I want to start a LFS

[Art13]

I don't know if it was mentioned or not, but a backup generator will be a lifesaver, even if just one use, you will save a lot of livestock. Recently had lost power for 4 days where i'm at and if i didn't have a backup generator, i would have lost my whole tank, and while only 90g probably would have cost me a grand to restock to where i'm at. generator costs $600. already a good investment. Of course you would need a larger one, but a full blow lfs is going to have quite a few grand in their tanks, 3 grand plus install will get you a generator with an auto transfer switch, and will more than pay for itself the first time power goes down.

[Dejongi]

Start small. Here in MN we had a LFS that could fit probably 5 people. He had about 15 tanks for fish, a 4 ft coral tank, and a small display tank. Nice and simple, cheap to run. He grew the maintenance side of the business the most, but eventually sold the business. Turns out that he was making a lot more money on the side doing website stuff when customers were not in the store.

The new owner moved the store into a much larger location. He seemed to survive off the maintenance income. Eventually sold the store to another guy due to family health issues. The 3rd owner did alright, and tried to breed clownfish, run a store, do maintenance, and still have a social life on top of all that. His tanks were always dirty, couldn't raise more than a handful of clownfish, and I don't know enough about the service side to comment. He recently closed the retail store, due to landlord issues.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you open a store, start it as small as possible in a retail location. If you are able to scratch out a profit, put it back into the business and grow. Don't rely on the store to pay your bills, keep it as a "Hobby store" till you get things figured out and get some traction. Seriously explore shipping options too. Summer is slow for walk ins, but strong for online sales. Winter is strong for walk ins and very difficult in online sales. There is a balance.

[BuzzPion]

I don't care what it's called (although Strictly Marine is my vote). I don't care where the store is located or if the prices are 20% more than online. I don't care that you carry the entire Ecotech line. All I care about is good looking, healthy livestock. If I see one fish on display with obvious ich or brook, if I see aiptasia, bubble algae on frag plugs, dead fish, dead corals, gaping clams, etc. I will not buy from you. Period. Frankly, I don't even care if you are a rude to me if you have primo livestock kept in clean tanks. I'll gladly give you my thousands of dollars in business.

Anything else I don't care about. None of the stores where I live pass. They all suck. Most are an encyclopedia of pests, parasites, and disease.

[ichthyogeek]

Geez...Buzz, you do realize that it's a whole different ballgame when it comes to quarantine for shops, right? Even the best store is going to have problems every once in a while. While tanks with fish covered in ich, aiptasia, or bubble algae should be a warning sign, a few frags that have a piece of bubble algae or so, or a single fish with ich/brook, shouldn't be too big of a problem. The people who work at the LFS don't have the time to constantly monitor every tank for a small problem. However, if you tell the shop owner about a problem, and they don't do anything, that's a major no deal. My LFS has aiptasia in its frag tanks (like...2), and has an aiptasia filefish on hand and is considering peppermint shrimp to help combat its 'problem'. By your standards, it would probably fail as it has a few frags that have a single bubble on them, or a tiny aiptasia anemone on them.

[BuzzPion]

Originally Posted by ichthyogeek

Geez...Buzz, you do realize that it's a whole different ballgame when it comes to quarantine for shops, right? Even the best store is going to have problems every once in a while. While tanks with fish covered in ich, aiptasia, or bubble algae should be a warning sign, a few frags that have a piece of bubble algae or so, or a single fish with ich/brook, shouldn't be too big of a problem. The people who work at the LFS don't have the time to constantly monitor every tank for a small problem. However, if you tell the shop owner about a problem, and they don't do anything, that's a major no deal. My LFS has aiptasia in its frag tanks (like...2), and has an aiptasia filefish on hand and is considering peppermint shrimp to help combat its 'problem'. By your standards, it would probably fail as it has a few frags that have a single bubble on them, or a tiny aiptasia anemone on them.

