ocean's floor/cc's aquatics ???

wrong time imo...

In a year, the retail spaces will be opening up one after another. Youre starting to see empty strip malls now. leases will be dropping in value like the housing prices are now. Commercial usually lags residential by 18-24 months. not to mention this has been the biggest boom/yet to happen bust of a generation. you know youre at an end of a cycle when you see banks being built on every corner:)

businesses that signed multi-year leases will be begging you to sublease for 50% less...and they will eat the rest. some pain ahead.
 
So true but I was not even using that fact in my analysis. The stores that recently went under went under in BOOM times. The next couple of years will be far from boom times.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13302726#post13302726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snorvich
Wholesale is a completely different business. It depends on having many, many businesses buy a whole lot of stuff. In any case, they would need a different location with much more space. More similar to what Dave was going to do on the wholesale side, than what Oceans floor looked like. There will be a need for MUCH more space than currently exists to make wholesale work.

Local stores are not going to buy from you given that you sell to the public. They would be crazy to do so. Why would a business buy from you at the same price that a retail customer (Sams Club member or whatever) can? It is called cannibalism.

Add up your total overhead per year. Perhaps $24k in rent, perhaps, 30k in salaries (assuming a small number of employees or a larger number of part timers), electricity, heat. So, you are talking in the area of 70k in overhead and that is BEFORE buying any merchandise for sale. You MUST make 70k in margin to break even. Now if you can borrow money for free, terrific, but most investors expect a return. Most LFS have 100% gross margin so they have to gross $140k per year. There are virtually none that do that without a maintenance business to subsidize the LFS side.

You should see that either you have to make up the 70k in margin or in margin plus yearly membership costs. Let's say you can charge $100 for membership (I doubt that people will pay that but lets assume they will) and you can find 100 customers willing to pay that (I doubt that too but again, lets assume). You now have to find 60k of margin. So, your margin has to be $5k per month. Not gross sales, but margin. If you really think you can do that, terrific, if not, it is going to be a problem. We are going into a period of time when disposable income is dropping.

I know this is an unpopular position but I hate to see stores come and go racking up debt that will be difficult if not impossible to pay.
Click to expand...


Now this I agree with 100000%.

I mentioned the fact earlier that I would find it hard to believe that business's would buy from a wholesaler who sells their product to the public.
 
Yes, I know. But I did not want to say "real numbers" because those are scarier still. Even my low ball guesstimate numbers show the model cannot work. Retail breakeven is somewhere around a gross of 14k per month for stores with moderate locations. Wholesale breakeven is significantly higher because of lower margins.
 
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Again...pure speculation on everyone's behalf thinking they know exactly what our business plan is. I appreciate the fact that you guys care so much about what we are doing and I hope to see you up there supporting it; including you Matt:) . You might be right or you might be wrong. Regardless, the store is still moving forward and it will still be operational by October 31st.
 
Business model and business plan are not the same thing. It all comes down to breakeven point and covering overhead. If you do, you will stay around for a while. If you don't, it will be six months. I do wish you luck and hope it works.
 
Sorry to be so late in repying here, don't get to the site much anymore.

I wish you good luck as well.

Steve is correct. In today's market without service you are finished fast.

When I ran my store the service accounts brought revenue I could count on every month. The overhead from a service standpoint is minimal so it is almost pure profit (minus fuel and a small percentage of your facilities overhead). That is why so many try to get into the business that way.

Unfortunately our hobby is not cheap and in today's economy ther is no way you can count on retail alone and if you are going to go wholesale you need a VERY large building. Just look at A-pet and Dr. Fosters. Those places are HUGE.

You will also need to draw from out of state as there are just not enough stores to sell to locally.

I really miss the business and wish that things went differently, unfortunately when you get divorced everything you planned is no longer feasable. Especially in month 18. I was only about 6 more months from getting into the black. But as already noted those were booming times...

Miss you guys......
 
Jim,
You have been there, done that, and know what is involved. I analyze opportunities from a business model perspective. We both arrived at the same answer, you empirically, me analytically.
 
So true. Not trying to discourage anyone, however it is not as easy as filling tanks with water and livestock and opening your doors.

Very tricky....
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13792071#post13792071 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roberts722
By the way.........

Did this place ever open?
Click to expand...

:( No, it did not!

Nice to see you on the board Jim! :)

Boyd
 
it is not as easy as filling tanks with water and livestock and opening your doors.
Click to expand...

No way! Are you serious...:)

There is only 1 person I know that unfortunately thought that way and she is no longer there...

Unfortunately, the previous owners left a huge mess of things with that place and im pretty sure it is over...a big shame since that store was very cool back in the day;)
 
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