Looking for input regarding an LFS....

some more good thoughts........
crustin: yeah i always try to give people places to make research easy. esp local clubs that we have, which in turn will bring them back for the club discount!
i also have an LFS that is hands down- all about making a good customer relationship. He has taken care of me more than once and I cant say enough for his store and service.

thanks!
 
I guess I'll just be repeating whats already been said about 5 times but the #1 thing is displays!

I go to a fish store just to see a cool display

And then second from that is to have healthy fish/corals ... If one fish in a tank looks sick then you wont sell any fish from that tank until that fish is cured or dies and is removed.

Smart employees aswell, saturday I went to a LFS with my mom to show her some stuff and she liked the crosshatch triggers ... the lady was trying to tell her she could put a pair of them in her 55 gallon reef.
 
... just look professional: clean, organized, no dead fish lying in the tanks for days. There's a semi-local place that some people love for internet livestock sales. Went there and the place just looks too ghetto: dirty, scratched up display tanks, cords everywhere, ratty old carpeting. First impressions count. If you can't keep your own store in tip-top shape, why should I trust your advice, or the health of your livestock? Also, be ethical in your livestock choices. First time I see a totally inappropriate species in your tanks (like a chambered nautilus, for example) is the last time you see me.
 
reefnewbie:
and why cant you put 2 crosshatch triggers in a 55 gal reef? LOL, i like that one.............

i am on the same track with appearance.
Just the other day i found out there was an LFS not far from me so i had to check it out. Not only will i never buy from them, I felt like i had to go home and scrub down with Lye soap followed by a good bleach rinsing! this place was absolutely horrible! not only the store but the tanks were horrible too. An adult moorish Idol in a 15 gal tank!?!?!? How many regal tangs in a 15, all of them!! prices were uncalled for........health was poor, and variety....yeah they had variety......same fish in every tank with different colored gravel from 1971. filter system? yeah a brute bucket and pump......the skimmer....no comment.....how much was a seaclone......$179.00 !!!!!!!!

ok you got my point, i am going in a 180* opposite of that store!!!

thanks all, sorry to digress there...........
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7455151#post7455151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by baja_01
First off, your going to get screwed on pricing. Most things that you get "wholesale" will be more expensive than on-line stores. Maybe stock some emergency/small supplies, but I would concentraite on live stock. Start a prop tank and grow out fast growing corals to sell to newbies. Try and get some rare stock if you can.
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me proping corals to sale in a retail store? Even home operations with low overhead don’t make much. I do agree that online will kill a lot of pricing on dry goods and even live. There is good money in selling cheap everyday freshwater fish and equipments since your going to get a lot of non-hobbyist that just want a fish tank. Even though its cheap $3-10 fish there is a good markup and your going to get higher turnover. Also look into aquarium maintenance as a big part of your business.
 
I agree with raskal311,

You should reallize however, that a LARGE portion of your customers are not shopping online for drygoods and especially not livestock. You don't have to be competitively priced on most products with online pricing. for example, Even though your price on maxi jet 1200's might be 40$ while an online place is 15 or 20$, you will still sell a ton. I have seen many customers, who even knew online pricing still buy from the LFS because of convenience.


Also, it is absolutily critical that you have a business degree and it would be very helpful if you have lots of experience in managing a LFS. It may sound stupid but lots of people try to establish an aquatics business with no business background (they typically have a biology degree or the like). You should be prepared to not make any money for quite some time and work LONG hours. There are countless people who have lost 100,000$ + trying to start up a lfs. You need an excellent business plan, be prepared to not make money for quite some time, and reallize that banks are going to laugh at you when you try to get a loan.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7506557#post7506557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by merseyman
... just look professional: clean, organized, no dead fish lying in the tanks for days. There's a semi-local place that some people love for internet livestock sales. Went there and the place just looks too ghetto: dirty, scratched up display tanks, cords everywhere, ratty old carpeting. First impressions count. If you can't keep your own store in tip-top shape, why should I trust your advice, or the health of your livestock? Also, be ethical in your livestock choices. First time I see a totally inappropriate species in your tanks (like a chambered nautilus, for example) is the last time you see me.
Click to expand...