I don't agree at all. Fish with visible ich or brook is not a small problem. Most LFS tanks are plumbed together so that one fish with brook or ich has infected them all. Don't have the time? Huh? What else are they suppose to be doing? Why should I have to tell them that a fish is dead or is so infested with ich it has spots on it's eyes? Come now. Most issues can easily be spotted with a daily 10 minute walkthrough. Why would they leave aiptasia and bubble algae on any frag or in any tank? All of the LFS I have been to have not been properly maintained in months. I would not buy any livestock from any of them.

To be fair, most LFS are set up in dumb ways. There really should not be sand and live rock in every tank. If I were setting up a LFS, one or two show tanks would be set up as full reefs. Maybe one SPS another LPS. Everything else would be bare except for clay pots and PVC hideouts. Just like commercial suppliers. Oh, and my frag tanks would not have fish in them-ever.

[ichthyogeek]

Originally Posted by BuzzPion

I don't agree at all. Fish with visible ich or brook is not a small problem. Most LFS tanks are plumbed together so that one fish with brook or ich has infected them all. Don't have the time? Huh? What else are they suppose to be doing? Why should I have to tell them that a fish is dead or is so infested with ich it has spots on it's eyes? Come now. Most issues can easily be spotted with a daily 10 minute walkthrough. Why would they leave aiptasia and bubble algae on any frag or in any tank? All of the LFS I have been to have not been properly maintained in months. I would not buy any livestock from any of them.

To be fair, most LFS are set up in dumb ways. There really should not be sand and live rock in every tank. If I were setting up a LFS, one or two show tanks would be set up as full reefs. Maybe one SPS another LPS. Everything else would be bare except for clay pots and PVC hideouts. Just like commercial suppliers. Oh, and my frag tanks would not have fish in them-ever.

What you're describing are heavy ich infestations. Those need to be taken care of immediately. But if the fish have a cyst here or there? Who's going to notice that on their daily walkthrough? Maybe the fish-conscious worker.

As for the time thingy, think about it. You have to restock the shelves. You have to catch fish for customers. You have to educate customers about the requirements of absolutely everything. In OP's case, you have to go out and maintain customers' tanks. Maybe a cursory glance before opening and after closing, but still. Maybe a fish doesn't want to be seen, and maybe you have way too many fish tanks. Even the best people can get caught off balance one day. The least that you could do is point out the offending fish so that the person working the store can try to remedy the problem.

Why leave aiptasia/bubble algae? Maybe the frag was recently created, and the aiptasia/bubble algae popped up from "nowhere" as they often do. You can't remove the pest without stressing the frag, and with any animal, stressing it after it's been wounded is NOT a good idea.

As for the fish/decoration idea you have, exactly who are you appealing to? Knowing hobbyists who know what they're dealing with would love your simplistic setup. Newbies who come in will be horrified by the severe utilitarianism of it. They want to know what the fish will look like with sand and rock in the tank, not a chunk of carved PVC. You can't honestly expect to have one of everything in each of the show tanks, can you? Additionally, fish that don't feed at first, will often be able to find "munchies" on live rock to sustain them until they start eating prepared food. Live rock is (in my opinion) also more comforting to the fish; most fish come from a region where rock is common, and already associate live rock with safety.

Frag tanks: I have to respectfully disagree with you. Fish are excellent helpers in a frag tank. Halichoeres wrasse will peck off red bugs and problematic isopods and amphipods. Tangs will munch off long and short algae. Certain rabbitfish will devour bubble algae. Filefish and Copperband butterflies can be trained to eat aiptasia. Damsels can provide more water movement as well as waste for the corals to utilize as food.

For time and pest problems: the OP has mentioned she will hire students, who may or may not be educated when it comes to fish. A normal (non-fish loving) student isn't going to be as completely thorough as a fishkeeper. Most likely, they aren't going to care that a fish has just died. Probably, they aren't going to care about selling aiptasia anemones. They might not even care about selling bubble algae.

