its because i dont own that i day-dream about having my own.
ive always thought of starting a live-rock business part time. aqua-culture of course.
ive always thought of starting a live-rock business part time. aqua-culture of course.
Monster Fish Keepers store?
- Thread starter Otto_VonBacon
- Start date
thinking outsife the box- i like it. but i really doubt its gonna happen unless a miracle happens and every1 chips in a dollar or two, and america's ecomomy goes on a super boom
I just read through all this, and I will tell you this: Experience is necessary, and if not, luck and research, however expierence, luck and research would be the optimum. You need to know what your doing, and hopefully you can predict how the market will react beforehand. I'm in college for business admin., and had the dreams of working for myself at somepoint as well. However, take a few courses, and you will see things you never even thought to consider beforehand. Overhead is huge and can not be stressed enough, nor can location. Sure there is the convenience factor, but not everything I buy I need right away, I'll hit those things online, so I believe there is middleground in that area, local business will stay because of the convenience, but so will online for the prices. Just because you like fish doesn't mean if you build it, they will always come, there are a lot more factors. Anyhow, most of what I was going to say has allready been hit on other pages. While I still say go ahead with your store (minus the MFK part), I will also say you better know what your doing, and prior research will make or break you. It's great to dream big, but not so big that you are not grounded by reality. Myself, I plan on working after graduation for other businesses, and will only open one if I find the right market, or find an existing market and know that I can do what they do, but better than them. If you plan on staying afloat, realize you are competing against sites as well, and that the difference between you and them, is personal costumer service, and make that your strong point as well I would think. I know for me at least, it's not always the prices that get me, because I know I can go online, but how I am treated while there, I've known plenty of people just walk out of stores when they planned on making a large purchase, just because of the manner in which they were treated.
I won't be starting a business anytime soon, first college, then possibly military. then maybe a business.
To make sure you get the quality. You will need someone to do audits of the store. I work in franchise that has inspectors basically grade your store to hold owners\managers accountable for quality product cleanliness. The same would be needed for an mfk pet store to ensure that every store is consistent and you don't end up like wal-mart or a local white trash pet store owner in my town that got his buisness shut down and even his pets at home taken away for humane conditions.
Otto_VonBacon;2558138; said:
I think this a great idea. I have been wanting to open my own fish store/ petstore for awhile now. Just don't know how I would get the tanks, the money, the support... I know enough to get me buy. I am learning each day about various types of fish... with the main tank being some 5,000 gallons with my RTC and a few others that will not be for sell. Also I would like to have an RO system large enough for 100 tanks or more
unlike the LFS here... I sure as hell will not have painted tetras or painted glass fish. Those poor dyed fish and injected fish... GRRR!
May I make a suggestion in all of this? Why don't we start with something simple like getting LFS to join MFK if they haven't already. That way, at least they have the resources to learn how to treat the fish they have correctly. The problem nowadays is keeping fish happy and healthy isn't cheap. You gotta remember that the fish they keep aren't their pets. They're cha-ching. It's no wonder that display tanks are so well kept, they attract people to the store. My point is, not every tank in a fish store can be a show tank. They are temporary housing for fish that will be bought within a few weeks. Cruel, maybe. Fiscal, yes. And that's what business is all about. Maximizing profit and minimizing cost. If we ran a store like most of us run our personal collections, the electricity bills alone would doom us.
Just my two cents.
Just my two cents.
