any advice on setting up an LFS store

[Red Devil]

IMO(and that's all any are giving)

Start with a nice clean well laid out store. Lots of selection, good prices, knowledgable overall on all setups including salt if you stock it but not overpowering to new customers(you're pretty good with being nice).

We have a local store that just opened. Clean/new store but the woman is on an ego trip thinking she knows everything about fish and other animals. For the average customer she has a decent layout but she sells fish but no supplys and just her attitude is enough to turn you off.

I think you need to stock whatever the majority consumers want and not what you like to keep as well. And if you can get special order fish for people definately make sure that's known.

Thank you for your reply about me being nice.. that was sweet.. you have alot of great info packed into this reply.. i am just reading them all again so i can absorb more.. and what you said about not being over bearing is so true.. you have to be there and available but not over shadow their looking at the fish.. and if you keep on yakking and be dominate over a person i know i would not feel comfortable there either.. and special orders is a plus.. we always have some frozen food put away for us.. and we can count on it being there.. thanks!!

 

[sclabman]

My friend and i are dreaming of opening up a store that combines two of our favorite hobbies, fish and music. We would have tanks and dry goods in one area and cds and really cool display tanks in another section. It would be awesome. People would be listening to music... looking at awesome tanks... really relaxing experience, no?

 

[Red Devil]

My friend and i are dreaming of opening up a store that combines two of our favorite hobbies, fish and music. We would have tanks and dry goods in one area and cds and really cool display tanks in another section. It would be awesome. People would be listening to music... looking at awesome tanks... really relaxing experience, no?

That sounds great.. as long as the store is big enough and the music was not over bearing..keep in mind alot of people like all different music and some heavy metal sounds maybe would not go over too big in a fish store

 

[Greenaveli]

I personally think you already have the most important thing.... The passion and love for the fish. That is a major plus as you will want to see the customers happy due to your passion. My LFS has a guy in there that I sometimes talk his ear off. He listens..Im not sure if he cares but it seems so. I sometimes buy things there I can get cheaper online because I really respect when someone is concerned with my concerns.

 

[Greenaveli]

If you go ahead with the idea please advise us to where the store is I would love to support a fellow monster. Plus we are in NY!!!

 

[Red Devil]

If you go ahead with the idea please advise us to where the store is I would love to support a fellow monster. Plus we are in NY!!!

Thats so nice of you ... and nice to meet you.. and i went tfrom NY to florida and back again too... we will have to swap stories sometime...thanks for your great post.. your right if you have ambition and desire you have a good head start..

 

[Greenaveli]

Thats so nice of you ... and nice to meet you.. and i went tfrom NY to florida and back again too... we will have to swap stories sometime...thanks for your great post.. your right if you have ambition and desire you have a good head start..

Florida is actually where i picked up this err...I wanna say hobby but im feeling more like addiction or obsession but hey for the sake of rambling well say hobby.

 

[Red Devil]

Florida is actually where i picked up this err...I wanna say hobby but im feeling more like addiction or obsession but hey for the sake of rambling well say hobby.

welcome to the club ..we all have the same disease..

 

[pacu mom]

I live in a small town. The next closest town is over thirty miles away in another state. In the past sixteen years, at least nine LFS/LPS have opened and closed. The last one that closed its doors had the most beautiful tanks--and was open less than one year. There is only one LFS in our area now, and they now sell a few birds and rodents in addition to fish. It is too small an operation to hire help, and the owner who obviously dearly loves his fish, has to do everything. He is virtually tied down to his business and cannot even consider ever going on a vacation or taking time off. The few filters and other items he has on hand are overpriced. He has to order just about everything. As a consumer, I want my dollar to go the farthest it can. By ordering online, I can get equipment cheaper, faster and save myself a second seventy mile drive picking up an ordered item from the LFS. Why should I buy a Freshwater Master Test Kit for $36, when I can buy the same thing online for $14 plus change? By not making all my fish and pet purchases from the local LPSs I have inadvertently contributed to their closings. However, I do have the right to choose the charities I wish to support. At the end of the year, supporting my LFS does not qualify as "charitable contributions" with the IRS.

My observations are that owning a LFS is fiscally risky business--at least in small rural towns. If you took the monthly overhead and added in the minimal amount you need to be paid to make it worth your while, and divided the total by the days in a month the shop is open, you would have the minimal amount of sales each day you would need to survive. I think a person could very quickly become very desperate to make any kind of a sale, if that's what it took to keep the business from going under. If a person were financially independent, and didn't mind putting money into the business every month (sort of as a hobby), owning an LFS could be "fun". But if a person had that kind of money, why not just keep all those fish at home as pets. You could always sell or give away fish to your friends.

Liz, I'm sorry to sound so negative, but this is my observation. Anyone opening a LFS in my area will not succeed. All others have tried and failed. The only one we have in the surrounding 35 miles is struggling badly. The last time I was there, his tanks were filthy, and he had a major algae problem taking over many of his tanks....It's really sad watching someone's life dream slowly turn into a nightmare.....

 

[Red Devil]

I live in a small town. The next closest town is over thirty miles away in another state. In the past sixteen years, at least nine LFS/LPS have opened and closed. The last one that closed its doors had the most beautiful tanks--and was open less than one year. There is only one LFS in our area now, and they now sell a few birds and rodents in addition to fish. It is too small an operation to hire help, and the owner who obviously dearly loves his fish, has to do everything. He is virtually tied down to his business and cannot even consider ever going on a vacation or taking time off. The few filters and other items he has on hand are overpriced. He has to order just about everything. As a consumer, I want my dollar to go the farthest it can. By ordering online, I can get equipment cheaper, faster and save myself a second seventy mile drive picking up an ordered item from the LFS. Why should I buy a Freshwater Master Test Kit for $36, when I can buy the same thing online for $14 plus change? By not making all my fish and pet purchases from the local LPSs I have inadvertently contributed to their closings. However, I do have the right to choose the charities I wish to support. At the end of the year, supporting my LFS does not qualify as "charitable contributions" with the IRS.

My observations are that owning a LFS is fiscally risky business--at least in small rural towns. If you took the monthly overhead and added in the minimal amount you need to be paid to make it worth your while, and divided the total by the days in a month the shop is open, you would have the minimal amount of sales each day you would need to survive. I think a person could very quickly become very desperate to make any kind of a sale, if that's what it took to keep the business from going under. If a person were financially independent, and didn't mind putting money into the business every month (sort of as a hobby), owning an LFS could be "fun". But if a person had that kind of money, why not just keep all those fish at home as pets. You could always sell or give away fish to your friends.

Liz, I'm sorry to sound so negative, but this is my observation. Anyone opening a LFS in my area will not succeed. All others have tried and failed. The only one we have in the surrounding 35 miles is struggling badly. The last time I was there, his tanks were filthy, and he had a major algae problem taking over many of his tanks....It's really sad watching someone's life dream slowly turn into a nightmare.....

I have read this and i have to agree with alot that you have said.. between the price of gas and location and the long hours it requires there is alot to concider.. but if it is a family run business then i think we can all work together and make it happen.. we will see though .. we relly have to all talk about it and all of us have to be on the same wave lenghth of what our expectations are etc.. business does take a year or two to be established.. and you need to know you won't be bringing in much money those first few years.. thanks for all your imput..there is alot to think about.