[sixpackgarage]

I've owned a business (an automotive speed shop). There are literally hundreds of things I could tell you about owning a business, but these two will do:

1.) turning a hobby into a business will ruin the hobby for you. Just trust me on that.
2.) own your business. Don't let your business own you. This you'll understand after a couple of years in.

[BuzzPion]

Originally Posted by ichthyogeek

What you're describing are heavy ich infestations. Those need to be taken care of immediately. But if the fish have a cyst here or there? Who's going to notice that on their daily walkthrough? Maybe the fish-conscious worker.

Well, to me being a little bit infested with ich is like being sorta pregnant. They spend hours in the store and are in front of and around the tanks all day. If I am in the store for 5 minutes and I notice a flashing yellow tang, why don't they? What about the dead fish stuck to the intake that is now bleached white and fuzzy? That doesn't happen overnight. The workers have walked by that same tanke dozens of times and have missed it?

As for the time thingy, think about it. You have to restock the shelves. You have to catch fish for customers. You have to educate customers about the requirements of absolutely everything. In OP's case, you have to go out and maintain customers' tanks. Maybe a cursory glance before opening and after closing, but still. Maybe a fish doesn't want to be seen, and maybe you have way too many fish tanks. Even the best people can get caught off balance one day. The least that you could do is point out the offending fish so that the person working the store can try to remedy the problem.

Yeah, owning a business is damn hard work. A cursory glance at the most important thing they have? I should not have to point out dead fish that have been dead for days nor fish so badly diseased they are near dead.

Why leave aiptasia/bubble algae? Maybe the frag was recently created, and the aiptasia/bubble algae popped up from "nowhere" as they often do. You can't remove the pest without stressing the frag, and with any animal, stressing it after it's been wounded is NOT a good idea.

I disagree here. Removing a bubble or two from a frag plug should not stress even a newly cut frag. If it did, I would not want that frag anyway.

As for the fish/decoration idea you have, exactly who are you appealing to? Knowing hobbyists who know what they're dealing with would love your simplistic setup. Newbies who come in will be horrified by the severe utilitarianism of it. They want to know what the fish will look like with sand and rock in the tank, not a chunk of carved PVC. You can't honestly expect to have one of everything in each of the show tanks, can you? Additionally, fish that don't feed at first, will often be able to find "munchies" on live rock to sustain them until they start eating prepared food. Live rock is (in my opinion) also more comforting to the fish; most fish come from a region where rock is common, and already associate live rock with safety.

As I said in my other post, set up a couple show tanks with live rock, sand, the whole shebang. You don't have to have one of everything! Keeping healthy livestock in clean holding tanks is not going to scare off potential customers. Do you think Divers Den holds fish with sandy bottoms and live rock in thanks? LOL! They hold all sorts of fish for months.

Frag tanks: I have to respectfully disagree with you. Fish are excellent helpers in a frag tank. Halichoeres wrasse will peck off red bugs and problematic isopods and amphipods. Tangs will munch off long and short algae. Certain rabbitfish will devour bubble algae. Filefish and Copperband butterflies can be trained to eat aiptasia. Damsels can provide more water movement as well as waste for the corals to utilize as food.

If they have all those sorts of pests they are doing it wrong and I would not buy anything out of the tanks that were so infested. It is not impossible to keep pest free corals. Hard to do? Sure, but not impossible.

For time and pest problems: the OP has mentioned she will hire students, who may or may not be educated when it comes to fish. A normal (non-fish loving) student isn't going to be as completely thorough as a fishkeeper. Most likely, they aren't going to care that a fish has just died. Probably, they aren't going to care about selling aiptasia anemones. They might not even care about selling bubble algae.

