diff --git a/piker/data/_symcache.py b/piker/data/_symcache.py
index 1f1cb9ec..22baedd7 100644
--- a/piker/data/_symcache.py
+++ b/piker/data/_symcache.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ from contextlib import (
 )
 from pathlib import Path
 from pprint import pformat
+import time
 from typing import (
     Any,
     Callable,
@@ -48,7 +49,10 @@ except ModuleNotFoundError:
     import tomli as tomllib
 from msgspec import field
 
-from piker.log import get_logger
+from piker.log import (
+    get_console_log,
+    get_logger,
+)
 from piker import config
 from piker.types import Struct
 from piker.brokers import (
@@ -356,24 +360,35 @@ def mk_cachefile(
 ) -> Path:
     cachedir: Path = config.get_conf_dir() / '_cache'
     if not cachedir.is_dir():
-        log.info(f'Creating `nativedb` director: {cachedir}')
+        log.info(
+            f'Creating symbology-cache subdir\n'
+            f'{cachedir}'
+        )
         cachedir.mkdir()
 
     cachefile: Path = cachedir / f'{str(provider)}.symcache.toml'
     cachefile.touch()
+
     return cachefile
 
 
 @acm
 async def open_symcache(
-    mod_or_name: ModuleType | str,
+    mod_or_name: ModuleType|str,
 
     reload: bool = False,
     only_from_memcache: bool = False,  # no API req
     _no_symcache: bool = False,  # no backend support
 
+    loglevel: str = 'info',
+
 ) -> SymbologyCache:
 
+    log = get_console_log(
+        level=loglevel,
+        name=__name__,
+    )
+
     if isinstance(mod_or_name, str):
         mod = get_brokermod(mod_or_name)
     else:
@@ -388,7 +403,8 @@ async def open_symcache(
     # the backend pkg-module is annotated appropriately.
     if (
         getattr(mod, '_no_symcache', False)
-        or _no_symcache
+        or
+        _no_symcache
     ):
         yield SymbologyCache(
             mod=mod,
@@ -400,60 +416,75 @@ async def open_symcache(
     # actor-level cache-cache XD
     global _caches
     if not reload:
-        try:
-            yield _caches[provider]
-        except KeyError:
+        symcache: SymbologyCache|None = _caches.get(provider)
+        if symcache:
+            yield symcache
+        else:
             msg: str = (
-                f'No asset info cache exists yet for `{provider}`'
+                f'No in-mem symcache found for {provider!r}\n'
+                f'Loading..'
             )
             if only_from_memcache:
                 raise RuntimeError(msg)
             else:
-                log.warning(msg)
+                log.info(msg)
 
     # if no cache exists or an explicit reload is requested, load
     # the provider API and call appropriate endpoints to populate
     # the mkt and asset tables.
     if (
         reload
-        or not cachefile.is_file()
+        or
+        not cachefile.is_file()
     ):
-        cache = await SymbologyCache.from_scratch(
+        log.info(
+            f'Generating NEW symbology-cache for {provider!r}..\n'
+            f'>[{cachefile}'
+        )
+        symcache: SymbologyCache = await SymbologyCache.from_scratch(
             mod=mod,
             fp=cachefile,
         )
 
     else:
         log.info(
-            f'Loading EXISTING `{mod.name}` symbology cache:\n'
-            f'> {cachefile}'
+            f'Loading EXISTING symbology-cache for {provider!r}..\n'
+            f'[>{cachefile}'
         )
-        import time
-        now = time.time()
+        now: float = time.time()
         with cachefile.open('rb') as existing_fp:
             data: dict[str, dict] = tomllib.load(existing_fp)
-            log.runtime(f'SYMCACHE TOML LOAD TIME: {time.time() - now}')
+            log.runtime(
+                f'Symcache loaded!\n'
+                f'load-latency: {time.time() - now}\n'
+            )
 
             # if there's an empty file for some reason we need
             # to do a full reload as well!
             if not data:
-                cache = await SymbologyCache.from_scratch(
+                from_msg: str = 'NEW request to provider'
+                symcache = await SymbologyCache.from_scratch(
                     mod=mod,
                     fp=cachefile,
                 )
             else:
-                cache = SymbologyCache.from_dict(
+                from_msg: str = f'{cachefile}'
+                symcache = SymbologyCache.from_dict(
                     data,
                     mod=mod,
                     fp=cachefile,
                 )
 
-
         # TODO: use a real profiling sys..
         # https://github.com/pikers/piker/issues/337
-        log.info(f'SYMCACHE LOAD TIME: {time.time() - now}')
+        log.info(
+            f'Symcache data loaded from {from_msg} !\n'
+            f'load-latency: {time.time() - now}s\n'
+            f'cachefile: {cachefile}\n'
+        )
 
-    yield cache
+    _caches[provider] = symcache
+    yield symcache
 
     # TODO: write only when changes detected? but that should
     # never happen right except on reload?
@@ -476,7 +507,6 @@ def get_symcache(
         async with (
             # only for runtime's debug mode
             tractor.open_nursery(debug_mode=True),
-
             open_symcache(
                 get_brokermod(provider),
                 reload=force_reload,