I agree with all these points as well. You will need to establish a niche. Most people get turned off from Petco/petsmart and the like when they buy a diseased/inappropriate livestock. If you can bring in these customers who trust your advice and products, they WILL pay more for them. If your business is not geared at making every customer successful (or at least attempting) you will fail. Word of mouth advertisement is critical.

As far as floor layout I prefer it to be as open as possible. I always hate going into stores where I feel crammed and there are a billion different rooms where customers are unlikely to find (or unlikely to go in even if they are found).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7457506#post7457506 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RobinsonFam1

what does everyone prefer for coral tanks: do you like lagoon/look down style or prefer a standard tank viewed from the front?
Click to expand...

Standard tanks typically brought much higher sales on corals than look down styles did. Many times corals that sat for weeks in the look down tanks would sell within a few days in the standard tanks. The only animals I would think about displaying as a look down would be clams.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7459456#post7459456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hopper
One other thing I forgot and it was just mentioned. Even if you have to charge a little more for the fish, be sure and give a guarantee on your fish for a couple of weeks. I no longer buy fish from my LFS for this very reason. He wouldn't guarantee them and I lost $100 of fish in a week.
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I disagree. First if your losing a $100 a week of fish something is very wrong with that situation.

Second, when a fish leaves your store you have NO control over what happens. I would test a customers water before purchase (or at least offer), make sure they know how to acclimate it, check compatibility with their set-up before the livestock leaves. If a customer is loosing livestock you need to find the root cause (and offer a case by case guarantee), not just give a blanket guarantee. If you sold a customer a clownfish that dies two days later, along with the remaining 30 that are in your stock, you know it was probably the stores fault. If all 30 are still healthy, something probably went wrong on the customers end.
 
... I second that. If anything, maybe a 24-72 hr. guarantee at the longest, just to give people some peace of mind.

Also, one of the realities of owning or working in an LFS is that the vast majority of your sales and interactions will be with complete newbies. You're not going to be discussing the merits of closed loop systems all day, but rather trying to convince someone that, "no, that niger trigger won't do well in your son's goldfish tank." It takes a LOT of patience, but these are going to be your regular customers, and if you start them out right they will come back many times.
 
yes the corals and fish is where it will be best. drygoods will include enough to get a few new set up out the door and a few "upgrades" for stepping up. i will not try to stock and equivalent of MDepot per say.
i am on the fence with a gaurantee for fish though. sooo many variables there, esp when the summer gets to be 100* and the owner has no AC and a 45 min drive ahead of them.

$100 fish in one week sux, but at the same time can you prove for sure that it was the LFS and not another variable? too hard to say for me and yes i have been down that road several times even after acclimating and everything else done correctly. some things just happen. $100 is not that bad, i had a nice "show tank" and lost all fish in one week except for the damsels. (+-) $700, i have no idea why, water tested good and no visible signs of disease. no new occupants etc.....

thanks for the ideas all!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7508807#post7508807 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by merseyman
... I second that. If anything, maybe a 24-72 hr. guarantee at the longest, just to give people some peace of mind.

Also, one of the realities of owning or working in an LFS is that the vast majority of your sales and interactions will be with complete newbies. You're not going to be discussing the merits of closed loop systems all day, but rather trying to convince someone that, "no, that niger trigger won't do well in your son's goldfish tank." It takes a LOT of patience, but these are going to be your regular customers, and if you start them out right they will come back many times.
Click to expand...

This is probably some of the best advice here. The most technical piece of info you will deal with is the nitrogen cycle diagram. You will draw it a couple hundred times a year. When you do, newbies think you are a rocket surgeon or something. Gone will be the days of your average customer understanding that Purple Monster frags normally sell for a couple hundred $$$. You'll sell a couple calcium reactors a year.

As far as dry goods to stock; the folowing list is decent stuff, most beginner, but not crap.

AP test kits
Coralife Skimmers
Coralife and CurrentUSA PC/Halide lights (your distributor oftens has goods warranties.
Salifert Kits
Two part Ca/Alk additives (TLF, Ocean's Blend, ESV, etc)
Frozen Food
Ocean Nutrition Pellets
Maxi-Jets
Hydor rotating nozzles
Aquapods, or Oceanic's BioCube (coming soon)
Filter Bags and Carbon
Keep a few different Halide bulbs
Quiet One and Mag Drive Pumps (no Rio's or Cap Pumps)
RO/DI Units
Mag Floats
Fluorescent Bulbs
Wet/Dry Filters
Overflow Boxes

Put your Coral selling tanks on tall stands (>40") so people can shop standing up.