The fact remains I have thousands of dollars in expendable income that I could be spending at the LFS on livestock and I don't. Problem is, they are poorly run. There are a few shops aroound, but none come close to properly keeping livestock. Why should I shop there? The shops near me that have been in business a while also have maintenance contracts that I am sure keeps the storefront from closing. There is a great business plan for you--work one business to keep the other from going under. I'd bet if someone would do as I suggest, they would not need to float the business with maintenance jobs on the side.

How refreshing would it be to walk into a totally clean LFS where all the livestock on display were healthy and all the tanks were clean. I think I would fall right over. Unless of course it was the first day of the grand opening.

[joshky]

BuzzPion you have an unrealistic expectation of what you should be getting from a LFS. Do you not buy anything anywhere, because no one lives up to your standards? I sure hope you don't buy online without inspecting their facility first.... Even places like Divers Den do not have what you're asking, the fact remains that fully QTing livestock (fish AND corals) is very expensive and time consuming.

I think you have failed to understand that these are practices we hobbyists have to do ourselves, it's just part of it. No one will do it for us.

[sde1500]

yea sounds like he must not have a tank, because no one can live up to his expectations.

[BuzzPion]

Unrealistic to ask for healthy livestock that are being kept in clean tanks? That's just dumb. Isn't that what they are in business for? The livestock they carry should be first priority when someone owns a LFS. Period. If they can't or won't maintain the systems, then they should not be in business--and I posit most would not be but for some other business income stream that supports them.

Of course, there are many more yellow tangs, clownfish, corals, inverts to be had. They will just keep ordering more and more and continue to plunk them into the diseased system they can't possibly be bothered to maintain.

I don't eat in filthy restaurants and I don't buy anything from filthy fish shops.

Oh, and I do have tanks (in my dedicated 24'X48' fish room), several in fact. I tend to order from the source (the actual diver that collects the livestock or the facility that breeds/cultures them).

Why do people settle for (and make excuses for) mediocrity?

[DopeCantWin]

Originally Posted by BuzzPion

Why do people settle for (and make excuses for) mediocrity?

Honestly, it's probably because almost nobody has the time or space for a 24'x48' dedicated fish room.

[BuzzPion]

Originally Posted by DopeCantWin

Honestly, it's probably because almost nobody has the time or space for a 24'x48' dedicated fish room.

Huh? What does that have to do with anything?

[joshky]

Sorry but your standards of livestock are unrealistic, for anyone to attempt to do what you suggest would drive prices too high for the general populous and it would end up going out of business most likely. It is good practice to QT everything you get, no matter the source, and not to rely on others to do what you should be doing.

[ichthyogeek]

I'm just going to apologize to OP right now for this happening in her thread. OP, I'm sorry for this happening in your thread. I hope that you can learn something from it. Mmkay; now....(*rubs hands and cracks knuckles*) (also, moderators, please don't lock this thread, I'm doing my best to remain as polite as possible)

Originally Posted by BuzzPion

1)Well, to me being a little bit infested with ich is like being sorta pregnant. They spend hours in the store and are in front of and around the tanks all day. If I am in the store for 5 minutes and I notice a flashing yellow tang, why don't they? What about the dead fish stuck to the intake that is now bleached white and fuzzy? That doesn't happen overnight. The workers have walked by that same tanke dozens of times and have missed it?

2)Yeah, owning a business is damn hard work. A cursory glance at the most important thing they have? I should not have to point out dead fish that have been dead for days nor fish so badly diseased they are near dead.

3)I disagree here. Removing a bubble or two from a frag plug should not stress even a newly cut frag. If it did, I would not want that frag anyway.

4)As I said in my other post, set up a couple show tanks with live rock, sand, the whole shebang. You don't have to have one of everything! Keeping healthy livestock in clean holding tanks is not going to scare off potential customers. Do you think Divers Den holds fish with sandy bottoms and live rock in thanks? LOL! They hold all sorts of fish for months.

5)If they have all those sorts of pests they are doing it wrong and I would not buy anything out of the tanks that were so infested. It is not impossible to keep pest free corals. Hard to do? Sure, but not impossible.

