Im starting an AQuarium/Fish store....
- Thread starter fishman646
- Start date
make a few large community tanks as show pieces that will lure customers into buying many things rather than just fish alone.. IE. buy plants,gravel,driftwood etc.
every once in a while have sales on select fishes, Idealy you would chose fish that are not selling well or fishes that are very high priced and have a large profit margin.
every once in a while have sales on select fishes, Idealy you would chose fish that are not selling well or fishes that are very high priced and have a large profit margin.
Cichlaholics Anonymous;2436773; said:
seems more like personal preference to me. to my knowledge it would be alot easier to go FW at first then if saltwater goes in high demand and you have the money then it's probably a more logical idea.
as far as location goes yes i agree with everything here. find something in big towns or cities, or at least very active places. theres this one fish store i saw thats pretty nice but it's in the middle of no where. haha. i felt bad, thought i was the only person that came the time i went.
Maybe put a big 250 gallon tank in the front.A community tank, with smaller fish(neons etc.) Like near the window, so when customers walk by they will be fascinated and want to walk in. Just a thought.
if you have a nice show tank move it to the window for appeal. people will go in a store if they have good appeal from outside. keep the front of the building clean. i really like to look at display tanks in the stores around here. people like a clean looking store front with displays so they can see how nice these things are...
The fish industry is challenging, but worth it. It took me 2 years before I found a decent supplier. Once you find him, he'll be your best friend. If you are getting fish via air cargo, bulk is the cheapest. Make sure you have a large car for all of the boxes! Remember, your dealing with living creatures, mark up percent is key, you'll lose a lot of money if you don't mark up right, expect to lose fish. The average pet store marks up around 300%. If you carry a good supply, people will always talk about your store, if your supply isn't so great, people will never hear about it.....carry all types of fish. Make it unique, make it a place people will remember. Feel free to look at my site, get some ideas.
www.freewebs.com/jthefishguy
www.freewebs.com/jthefishguy
i like to add one more thing to wat everyone said. i think u shud get guppies and breed them as live food. one of my friend has a fish store and thts how he started. guppies mate real fast and hav many babies so u might wanna start this way and go up. add more exotic fish as you grow...
Open your store in Cincinnati most of them suck around here. Most of the people here talk and show fish I've never seen before or fish I havn't seen since I moved away from NY and NC, and you would think you can find better lfs around here then in NC. I think everyone here gave excellent ideas and comments. I hope if you do open one you put it all to good use.
