ATTN: anyone who has opened there own lfs

[Apistogramma Master]

WELLLLL, my 2 cents or a lot more then Im willing to write at the moment. But first I disagree with the post about dry goods! Livestock is now where it is more then the dry part. Anybody can buy anything over the net. But livestock is more personal and the cost & will cost a ton more to ship in for most people.
I'm going on 17 years with my own & about 24+ years in the business. I have been there, done that, herd that & seen it in my days. Not saying I know everything but a lot I do know. Common sense and respect and you do not need a college degree to have these.
You are on to something though. In the trade mags they have been saying that the independents (mom & pop) shops may make a come back because people are tired of the big boxes of crap. Not just in the pet trade.
A business plan for sure even though I did not do mine until about 10 years later?
You need to research your area. Check if you have a local SCORE (retired business pros) that help for someone starting a business etc.. Plus other free workshops. They will tell you to have 6 months of capital to start.
You need to have a nich in your area. Not to hard with a PetCo or Petsmart. These guys make me look real good. Plus the managers of these places actually come & buy from me! They are always sending customers my way since they can not provide the knowledge or service or the variety of cichlids, rare & odd ball stuff. They are stuck with selling the same old & can not do much more then that.
I also agree with a individual tank filter setup. Go old school. Central systems not worth the money!
Also do not plan on getting rich! Also no paid vacations or health care! If you do enjoy it but dont get to greedy. One of the number ONE things you will here with any business is getting good help. They are hard to come by. Because they always do not have the passion as you may. Be a hobbist by blood & it will show when someone walks through the door. But also remeber it no longer is a hobby once its a business! My first year I had two days off (Barely) I basically now I only have two days off a month now. But I enjoy what I do still.
Suppliers (at times bigger pain in the arses) There is a lot of crap going on behind the scenes in this business that will make your head spin. At times I want to say f it because of the all the bull crap. Remember customers can be some of the biggest pain in the butts. But then some make it all worth while.

I'm been thinking of expanding and open a couple more stores but my head starts to spin thinking about it. Biggest problem is someone to run it & trust them and pay them good and have the love of the hobby all in one. I have been asked in the past to franchise but thats a whole another ball game in itself. I have been even offered up to a million bucks in invested in me & my business before! Then i would turn into a corporate puppet and have to answer to someone else or worry about paying that money back!

well I could write a book (which I have considered) but no time.
Your welcome to email me & I can try to help some more. Or add on to this thread later on..


Me Dave
www.SomethingFishyinc.net

You forgot to mention the service end of the biz. Service will bring in half of your stores income . You must offer service you get at least 15 clients and I promise you will have a extra $5,000 in your pocket . But only if you do things right . Service brought me allot of money , and yes allot of headaches . It also depends if you live in a high end area as well . But then thats going to drive the cost of rent up as well . Its a fishy Biz bro , you can be successful at it or go straight under water . Just dont buy things you dont need . Dry goods always made me money it just depends if you know how to sell . If you sell a fish , you better sell his flake food. And he needs his Kent vitamins on the flake . ADD ON SALES !!!!!!!!!! Oh and money you better have some deep pockets to hold you off for the first year . Till you build a good customer base . I can say you better have at least 250,00 to do things right for the project . And another 70,000 to hold you off for the first year . AND LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Somethingfishyinc.net]

Yes Service can actually be #1. You have to be able to handle retail & a service business. If you read business, wall street etc.. PetSmart & PetCo that 25% or more of their profit comes from services(grooming, training, day care) etc..
Need a well written agreement contract. I have changed mine a dozen times over the years from trial and error. Getting paid can be a problem etc..

Also if you do salt water the cost will grow but profits can grow also. More time involved plus more can be lost in livestock.

You have to have some products but remember your profit margin can be less due to net & mail order competition? But product does not get sick or die. It also depends on your area? We are inexpensive compared to a lot of places in the country. I hear it all the time because of my net sales.

$250,000 is a good chunk of $ and maybe more then you really need? But It depends on your area and location etc.. Better to buy your own building.