6)The fact remains I have thousands of dollars in expendable income that I could be spending at the LFS on livestock and I don't. Problem is, they are poorly run. There are a few shops aroound, but none come close to properly keeping livestock. Why should I shop there? The shops near me that have been in business a while also have maintenance contracts that I am sure keeps the storefront from closing. There is a great business plan for you--work one business to keep the other from going under. I'd bet if someone would do as I suggest, they would not need to float the business with maintenance jobs on the side.

How refreshing would it be to walk into a totally clean LFS where all the livestock on display were healthy and all the tanks were clean. I think I would fall right over. Unless of course it was the first day of the grand opening.

7)Unrealistic to ask for healthy livestock that are being kept in clean tanks? That's just dumb. Isn't that what they are in business for? The livestock they carry should be first priority when someone owns a LFS. Period. If they can't or won't maintain the systems, then they should not be in business--and I posit most would not be but for some other business income stream that supports them.

Of course, there are many more yellow tangs, clownfish, corals, inverts to be had. They will just keep ordering more and more and continue to plunk them into the diseased system they can't possibly be bothered to maintain.

8)I don't eat in filthy restaurants and I don't buy anything from filthy fish shops.

9)Oh, and I do have tanks (in my dedicated 24'X48' fish room), several in fact. I tend to order from the source (the actual diver that collects the livestock or the facility that breeds/cultures them).

10)Why do people settle for (and make excuses for) mediocrity?

Starting from point 1...
1) I fail to see how having a little bit of ich is akin to being pregnant. Ich is a parasite. A fetus is not. You have also failed to acknowledge the fact that OP has explicitly stated that at least some of her workers will be high school/college age. Workers who most likely won't care as much about the fish as hobbyists do (something I've already stated). Those workers might be around the fish all day, but they're attention isn't always going to be on all the fish. Reference my previous post on why: they have a ton of other stuff to do.

2) I'll agree that this is wrong. Fish shouldn't be heavily covered in ich, nor be fuzzy fish-looking carcasses on the filter. But a single dead fish here or there? Or a single fish with ich? Worse things have happened. However, the most important asset that OP has stated, is her maintenance job, not the selling of fish. In fact, once a tank is fully stocked, what's going to be the biggest cost? Supplies. Salt. Fish food. Replacement gear. Maybe another tank.

3)Umm...hello, stress=bad. Especially if the animal is already wounded or sick. Both of which are likely after you've made a new frag. You've physically hurt the animal by cutting it, which opens it to infection. Your fingers, when compared to a fish' jaws, are far more clumsy and a hassle. Fish can eat off that algae that threatens the frag, but when you try to brush it off, you end up hurting it. Oh, and while you may not like the frag, another person may have their heart set on it.

4)And like I said in my post, people want to know what their fish will look like in their tank. That means live rock and sand most of the time. They want to know if the fish will hide in their tank (possum wrasse, swissguard basslet, assessors), or if it will perch on the decor (blennies, gobies, hawkfish); if they'll eat it (butterflyfish, tangs, angelfish), or if they'll completely ignore it except as a sleeping place (damselfish, lionfish, anthias). It really sucks when you buy an awesomely shaped Tanaka's possum wrasse, only to find it hiding in the nooks and crannies of your tank the next day, rarely coming out. Oh, and before you say it, people oftentimes don't do as much research as needed before buying.

5) Yeah, keeping corals pest free is hard. It's more hard when you're getting shipments in sometimes 4x a month, and you don't have enough space to properly quarantine your best selling frags. That's why my LFS has fish in the frag tanks, to catch what they don't see at first.

6) Can't type anything without seeming like a complete troll that deserves to be banned.

7) Unrealistic? Yeah. See point 2.You're describing a 100% antiseptic system that just isn't feasible in a business where animals are going in and out all the time. Even with 100% meticulousness, you're going to let in a spore of something sooner or later.

