Your own aquarium store?

So, does that mean no on your part?;D

 

I have the means but not the experience. I would love to invest some of my money on a state of the art store, but I lack the necessary knowledge.

 

A state of the art store would take more then $100K and a year in the making to get everything in, built, cycled etc. Then hopefully you can make a profit off of it. There is a state of the art store in TX, and its awesome! A whole bunch of money was sunk into that store, and it shows! The trick to it IMO, is to be a retail LFS and be online.

 

i doubt i could run a store part time that i owned and i'll never work full time again so i guess i'd never be able,but yes i've thought of it.my girlfriend and i have been planning to raise some fish though.

 

You have the hard part covered...

My problem is that there are already two good LFS's in neighborhood. Would be very difficult to compete with. Not that I would even want to try. :-/

 

Start up capital is only half of the hard part IMO. A quality supplier is the other half. If you can get the same stuff they carry or better and sell it at a lower price with less overhead, then you're not competing with them, they have to compete with you.

 

This thought has crossed my mind so many times, its not even funny. My problem would be a couple of factors. Location, there is 6 LFS around my house, even though I wouldnt open one around here for obivious reasons. Money, It would cost AT LEAST $150,000. to start and what I would consider to be a lack of knowledge on my part. I was given a chance to buy one of the lfs around my house, but stupid me, I didnt ask how much. He said that he has over $6000.00 a month in expenses and that his store covers that and more.

 

Understand...

My primary LFS gets livestock directly from Jakarta and Hawaii collectors which he has a very good relationship with. Buys in bulk and has direct shipping routes pretty well figured out.

Have yet to see wide range of quality low priced items elsewhere.

Of course for hard goods, he does not try to compete much with the internet.

Seems to carry mostly startup stuff for new reefers and emergency items we may all need quickly. All a bit more then what could get on net.

But hey, he needs to stay in business so I support him as much as I can or want to.

I wish I had the $$$ just to buy him out.

 

$150K wouldnt do it in your area. In the miami area, I wouldnt try without $300K depending on what location I could find.

 

Even worse Geek, Although, I have been told that depending on location, connections, whole sellers and good ppl to help you along the way, you can start up with $100,000. to $150,000.