as made sure you found what you need. Awesome place always!!

Fantastic experience: best aquarium store in the area

Fantastic experience: Can't say enough good thing. First time being here and the staff was amazing. Tanks were clean, and my other half played with Leonard the conure while I shopped.

Fantastic experience: Helped us with a starter fish tank. Was able to get everything we needed. The staff is super knowledgeable and made me feel more comfortable about starting a tank. Will definitely be back!

Fantastic experience: Almost always have what I need for my exotic pets' specific needs. Lots of great fish, reptile/amphibian supplies, tanks and enclosures. I have frogs and I can find most of their supplies here, bonus points that it's close to my home and locally owned. They also have things for cats, dogs, birds, small mammals etc. The staff are very nice and helpful :)

Fantastic experience: Most friendly pet store ever! Go visit to see thier awesome store and animals! Happy Holidays everyone

Fantastic experience: Had alot of awesome stuffies and toys for my puppy

Fantastic experience: Help me out to sales my puppies.Put It on computer for me,Did,nt get my price for the puppies But! They got sold.

Fantastic experience: Super friendly staff best selection of fish supplies in town. I always love saying hi to Leonard the bird and their fluffy cat who's usually napping in the window.

Fantastic experience: Very knowledgeable and well-kept live animals! Locally owned, the owners are very nice and care about their customers!

Fantastic experience: This is the Only Pet store I've ever been in where EVERY critter they had was happy, healthy, and well taken care of. Enclosures are clean with lots of enrichment, staff is friendly and helpful. Wonderful store to check out, even just to browse. The have a beautiful tropical fish tank when you enter that is just stunning. The in-store cat gave me a warm welcome as well. They breed hamsters in house, and have lots of variety. I bought a baby and adopted a retired breeder, both have very sweet temperaments.

Fantastic experience: The first time coming in today, we are super impressed with all the stunning exotic fish. I did not catch the name of the Nebelung-looking Kitty, he is so adorable and looks like my girl. I watched him catch/eat a bug, it made my day . There is not much of a selection of wet cat food, however, they make up for it with have is wonderful quality and more food that doesn't include chicken than most. Only the best for my girl. Don't get me started on the customer service and amazing prices, what I bought would normally be over $100. Price didn't even come close to it. We will be shopping here for our Reptiles, Fish, and cats much more often. It was easy to start chatting, everyone is friendly and professional. We will be back for sure.

Fantastic experience: Love the store , but my favorite part is Leonard, their beloved store mascot. He just melted into my hands and didn't want me to return him to his perch! Also got a cat tower that my cats love!

Fantastic experience: Great experience with this store. Staff are very knowledgible with products and questions about various animals. Drove 45 mintutes to come to this store and will return.

Fantastic experience: I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the service I have received. They have gone so above and beyond to help ensure that I receive exactly what I'm after for my salt water tank. The reviews do not lie the customer service is beyond exceptional. Highly reccomend aj's pets and things for all you pet needs :)

Negative experience: Ok service, but everytime I go in to get crickets for my dragons there are dead ones and tons of other bugs. I have found huge spiders, different kinds of larvae, and other assortments of bugs. And they say that they add extra crickets to make up for the dead ones, but dead crickets still release a toxin that kills the others.

Fantastic experience: Great selection and advice on our new fish family

Fantastic experience: We had a friend pick up a few fish and we had a slight mishap with one of our fish not making it home alive after about a 3 hour trip. These are the things I consider you as the consumer to check before leaving a pet store. -separate bags for your fish -make sure there is enough water if you have multiples in one bag. We ended up chatting about our situation and my concerns. I fed some constructive criticism and in the end we worked together to hopefully have more positive outcomes. It wasn’t so much about the replacement of the fish as it was more the quality it has for chance of survival under stressful circumstances with longer travel. I felt the staff at Aj’s took my concern to heart and can better educate existing and future staff on better packing procedures to prevent loss for both the store as well as the customer. The salt water show tank at the entrance is well taken care of and gorgeous, one of the cleanest I have ever seen. The store is well stocked with supplies and tanks to purchase, and the cats are a cute added touch to the store.

Fantastic experience: Always very friendly and have had many long chats with the owners and my boyfriend visits with Leonard everytime he goes in their interactions are enduring

Negative experience: This place has variety.. some knowledge.. but what breaks my heart is Leonard the conure, the store bird. Leonard is going into the last half of his or her life. This bird craves attention and consistency. He has many friends who jst give a quick 5min lovin and leave... this poor bird deserves a full home environment. Not just cared for briefly by staff or his customer friends. Look what happened to the african grey at total pet... he deteriorated from the open chaos of a store. Surviving is not thriving. Please consider letting him go to a home where he can have more love and family.

