My company is within the ten biggest PW in the world....small scale? Only small scale i see is the margins....
potential idea.. just thinkin' outloud.
- Thread starter Morledzep
- Start date
My company is within the ten biggest PW in the world....small scale? Only small scale i see is the margins....
I say go for it. This is something I really want to do myself. In my area its just the common fish you see at just high prices. I see jags at 3-4 inches for $20+ and I just walk out of the store.. id rather spend $30 for a smaller juvie from rapps and pay shipping for a better quality fish.
My plan was to specialize is oddballs, and higher quality cichlids, american and african. A small salt section and pond too. Must have a online site and shipping. Breeding will be the biggest payback instead of ordering. Large display tanks or hands on tanks will draw people in aswell. I also wanted a small reptile section too. Cost can be kept low by using nothing but sponge filters instead of filters for each tank or filtration that runs multiple tanks.
As seen on this forum, all it takes is a thread to show an amazing fish and people will pay lots for offspring. If I had the money or backing I would go for it.
Sent from my LGL55C using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
My plan was to specialize is oddballs, and higher quality cichlids, american and african. A small salt section and pond too. Must have a online site and shipping. Breeding will be the biggest payback instead of ordering. Large display tanks or hands on tanks will draw people in aswell. I also wanted a small reptile section too. Cost can be kept low by using nothing but sponge filters instead of filters for each tank or filtration that runs multiple tanks.
As seen on this forum, all it takes is a thread to show an amazing fish and people will pay lots for offspring. If I had the money or backing I would go for it.
Sent from my LGL55C using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Does anyone realize how many fish you have to sell just to cover your overhead (rent, utilities, insurance, etc.)? How about always working weekends? Most young people today are not into keeping fish. The fish keeping hobby is currently in the tank (pun intended).
+1. The economy is still bad and the first things to go in a down economy are hobbies. That's why so many people sell their big tanks on craigslist.
If it was me, I wouldn't do it. From what I know about the riverside area it isn't a good area to open a business there. There arent enough hobbyists there. You even said that the store site you were considering hasnt been occupied since 2007. That's a clear sign that businesses don't do well in that particular area.
People here are telling you to do it but that's mostly because we love fish so much. You've got to separate your love for fish from practical judgment. All the signs are telling you its a bad idea but if you ask advice from peopme at mfk they'll mostly say its a great idea because we just want one more store. You're the one taking all the risks though. I really think its a bad idea at least for now.
Also I think the store site being a standalone location is a bad thing. You WANT other businesses next to you to draw in casual customers and people who want to browse your tanks. Without neighboring shops, the only people who are going to stop by are people specifically looking for pet stuff, and most of those people are probably going to shop at petsmart instead because that petsmart is next to starbucks/mcdonalds or whatever and is more convenient than going to your store. If you were next to a supermarket, you'd have a LOT more foot traffic. Being close to a gas station and the other places you mentioned isn't going to help bring people into the store.
you could be right about it the stand alone thing.. what i'm looking at is the traffic that passes that store every day all day.
and i've got a couple niches that no other pet store will fill.. first is catering to raw feeders, especially prey model, even the folks that want to feed ground pre-made patties. one of the biggest questions is where do you buy meat at prices that will make raw feeding affordable. lots of folks look for meat co-ops and buying groups. the biggest buying group in so cal has alienated more people than are members currently, and they only have one distribution day per month. to be able to have a store a raw feeder could go to almost any time and pick up anything from cases of meat to 1 lb "meal sized" hunks of meat and even a small selection of meat that is already thawed for "just in case" would be a raw feeder's dream come true. Most of the reptile and fish stores that are still in business in this area sell only mice, rats and crickets. to get any other live food it has to be ordered or the customer would have to drive to a farm feed store (closest one is about 10 miles away). the cool thing about always having chicks, rabbits and some of the larger live prey animals for reptiles is that they grow up and then can be butchered and sold as wolf chow (prey model raw). and there is Made in the USA, the only thing that will be imported will be the fish.. lol.
as a prey model raw feeder myself there have been many times when i've forgotten to thaw something for the dogs and wished that the Smart and Final was still open there so i could dash in and get a big hunk o pork or beef for the dogs on my way home. and like i said before, this particular on/off ramp from the freeway is used more than any other on/off ramp with one possible exception because of ease of use and fewer traffic signals than the other streets.
i'm sure many other folks have similar things happen, even folks that feed commercial dog and cat foods sometimes run out and people forget to buy more till they are almost home and hate the idea of turning around and going back or going to the shopping areas when all they need is one thing. almost all of the major grocery store chains have left this city too. Von's and Albertsons are gone, the only Ralph's is way over on the north side of town. even the Stater Bros grocery stores have moved to the east and north sides of town, in the middle of the city there are exactly zero grocery stores except for ONE hispanic grocery store that took over an old Ralph's store down the street from my house.
what's the worst thing that can happen? the bank can turn me down for a small business loan? i still think with the building being made more attractive, brighter colored and with a nice professional mural on the main street side of the building and maybe the fence too, i could bring in the people easy enough. not to mention the billboards that are for rent on either side freeway near the off ramps. i also forgot to mention that there is a traffic signal on that corner, so folks would be able to get in and out easily.
and i've got a couple niches that no other pet store will fill.. first is catering to raw feeders, especially prey model, even the folks that want to feed ground pre-made patties. one of the biggest questions is where do you buy meat at prices that will make raw feeding affordable. lots of folks look for meat co-ops and buying groups. the biggest buying group in so cal has alienated more people than are members currently, and they only have one distribution day per month. to be able to have a store a raw feeder could go to almost any time and pick up anything from cases of meat to 1 lb "meal sized" hunks of meat and even a small selection of meat that is already thawed for "just in case" would be a raw feeder's dream come true. Most of the reptile and fish stores that are still in business in this area sell only mice, rats and crickets. to get any other live food it has to be ordered or the customer would have to drive to a farm feed store (closest one is about 10 miles away). the cool thing about always having chicks, rabbits and some of the larger live prey animals for reptiles is that they grow up and then can be butchered and sold as wolf chow (prey model raw). and there is Made in the USA, the only thing that will be imported will be the fish.. lol.
as a prey model raw feeder myself there have been many times when i've forgotten to thaw something for the dogs and wished that the Smart and Final was still open there so i could dash in and get a big hunk o pork or beef for the dogs on my way home. and like i said before, this particular on/off ramp from the freeway is used more than any other on/off ramp with one possible exception because of ease of use and fewer traffic signals than the other streets.
i'm sure many other folks have similar things happen, even folks that feed commercial dog and cat foods sometimes run out and people forget to buy more till they are almost home and hate the idea of turning around and going back or going to the shopping areas when all they need is one thing. almost all of the major grocery store chains have left this city too. Von's and Albertsons are gone, the only Ralph's is way over on the north side of town. even the Stater Bros grocery stores have moved to the east and north sides of town, in the middle of the city there are exactly zero grocery stores except for ONE hispanic grocery store that took over an old Ralph's store down the street from my house.
what's the worst thing that can happen? the bank can turn me down for a small business loan? i still think with the building being made more attractive, brighter colored and with a nice professional mural on the main street side of the building and maybe the fence too, i could bring in the people easy enough. not to mention the billboards that are for rent on either side freeway near the off ramps. i also forgot to mention that there is a traffic signal on that corner, so folks would be able to get in and out easily.