Have a well thought out setup for curing live rock quickly. The cheaper you go on the setup, the more coralline algae is lost in the process.

I'll post more if I think of anything.
 
The Best LFS around me does pretty much everythign you say is impossible, and hes doing the best of all the stores around.

He beats most online prices. Why? He avoids the middle man. Hes got southdown in the store, has his own brand of ER knockoff skimmers (relabled chinese imports, very similar to the Reef Octopus), sells his own MH bulbs (same factories as XM, but he imports them), etc. He also has his own prop tanks. He seriously cuts expenses because of this, and saves me a ton of cash.

I think more LFS should think like him. You need a store brand. Buy superglue in large quantities, smack a label on a bottle, sell it for $12 a bottle as reef glue. Same with epoxy. Buy carbon in bulk and have a store brand. You get higher profit %, and lower cost to customer. Everyone wins.


At this point, if I was setting up my own LFS, I'd go all T5s as far as lights. Electricity is a major concern here, and even if its only $4 or $5 a month saved on each tank, thats a grand+ a month. Also, one of the LFS around me has mag24s in each one of its large (180+) fish holding tanks for flow. Those things cost like $35 each a month in electricity alone to run. Their prices are higher than everyone else because they have a $5K a month electricity bill.
 
robwsup:
youre right, very good advice there! yours too is on the mark i believe.

Rich Conley:
i have found a couple of knockoff wholesalers that i am trying to get in with, we'll see.

I dont want to carry crap at all.....but if i can get a knockoff that operates the same or close to a name brand and still save the money to make it worth the buy, then we're all ahead.

that dang fine grey line is forever popping up isnt it!?

thanks guys!
 
A lot of people are going to yell "You get what you pay for"

BUt I've generally found that to be true in very little. Yeah, you buy junk, and its going to cause you trouble, but a lot of the high end stuff is no better than the middle of the road stuff.


As far as markups, you walk a shady line. If you want to charge $40 for a maxi1200, yeah, you'll sell some, but for every 1 you sell to a newb, you'll be losing 3-4 that the experienced people will buy.

I can get 1200s for $18 online. If theyre $25 in a store, I'll buy them. If theyre $35+? Not a chance in hell. Most consumers will give you some leeway over online retailers, but we're not going to give you free reign.


Also, dont sell crazy fish. I think a good policy for stores is "If we dont sell a tank big enough to house an adult, we wont sell the fish." If someone wants to buy a fish that gets to 6', they can special order it, adn pay up front.
 
Cleanleness, a informative staff, not one that gueeses. Also, if your going to have FW as well as SW, that you are equipped to handel both with products and knowledgable staff.

Plumbing products. All of those little things that you can't find at HD or Lowes but need it right now to get the system up. ;)

Healthy fish and corals. If things are starting to look bad, maybe have a QT setup in the back, away from the customers to house these until they are healthy and can be moved back into the display tanks. A dead, or unhealty specimen just distracts from an otherwise healty setup.

Pricing. Make sure it's clear, readable and up to date. I hate going into a store and seeing all the grease pen markings on the tank. Half the time they are either covering up the tank where you can't see in or they are listing fish that are not in the tank. :rolleyes: Maybe a pic of the actual fish, name and price would be nice if you can find a way to fit it on the tank. That way you can see what a species looks like in case you didn't know.

If you have room, a place to put books for customers to read. Books on coral ID, fish ID etc. One of my LFs has one and it's good for looking up fish to find out info on them that you may not remember. Just make suer the books are up to date. ;)

There's probably more and I'm sure most has been covered so I'll leave my list at this. ;)
 
... have an obvious storefront. Have a beautiful disply tank that you can see from outside, if possible, and good signage. So many LFSs are like speakeasy's. A lot of business can come from people who didn't go out specifically looking for your store, so long as they can actually see it, and recognoze that it's an LFS!
 
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