Fantastic experience: We came in to buy a Hamster for my daughter! The staff was wonderful and made sure we had everything we needed! Highly recommended

Fantastic experience: Excellent attention. All animals are very well cared for. We ate an oez betta and I had problems with my card. I went back the next day for the fish and found it with a sold sign: they were waiting for him to come back for it. Thank you very much for such a nice detail.

Fantastic experience: Very knowledgeable and friendly staff, always willing to answer a question. Also great selection of salt water aquarium fish and supply.

Negative experience: Good selection BUT customer service continually sucks so it isn’t worth it.

Fantastic experience: Thank you for going over and above to hear what happened and to credit me. Your customer service is mind blowing. I have shopped there many times and always enjoyed it until now. I bought 5 female guppies and 1 male on Tuesday. 3 of the females died the next morning and I told them but they didnt say anything. Now it is Saturday morning and another is dead and the last female is not looking good so I called. They said the female guppies are quarantined and not for sale right now and they wont help me because they only help if I call in the first 72 hours. Which I told them the next day. So I will not be shopping there anymore and neirher will my family. Especially because the rest of rhe female guppies are quarantined now so obviously I was sold bad fish. The rest of my fish in my tank are fine. Unreal.

Fantastic experience: I found an awesome cat tower here for such an amazing price!! The staff have been very helpful every time I've gone in

Fantastic experience: Amazing service. They take quality care of their fish supply and will never sell anything thats ill unlike the big box stores. Definitely recommend them 10000%

Positive experience: So many varieties of fish. Plus live coral.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly and knowledgeable . Lots of fish

Fantastic experience: Always so knowledgeable and helpful everytime I've gone in!!

Fantastic experience: Had a great visit with the staff and she was incredibly helpful with my indecisive 4yo son.

Fantastic experience: My daughter and i love coming here and we dont even have pets LOL!! We always stop in just to say hi to the cats but Lenard, the bird, quickly stole our hearts. We always enjoy wondering through the aquariums to check out the amazing selection of fish!! Absolutely great place to take a kid who loves animals. And Thanks so much for always greeting us with a smile !

Fantastic experience: 5 stars is not enough. I am new to the game and EVERY time I have a question (or ten) these ladies DO NOT hesitate and have an answer. I’m happy to see women being in charge for once in a place like this, I haven’t had good luck at the local chains, they never seem to know what they are talking about. Plus the local chains stock is absolutely disgraceful. I’m so glad this place exists. Thanks AJ!

Fantastic experience: Best pet store in town - great variety of products, knowledgeable staff, cute animals everywhere and the store kitties are the sweetest ❤

Fantastic experience: Love the staff and the animals great place

Fantastic experience: They are super helpful and very knowledgeable. They have a wide variety of pet supplies at reasonable prices

Positive experience: Great selections. Courteous staff and also willing to help.

Fantastic experience: The owners are super knowledgeable, this is the best mom and pops fish store I've been to. I'd recommend it to anyone

Fantastic experience: Great little shop! One of the best pet stores in Vernon.

Fantastic experience: We buy here instead of buying off amazon, support local!

Fantastic experience: Awesome pet store and staff especially in fish, I bought a few mollies and they were so healthy they started breading a month after having them and now I have had to upgrade my tank for the new fish haha thank you so much for letting me start this l hobby in a very positive direction

Fantastic experience: Awesome experience!! The ladies were so knowledgeable and helpful with our new and slightly fearful pup! They had high value treats to share when trying out new and excellent harness for our beagle. I will definitely return with our pup.

Positive experience: Nice staff. Clean. Bite over crowed with stock. A bit on the expensive side. Knowledge.

Fantastic experience: Very knowledgeable staff, great place for anything related to terrariums and aquariums. Still has plenty for furred creatures though.

Fantastic experience: If you like fish keeping this is a Must go in the okanagan. The staff are passionate and very friendly. They put up with my questions and made it easy to ask to know when certain fish arrive. they stock a variety of plants, substrate, and hardscape for planted aquariums and lots of tanks of all price points to choose from. basically this place has it all thanks AJs for keeping the hobby going

Fantastic experience: Fantastic Pet hobbyist store. Very knowledgeable staff who truly care and love the animals they home there.

