opening my own pet store,your opinion/tips will help ;)

[wednesday13]

"basement dwellers" with a good website are the future imo... no overhead or not nearly as much for u that way either. im sure u do stand a better chance being in LA with more people/potential customers but pet stores are droppin like flies lately. no way to compete with internet prices on dry goods/supplies/food. I'd focus on direct imports as ur saying, set up an account with fedex/ups and ship everything outta ur home location. i worked for a coral importer selling wholesale to lfs across the u.s, websites such as live aquaria and aquaculture type places... 90% of our customers were people out of their homes with a website and vendors liscence. the 10% owning lfs were old timers not willing to do online sales and i saw alot of them go under in the past year i worked there. just like u read on here lately about guys that were in buisness 25-30yrs. imo times of stores are already about over. you could still take walk ins and locals by apt. but dont sell urself short not appealing to the masses with internet sales. shipping is easy once u get goin... ups/fedex will come 2 ur location daily in the evening to pick up ur parcels. i used 2 drive countless hrs hitting up every lfs in my state or even outta state in search of fish 2 buy. now i just walk to my front porch for a package or take a quick trip to the airport lol... kinda sad as i do miss a good store...but times r changin. WYSIWYG is big these days also. good pics = good sales. Good luck with ur endeavours!! someones gotta keep it goin i suppose

 

[fisheatfish]

"basement dwellers" with a good website are the future imo... no overhead or not nearly as much for u that way either. im sure u do stand a better chance being in LA with more people/potential customers but pet stores are droppin like flies lately. no way to compete with internet prices on dry goods/supplies/food. I'd focus on direct imports as ur saying, set up an account with fedex/ups and ship everything outta ur home location. i worked for a coral importer selling wholesale to lfs across the u.s, websites such as live aquaria and aquaculture type places... 90% of our customers were people out of their homes with a website and vendors liscence. the 10% owning lfs were old timers not willing to do online sales and i saw alot of them go under in the past year i worked there. just like u read on here lately about guys that were in buisness 25-30yrs. imo times of stores are already about over. you could still take walk ins and locals by apt. but dont sell urself short not appealing to the masses with internet sales. shipping is easy once u get goin... ups/fedex will come 2 ur location daily in the evening to pick up ur parcels. i used 2 drive countless hrs hitting up every lfs in my state or even outta state in search of fish 2 buy. now i just walk to my front porch for a package or take a quick trip to the airport lol... kinda sad as i do miss a good store...but times r changin. WYSIWYG is big these days also. good pics = good sales. Good luck with ur endeavours!! someones gotta keep it goin i suppose

I agree...the Internet is the way to go. Check out aquabid.com if you don't already know about it.

 

[smitty03281964]

1. First thing I look for is a well organized and clean store with well maintained tanks. I want a store that is strictly out to please its customer by going that extra mile to get fish that are not the most common. If you only carry the very common fish then all the other stores are your competition everyday. You want to do something that separates you from the rest.
2. Prices and keep in mind you want the very frequent customers who prefer the more higher end type fish. I think than you yield more return per visit.
3. Healthy fish
4. Knowledgeable people (But I think that may be asking for too much)
5 A mailing list would be nice to advise of new arrivals