i understand that you want to do this as your profession and it does soundp pretty cool, but think about it. it really is a hobby, not something that youre going to make enough money to live off of for the rest of your life. study animals and become a vet or something and then have a vet in your store. i think that would be a great idea. Also if the store is what you say it is, youre going to need to do a lot of advertising to show that its under new management, and hopefully you'll get good business. good luck with it and remember-im just suggesting things, not telling you to do themdzb912;2490282; said:
thinking about buying a herp/fish store
- Thread starter dzb912
- Start date
what you can make loads of money if you atablish your self in the market and im hear to help you all i can
i dont think your age will be a huge problem, there is a toy store in a local mall that is owned by a 14 year old.dzb912;2490282; said:
also dont just stock monsters, make sure to have pelenty of non-monsters to appeal to a wider audience
Another thing to make sure of is the appearance of your building and how clean you keep your tanks. A lot of customers are loss do to the appearance of a store. Advertising and your stock will also be very important as well as how you treat the customers.
Clean, well lit environments and store, with friendly and helpful staff would do it for me. You'll want plenty of "basic" animals and herps, such as goldfish, mollies, guppies, angelfish, bearded dragons, leopard geckos and so on. I also like a store that buys in the occasional quirky animal, not really monsters, but things like leaf fish, climbing perch and so on.
Keep all the beginning animals in the cheap catergory for their type. Don't go selling super morph pythons because you'll end up keeping them in store. Just sell the basics, maybe put signs up that you can order speciality or more unusual animals in on demand.
Make your own caresheets and have them available for free at the counter.
Check out the other stores in town and offer better prices on things such as frozen and live foods.
Best of luck if you go for it,
Paul
Keep all the beginning animals in the cheap catergory for their type. Don't go selling super morph pythons because you'll end up keeping them in store. Just sell the basics, maybe put signs up that you can order speciality or more unusual animals in on demand.
Make your own caresheets and have them available for free at the counter.
Check out the other stores in town and offer better prices on things such as frozen and live foods.
Best of luck if you go for it,
Paul
Very good advice!, another thing dont hire Family, they'll steal from you faster than anyone else.
Advertise ! no one will know where your at unless you advertise, newspaper, tv ads, radio.
Keep it clean, I recall people always complaining and leaving PETLAND just because of the smell!!
Dont get crazy on the exotics... keep to the bread and butter of the fish and reptiles industry. If you do exotics, maybe do online sells too. Alot of the reptiles business that have shops, tend to make most of they're high dollar sales online, I recall seeing people trip because they would see a turtle and see the $400 price tag and freak out. $400 for a turtle? If they're not reptile or fish hobbyist they wont care... .And practically all 99% of people at petstores are just average joe's whom have a fish or two. Those 1%'s dont really shop at petstores because they know about websites, breeders, online stores, etc...
Advertise ! no one will know where your at unless you advertise, newspaper, tv ads, radio.
Keep it clean, I recall people always complaining and leaving PETLAND just because of the smell!!
Dont get crazy on the exotics... keep to the bread and butter of the fish and reptiles industry. If you do exotics, maybe do online sells too. Alot of the reptiles business that have shops, tend to make most of they're high dollar sales online, I recall seeing people trip because they would see a turtle and see the $400 price tag and freak out. $400 for a turtle? If they're not reptile or fish hobbyist they wont care... .And practically all 99% of people at petstores are just average joe's whom have a fish or two. Those 1%'s dont really shop at petstores because they know about websites, breeders, online stores, etc...
varanio;2489954; said:
lol lol. Yeah whats the store called? Its not easy running a fish business in our area. There is way to much competition and some very good ones out there. Trust me. My friend owns Animal Island. I have been hard core in the game for over 10years and young myself. But would'nt waste my money trying to compete with a couple big guys in the area. So I stuck to being an accountant.
jason is a good friend of mine tooray777;2491794; said:
but i think i can do this
and if not atleat i can say i tried
but jason dosent carry morphs normaly
and this will be an online store also
half and half
like snake bytes tv almost
and my friend is going to help me get more buisness by having a few bird sales also
hes into that kinda stuff
KEEP IT CLEAN!! ANIMALS HEALTHY!! AND HAVE GOOD EMPLOYEES!!
Those are the most important. ive been driven away from many places due to lack of these things.
I like tanks clean! tanks arent clean= me turning around and taking my bussiness else where. keep fish tanks nice and clear and fish nice bright and active. Also keep animals looking healthy. keep sick/ not so good looking ones in the back. this goes for fish and herps. my eyes ussually go right for those. they stick out like a sore thumb
Keep good employees on hand. i hate going into places and having employees who know NOTHING! i hate getting fed bullsh*t when they think you know nothing. it just makes me want to leave. i like going in and getting noticed right away to, makes me more apt to buy something if the help is there right away.
keep care sheets everywhere as well. employees that know there stuff are good but having tangible info is a huge plus. let people walk around and read it while they shop around. helps them come up with better questions which in the end would help with a better transaction.
I wouldnt keep alot of high end stuff on hand right off the bat. you will loose money. think about the feeding, electricity, and other expenses that will go into each animal. more cost consuming with herps than fish. keep a real good variety of beginner fish and intermediate fish. you can keep some high end fish as well. but keep more mainstream ones. keep the high ends to special order. its nice to have a place to go to who can get you what you need with a quick phone call
.
ive been dealing with a little hole in the wall shop for years now. i get great service, get greated as soon as im there. sometimes i end up talking with him for an hour or more everytime im there. i can call him on the spot and he has what i need. if he cant get it he sends me where i can.
also take some accounting classes in high school and college if you go. you dont have to be the accountant but it will help to know some of it.
And good luck with it all. i hope it all works out for you
Those are the most important. ive been driven away from many places due to lack of these things.
I like tanks clean! tanks arent clean= me turning around and taking my bussiness else where. keep fish tanks nice and clear and fish nice bright and active. Also keep animals looking healthy. keep sick/ not so good looking ones in the back. this goes for fish and herps. my eyes ussually go right for those. they stick out like a sore thumb
Keep good employees on hand. i hate going into places and having employees who know NOTHING! i hate getting fed bullsh*t when they think you know nothing. it just makes me want to leave. i like going in and getting noticed right away to, makes me more apt to buy something if the help is there right away.
keep care sheets everywhere as well. employees that know there stuff are good but having tangible info is a huge plus. let people walk around and read it while they shop around. helps them come up with better questions which in the end would help with a better transaction.
I wouldnt keep alot of high end stuff on hand right off the bat. you will loose money. think about the feeding, electricity, and other expenses that will go into each animal. more cost consuming with herps than fish. keep a real good variety of beginner fish and intermediate fish. you can keep some high end fish as well. but keep more mainstream ones. keep the high ends to special order. its nice to have a place to go to who can get you what you need with a quick phone call
.ive been dealing with a little hole in the wall shop for years now. i get great service, get greated as soon as im there. sometimes i end up talking with him for an hour or more everytime im there. i can call him on the spot and he has what i need. if he cant get it he sends me where i can.
also take some accounting classes in high school and college if you go. you dont have to be the accountant but it will help to know some of it.
And good luck with it all. i hope it all works out for you
one thing that I would think would bring people in would be a really big show tank with your aros and rays kind of thing, I could just picture kids asking mommy to go see the big fish
also make sure your employees are very helpful
one of my favorite things at one lfs is that if they dont know something he will look it up in a book or google it which I find amazing
also make sure your employees are very helpful
one of my favorite things at one lfs is that if they dont know something he will look it up in a book or google it which I find amazing