8) I sincerely hope that you're talking about the quality of the fish tanks, and not of the store itself. While cleanliness is nice, what'll you do if you find a store that sells your mythical clean fish, and has sticky floors?

9)Not all of us can pay divers to collect fish for us. Not all of us can go straight to the fish breeder either. Not all of us have the connections for that kind of thing, nor the money either probably.

10)Because your version of mediocrity is everybody else's version of near perfection?


Oh, and if you hate your LFS' so much, then why don't you do something about it, and start your own? You obviously have the connections and the money, and the time to do so, since you have "$1000's of expendable income", can contact divers to get you fish, and take care of a "24' X 48' dedicated fish room'.

Even public aquaria have problems with algae, aiptasia, and other pests as well. So if the big public aquaria, which you would expect to be able to handle such a problem, can't, why would you expect a smaller LFS to do so?

[Dkuhlmann]

Originally Posted by CHSUB

i own and have owned several restaurants in the last 15 years. the only advice i give to people starting their own business is: never sign a personal guarantee!!!!

It's amazing how many people won't get this. Great advice!

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by Dkuhlmann

It's amazing how many people won't get this. Great advice!

YEPPERS..

This one piece of advice and a GREAT Corp lawyer Saved my *** when my Business partner decided to steal from us both... It was a IT/ Networking business. We were open 6 years and Turning a profit and all Start up money was Recovered.. I only worked there part time as i Work in Construction and Built high rise hotels..

I caught him opening extra credit lines to pay off his mortgage and buy a new car.... Not to mention was asking customers to pay cash and voiding there sales.. Stealing from himself he was...

He is NOW IN PRISON FOR CORP Fraud ..


so my Biggest piece of advise. DO IT ON YOUR OWN... and get a lawyer who guarantees his ability to keep your money separate from your business

[thejuggernaut]

I would start with maintenance and work out of your house. I would only open a store when it is absolutely necessary. Like when all of your spare bed rooms and closets are full of supplies and fish tanks. As far as working with small vendors to get corals and fish, I think you only have to issue a 1099 if it is over $600 for the year. I would obviously check with a CPA though before spending a dime on the business. Incorporate so they can't take your house when someone falls in your building or even worse, the tank you sold them splits a seam and destroys their house. Figure out which parts of the business you enjoy and do those. The parts that you can't stand or aren't any good at, pay someone to do as soon as is possible. You will be able to focus on what you do best and won't get burned out. Trust me, people can always tell when a business owner is burned out and doesn't want to be there. If you have a clean store, good products (both dry goods and livestock), healthy displays, good staff, reasonable prices, and you and your staff have a positive demeanor, you should be successful. Don't set up in a town of 20k people obviously. This is a niche market and you need ALLOT of people in your area. I wouldn't be worried too much about market saturation, because your store is going to be better than any of those stores right?! If it isn't, or you don't have a vision of how to do that, then you need to rethink your business plan. Most importantly, ignore the naysayers!!!! I'm sure there were plenty of people who told the Ecotech guys you can't make money in this industry, or the BRS guys that online retail had been done already. Innovate and set yourself apart from the herd. Just remember, there is always room that the top!

[MD Aquatic]

Just saw this post and its refreshing to hear from a prospective entrepreneur in social forum. Ive never owned an LFS but I have considered it. As a small business owner myself it took me a long time to really figure things out. If I can give any advice I will help... Here are five things I've found that have really helped my business excel. Although i am sure you can guess there is a lot more that goes into this.

1. I got into a business based around a hobby I loved and at the beginning I focused very hard on what I loved about it. However, you can't get narrow minded on this. You have to remember that in the end, its a business and you have to give the people what they want, not necessarily what you want to give them. If you are providing enough of what the consumer wants than you can slowly work in what you want to provide them. MAKING MONEY is the bottom line whether thats secondary to you or not, if you aren't making money than you can't afford to do what you want with the business.