Positive experience: I wish they took better care of the animals in the cages, and gave them proper wheels instead of the wire ones that can hurt them.

Fantastic experience: Excellent place to shop for your pet stuff. Excellent friendly and helpful staff as well.

Fantastic experience: Nice store very knowledgeable staff and friendly go pet the cats

Fantastic experience: I have always loved this store. Plus, Leonard

Fantastic experience: Beautiful, clean store with helpful staff ☺️

Fantastic experience: Everyone is so helpful and great variety of items for your pets

Fantastic experience: knowledgeable and helpful staff unlike other pet stores iv been to. Great Verity in live stock and products my new pet store THANKS GUYS :D

Fantastic experience: Great staff. Very knowledgeable and friendly. Great selection of tropical fish and supplies!

Fantastic experience: Great little pet shop. They were VERY helpful and their parrot is super friendly.

Fantastic experience: Very friendly and helpful staff had a great experience here.

Fantastic experience: Awesome selection and excellent staff! I can't wait to go back once they finish redoing the fish area.

Fantastic experience: Very knowledgeable about fish and aquariums

Fantastic experience: AJ's pets is amazing I booked an with AJ himself and he walked me through building a whole salt water fish tank with a smokin deal at the end I can't say enough good things a bout him or the store he really set aside the time for me as a customer and I never felt any pressure to buy at anytime....

Fantastic experience: Great ppl that work there, very helpful. Just all around good place to go.

Positive experience: Friendly knowledgeable staff. Went in to ask about setting up a new aquarium and staff took the time to explain tank cycling and what was required. Highly recommend. They also have a great selection of dog accoutrement!

Fantastic experience: Super friendly staff always very helpful. Best products for your furry friends

Positive experience: Nice little shop with fish, small reptiles, birds, hamsters and sometimes they have kittens to adopt. Friendly cats roam the store, lots of cat & dog toys, food & treats and you have to say hi to Leonard, so cute! He's a Green-cheeked Conure

Fantastic experience: While some places will sell you what you want and not give you the full knowledge needed to make your own decisions wisely, Andrew made sure we didn’t waste money and gave us that knowledge. Now our Aquarium is just awesome and we didn’t end up losing any fish in the start up! Best Pet Shop Ever. Friendly Staff. Just couldn’t have had a better experience. Thanks

Fantastic experience: Great staff, very good selection of items! Love all the free roaming cats. Definitely recommend this spot if you are looking for anything fish related

Positive experience: Very thorough store covering everything pet! Feels like the store just keeps going and going once you are inside. Large aquarium selection and some nice resident shop cats!

Fantastic experience: Bought a little Anole lizard. Friendly staff, funny to catch the little guy so we could take it home. Some good sale prices.

Fantastic experience: This is hands down the best pet store in Vernon. Staff are super knowledgeable and go out of their way to be helpful.

Positive experience: Friendly staff, good selection of aquarium related merchandise at competitive pricing. Me and my kids both think it's the best pet shop in Vernon. I can't vouch for the non aquaria related stuff, but it's a great place to shop and will always be the first place I go to look for pet related things.

Fantastic experience: This is our "go to" Pet store in Vernon! They are very knowledgeable, have excellent product(s) and OUTSTANDING customer service! My husband went in today as the light burned out in our fish tank. AJ himself helped him out and let us know why this happened. We very much appreciated this! HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Keep up the AWESOME work AJ Pets! :)

Fantastic experience: Gorgeous salt water as we enter with real live Nemo. Nice clean tanks and healthy happy fish. We will be back!

Positive experience: Staff is always friendly and helpful here. They carry some pretty nice stuff.

Positive experience: AJ always stands up for anything he sells..... even I'd the supplier doesn't

Positive experience: Staff could be a bit nicer and helpful some are amazing others aren't.

Positive experience: Good selection of pets and supplies, friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Awesome and helpful staff; Emily B.

Fantastic experience: The ONLY place to go for aquarium fish in the area! My bf and I were VERY indecisive customers on our last visit (and had two rambunctious little kids with us) but the staff was still as amazing and accommodating as ever. 16 fish in 8 bags later... And the kids didn't even break or destroy anything!! Very patient and friendly staff, and prices are super reasonable too, with many fish on 2 for 1 sales!

Fantastic experience: The owner replaced my broken fish tank in a heart beat, best customer service I had in a long time.

Fantastic experience: I love it because you get to pet the conure there and I love him. Also, they almost always have kittens up for adoption and looking at them makes me happy!