HELP: What's missing??

Preface: A friend has a LFS, he is wanting to do things that set himself apart from the others. So....

Brainstorming here and need some thoughts and opinions.

What thing or things(livestock/equipment/whatever) do you wish most local fish stores carried...or... What is the one or two things that you just cant ever get at a LFS? So you end up having to order online, or just do without.

 

a couple things off the top of my head that make any lfs interesting
-sharks/rays
-cephalapods
-seahorses/pipefish
-coldwater tank
-brackish water tank
-any very rare fish

just really anything that is not the norm will make any lfs interesting. i would suggest staying away from the normal frag tank setup. that is very popular with fish stores and gets very boring. along with the show tanks that are more than 90 percent of the time an sps or mixed reef with a simple wall of live rock and a few pretty fish.

he really just needs to be creative.

 

I would think since online shopping is becoming so popular for dry goods he should concentrate on selling things that people don't like to purchase online like frozen or live foods and livestock of course. Operating a storefront is quite expensive so trying to pricematch online retailers is almost impossible. For me these are really the only things I still purchase from an LFS except in an emergency.

 

We were talking about being able to buy Alk, Cal, Mag, GFO, and Carbon in bulk. You bring in the container and they weigh it out and take as much or as little as you need. I've never seen this done, what do you guys think?

 

Honest,freindly,and knowledgable employees will help his buisiness grow.

 

That would be pretty good if he can compete with the price of sites like BRS. Another thing that none of the stores in my area have are good CUCs. They have hermits and some snails but nothing approaching the variety of reef cleaners. I like reef cleaners but that is one thing I would get locally just to avoid waiting around for the USPS. However, to compete with them on price, you would probably have to breed and I'm not sure what all is involved with that.

 

I know here that some good frozen foods would be nice but also I would like to see more affordable coral frags everywhere wher I am at they want 20 buck for a 3 head zoa frag LOL somthing that would also be cool that was previously stated is being able to get a decent CUC. OH and some pluming parts for aquariums LOL

 

Thats a cool idea. I could see that being sucessful. Besides having a good selection of foods having a frag tank that is laid out in an appealing way draws in many customers. Ive seen it done many times at frag swaps, people would rather buy the same coral from a guy with an awesome looking set up over a guy who is selling the same corals in a boring tank. Peninsula frag tanks allow for more people to be around them looking at frags, and they are nice to look at. Doing a set up along a wall like this with multiple tanks could be very cool. The walls also have to be decorated IMO. You dont want to walk into a store and feel like you need to make your purchase and leave. If it feels homey and enjoyable customers will be much more inclined to stay. Meaning, have some sweet displays with chairs facing them or something of the sort, decorate the walls, have friendly knowledgeable employees. I say this because NONE of my LFS stores are like this. There is one over an hour away that is good but they are just too small. I hope this helps though!

 

How about a weekly specials email for all customers, my LFS does it and a few others do, but i enjoy it so much. Also, you could have the local reef club meeting or a meeting about "pressing things" and how to resolve them alk,mag, and cal,, algae,, reef lighting etc.

 

Yea friendly and knowledgable staff... My LFS doesn't know anything. Oh and they won't order really any special livestock.