2.Advertising, Advertising, Advertising. This is a huge expense for small business and most aren't willing to spend the coin to do it. In small markets it may be ok to go with a smaller advertisement budget but in larger markets you can't rely on word of mouth alone. In small business you have to be willing to eat the cost of advertising the first couple years and make sure to build it into a budget. It WILL pay off in the long run and if you've planned your budget properly than it won't hurt you at all. A strong website that looks like it was professionally put together makes a big difference and ads on popular radio stations are a strong producer.
3. Show the customer that you care. This is the biggest thing and the hardest thing you can do. You have to find a balance between making money and making sure the customer isn't wasting theirs. Some LFS or even bigger internet services provide care sheets or have people ready on the phone to spend time with you answering questions. This is a big draw but as a small business its much more difficult to accomplish than you might think. I have some ideas for this I would be willing to discuss in private because its not out of the realm of possibility I will use them myself someday.
4. Accounting. Strong accounting is vital in small business to avoid auditing or even fraud charges as somebody mentioned above If you are not willing to pay somebody you have to become proficient yourself. Good accounting is a real chore but in the end it will benefit you in ways that are hard to see right now up front. Its easier to track your numbers and make sure you are practicing good business from a fiscal standpoint.
5. POS. In a retail setting a very very good POS system pays for itself from the first sale. They take the guesswork out of selling, ordering, and keeping track of your business. For example, if a product is selling more than others you can see this very easily with the click of a mouse and vice versa. They help you control your income to debt ratios and frankly they make the whole business run in a more streamlined manner. Not to mention that customers appreciate this more when you are doing things quickly, printing out nice receipts, utilizing customer rewards etc. All that can be controlled through a good system like Quickbooks POS.

[thelawnwrangler]

One of the original posters said tank service business usually floats the store front.

Do you find the need to have a store front to break into the maintenance business?

Why not start a maintenance business first and establish a healthy cash flow. Honestly, I see the LFS as a hobby not a business. I have a awesome LFS, and I ask very knowledgeable staff tons of questions, and learn a ton. Soon as I pay $30 bucks for something I can get for $25 on Amazon I get upset. Even though I plan on going in there and paying the premium bc of all of the service.

[WaReefer458]

Originally Posted by TylerHaworth

My advice is to seek out a failing LFS and buy them out or to find another LFS with an owner that wants out of the business.

Also, make yourself known in the community before opening a store.

Starting from scratch will be very tough and extremely costly in the short term.

That's exactly what my local guy did. Paid 30k for a business that was surely going down, put a bunch back into it retrofitting lighting and replacing all the fish only tanks and now he has great cash flow and a thriving business. Biggest part was explaining to all the local forums that it was under new ownership to get people to come in. He just bought it 2 years ago and in that amount of time it's a whole new store with only a handful of maintenance tanks he does. It can be done and I'd love to own my own store but honestly I couldn't handle all the death. It always killed me a little inside to walk in right when he opened and see a couple dead clown tangs or powder blues. Also about taking care of disease in the tanks, his fish system runs copper which kills parasites so they don't spread to other fish. With this system he said he only gets like 2-3% of a fish shipment that doesn't make it.

[mdslackman]

Can't agree more with the advice that you limit personal liability.

[kcinnick]

Start your corporation NOW. Decide what state you want to incorporate in, it doesn't matter if it is the state you have your business in, and get you incorporation papers, EIN, etc, etc.

This will help greatly with credit if you do need it.

I have had my own business for a little over two years. We do multi million dollar sales out of a 500 sf storefront... We are in a mixed industrial area/office complex area. People find us. I don't know jack about building a website, but I know posting to social media multiple times daily and to local forums we sponsor drives traffic big time. We have a 4.9 rating on Facebook (over 400 reviews) and a 4.8 on Google + with 25 reviews. The knock on the ratings is from one customer who got mad a supplier shorted us on a special order, it was COMPLETELY out of our hands. We offered her the moon and stars, gave her a full and prompt refund, and she still left us a 0 star review.

