Emmaquatics Aquarium and Lounge, a new and independently owned Bellingham tropical fish store, is opening on Nov. 30 at 1208 Cornwall Ave.
The new aquarium specializes in the sale of locally bred fish and marine life. Emma Langley, owner of the aquarium, aims to source at least 80% of fish and shrimp sold from Bellingham area breeders.
“Every single piece of what I’m doing is going to come back directly to me and directly to my community,” they said. “It’s really important to me, aside from providing for my basic needs, that I put that money back into our community.”
Langley hopes that Emmaquatics Aquarium and Lounge can fill “even a fraction of the hole left by the Clarks fire,” as said in a social media post advertising the opening, in reference to the Bellingham pet store Clark Feed and Seed that burned down in July 2019.
Colin Apt, founder of the Bellingham-area aquarium management business The Photic Zone, described Clark Feed and Seed as the “multigenerational place to go for fish” before the location burned down.
“There was a much larger community in town when Clark Feed and Seed was still there. It was kind of like a hub for people that like freshwater and saltwater aquariums,” Apt said. “But without that, there’s been kind of a void.”
The aquarium, arranged to resemble a living room, will also function as a community space for local aquarists and other fish enthusiasts.
“When I was working at Red’s, one of the things that I noticed was the amount of people that wanted to come in and hang out and talk about fish,” Langley said. “I wanted to create a space where people who kept fish on their own and also wanted to hang out and look at fish and socialize could do so comfortably.”
Branden Rishel, a Bellingham aquarist and former client of Langley’s, believes in aquariums as a therapeutic hobby.
“There's a reason why they're in doctor and dentist offices. A walk in the forest might be great, but you can enjoy an aquarium if you only have two minutes,” Rishel wrote in an email.
Emmaquatics aims to address the lack of an aquarium “maker space” in Bellingham, according to Langley.
“There’s not a place that you can show up, buy all the stuff to put your tank together and then sit there with a professional and put it all together,” she said.
Apt traces the lack of an equipment-based space to a shift toward online purchases.
“Now with everything that you can buy online, stores only get profits from selling fish, so it’s kind of lacking on that aspect,” he said. “It’s really difficult for a retail store to survive on selling just live things.”
Langley also plans to implement an espresso bar and obtain a beer and wine license for the location in the future.
“I’m shooting to have beer and wine offerings by April, in time for the good weather,” she said. Emmaquatics Aquarium and Lounge will provide tea and fish-themed snacks from day one, and the espresso bar aims to be established by the beginning of fall 2026.
“I appreciate especially that Emma works to be inclusive, and they're in touch with a community of diverse people,” Rishel wrote. “I'm eagerly awaiting my first visit to the Emmaquatics store, and I look forward to watching a community develop around it.”
Carden Mercier (he/she) is a City Life reporter for The Front. This quarter is his first publishing for The Front; he is currently a sophomore at Western Washington University seeking a degree for news/editorial journalism. Outside of writing for The Front, he is a hobbyist digital artist and writer and can often be found exploring Bellingham for new spots to eat. He can be contacted at cardenmercier.thefront@gmail.com.