I could easly setup a shop for about $50,000.

anyways, good luck and hope all works out.

me Dave

 

[smpage]

thanks for the info. I'm working up a business plan and looking for locations right now. Hopefully my investor won't get a sick stomach when I present him with costs haha. IF all goes well initially I hope to make this work. I don't want to be rich, I just want to help out.

 

[Adam-011]

My Parents want to open 1 soon. Atm they are trying to get a buisness plan.

 

[Arizonagrace]

Okay. Sounds like you heard from the business end of things. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to add a few things from the customer side of things.

I agree with separate filtration. I hate going into the store and finding the most beautiful fish and seeing they have an outbreak. It is disappointing, and a disappointed customer might not return, unless they know your reputation.

Most customers coming in would like to be acknowledge and then left to browse. Smile, say hi. Wait awhile and then ask if they need anything. I hate the stores where they walk around you or watch you like a hawk as you are looking at the fish. I won't go back to those stores.

Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. If I have a question about a product, or what might be best in a certain situation, I would like to know that you will be able to answer my questions. Or, if you can't, try finding the information out for the customer if you can. I would very much prefer if you don't get or act annoyed if I tend to ask the same ? twice. These are pets people are buying, and I often hear people asking ?s over again to be certain they are sure of what they are doing.

My lfs owner knows what I have purchased and will tell me if something is going to be able to go in one of my tanks. She may not remember everything, but she tries. And, yes, she always asks if I already have this or that...not to make a sale, but to make sure I don't have to make a 2nd trip if I don't have to.

Clean, clean, clean. I love going into a store that is clean. It doesn't have to be sparkling, but I have 2 stores near me that are absolutely filthy. I will not go into them. They smell, and if they don't keep things clean, they don't take care of their livestock. I wouldn't buy a fake plant in there if it was an emergency.

Try to stock things that no one in your area carries. It might cost a higher price, but it is nice to walk into the store and make a purchase rather then go online, buy, pay, and wait, wait, wait. When I want something...I want it TODAY.

I hope this helps.

 

[koop171]

I was looking into doing this in my area not to long ago and it fell through HORRIBLY. lol. the only thing around me that sells fish within 25 miles is wal-marx and they suck BAD. so when i went looking two things I found out

1. Get your vendors lisence and put you home address as the place of business ( if you don't allready have a storefront)
2. When contacting wholesalers tell them the store is up and running and you are currently looking at switching wholesalers for whatever reason.

also when looking at wholesalers some will only want to deal with you if you profit X amount of dollars a year OR buy X amount of dollars worth of supplies a year.

Wholesalers is where I ran into all my problems. It just didn't seem like they wanted to help get a new business running. If I wasn't going to place a $5,000 order NOW they didn't want to talk.

Although I did find the Fish wholesalers to be VERY VERY nice and helpfull it was the supply guys I didn't get along with.

 

[cichlaguapote]

thanks for the info. I'm working up a business plan and looking for locations right now. Hopefully my investor won't get a sick stomach when I present him with costs haha. IF all goes well initially I hope to make this work. I don't want to be rich, I just want to help out.

Let's be honest with the amount of time/money you will have invested you will need to be able to make a living off of it at some point or really it won't be worth the trouble.

IMO I would also start small to get a feel for demand. Maybe setup a couple tanks in your house and bring in some small things, then place ads in local paper? Or possibly put an add saying tropical fish available and see what everyone's interested in when they call and go from there. You will have more business with a brick and morter building/less competition but it will require a larger investment than the tons of people who only sell online. Possibly talk to people like Ken @ FishFarm to get pricing? TFD? Also there is a list somewhere on the net(I found it before) that lists wholesalers and their websites/contact info internationally. Everything from eastern europe angelfish to others. Problem is I forget where I found it. Just my thoughts. Good Luck..

 

[navygirl76]

i hope you can go for it. myself, id love to see alot more mom and pop fish stores. They offer personal service unlike lfs, and have stock that is not the same ol same ol that lfs carry. like someone else said, make sure you hire workers who are just as passionate and knowledgeable as you-that will make a difference as to who you attract.