If I opened a LFS, I would partner with someone who is already running maintenance but didn't have the resources to open a store front. I know how to run a business, and you can make money on dry goods. I have seen wholesale prices for Ecotech, Neptune, Seachem, BRS entire line, Marine Depot's wholesale arm, and a few others as I set up my 315 display in my home. The margins are actually better than what I get in my industry.

I have the resources to open a store tomorrow. I won't do it without a maintenance contract log and at least 1 good employee to man the store. A fish store does not need to be open 7 days a week. I feel you could open it Wed-Sun and be fine, of course take appointments when appropriate.

I would have a similar set up to what I do now, small retail space, large storage space. I have two warehouses totaling 3500 sf and another office area of 650 sf and yet I keep my retail space small. It can be managed by one employee, keeps theft down, keeps that small store feel and customers can't see the stacks of inventory in the back. Having that one on display is a great psychological gotta buy it effect. i wouldn't have any expensive display tanks, I would maintain my system as I would maintain my own tank. I would have a QT system. I have seen WAY too many systems wiped out by Velvet, and it takes 2-3 days to wipe out an entire system. There are better solutions than copper... copper is the easy go to, but other medications are not as hard on the fish and kill more parasites. My biggest concern would be velvet, I don't know why it has become more common in the industry, but I have seen multiple stores basically shut down from selling fish due to Velvet outbreaks. Ich is easy, unless the fish get bacterial infections before they heal. Copper is effective, but I don't know of any store running a therapeutic level in there tanks, and there are tons of fish that are copper sensitive. Anyway, I have seen stores take both approaches, QT fish, and not. The live stock that made it to the floor from the QT stores was MUCH healthier than any store I have seen not QT fish.

Also, the current place I rent has water included in utilities, so I would look at opening another shop in the same building... Free water for an aquarium store, Hell yeah.

I personally didn't go into debt to open my store, and I had positive cash flow almost immediately. We were making money our first month, I opened in November, started suggesting my wife quit her job in December, and made her quit in January. We have had a staff of up to 5 plus my wife and I, but we are running great with a full time employee and a near full time employee, he could work full time, he just chooses to hit 32 for the week. My payroll is about the same as when I had 5 employees, but when I got good help I locked them up good with generous salaries.

I could go on for days. Good luck.

[Kentech5]

Originally Posted by Fretfreak13

As far as the care sheets go, I can see where that would be great! However, I can also see where that could be costly to print out. Since I'm starting working on the website way before opening the store I'll be working on care sheets to put on it instead. It'll be easier I think to direct people to the website than have the space used to keep the papers around, and the money to print them out.

If you go the website care sheet route I would put QR codes on the tanks that link to the care sheets on your site. The easier you make it for people the happier they are.

[Sonny n Colleen]

I drive by three fish stores to go to one in Lilburn which is a two hours away. Simon's store is straightforward. It is 25' wide storefront in a strip mall He has his fish on display down one wall that is clean and well lit. He keeps his coral frags and inverts in the middle, also clean and well lit. He has a small display of emergency items, his reef tank and a tank of LR by the front door. His FOWLR tank and cash register is in the back of the store. That is it. He has been busy every time I have been in but he always has time to talk fish with the customers. As far as I know he doesn't advertise and he doesn't spend a lot of time on FB. I discovered him by word of mouth and every fish I bought from him did well. He does a few things and he does them well.

By the way, one of the fish stores I drive by was open 6 months before I realized it was a fish store. Their sign faces the wrong street and their name doesn't say "Hey, I am a fish store. Come on in!" They have some work ahead of them to be successful.

With that being said, I recommend two things.

First, find a niche in the market that sets you apart from the rest. Second, focus on a few things and do them very well.

Good luck on you new adventure.