North Alabama: What would you want in an LFS?

[dantimdad]

Gang,

We are trying to put together some information for a future venture.

I thought it would be nice to ask you guys since you are the target audience:

What would you want in an LFS?

There are things that we have decided on already so I will state those:

1...No reptiles or other animals
2...We will specialize in livestock and a small assortment of necessary dry goods and plumbing parts
3...It will be clean and organized and there will NOT be constant projects going on.
4...All aquariums for sale will not be in view they will be in a separate room. (see organized above)
5...All animals will be pre quarantined in a stable, healthy environment and from a pathogen free facility only hours away so no shipping to the store. We will pick up stock
6...No wild corals ever!
7...90% captive raised fish eventually becoming 100% captive bred/raised
8... We will offer classes from basic setup and cycling to coral propagation
9... We will be freshwater planted and marine only. You won't see gold fish or glo fish

We would be hosting meetings as much as you want. We will have a separate room for this purpose.

I miss the days of the LFS where you and your children are welcome and known by name. I don't miss the mess, attitude and disorganization.

Now, fire away and let me know what you want. We want this to be your store too!

 

[dantimdad]

Oh! I forgot the most important thing!

What location(s) would you want the store to be in?

 

[Brew12]

Gang,

We are trying to put together some information for a future venture.

I thought it would be nice to ask you guys since you are the target audience:

What would you want in an LFS?

There are things that we have decided on already so I will state those:

1...No reptiles or other animals
2...We will specialize in livestock and a small assortment of necessary dry goods and plumbing parts
3...It will be clean and organized and there will NOT be constant projects going on.
4...All aquariums for sale will not be in view they will be in a separate room. (see organized above)
5...All animals will be pre quarantined in a stable, healthy environment and from a pathogen free facility only hours away so no shipping to the store. We will pick up stock
6...No wild corals ever!
7...90% captive raised fish eventually becoming 100% captive bred/raised
8... We will offer classes from basic setup and cycling to coral propagation
9... We will be freshwater planted and marine only. You won't see gold fish or glo fish

We would be hosting meetings as much as you want. We will have a separate room for this purpose.

I miss the days of the LFS where you and your children are welcome and known by name. I don't miss the mess, attitude and disorganization.

Now, fire away and let me know what you want. We want this to be your store too!

I want it to have been started around 2 years ago?

It's hard for me to say. I'm pretty much done stocking my tank. I'm working on acquiring my last few fish. As for coral, I need to pull an existing one out to make space for a new one so I would only be interested in higher end SPS at this point. If there is one thing that we can't acquire locally from a store it is those higher end SPS.

As for location, I think I would try to set up in Hartselle. Easy access to I-65 and low real estate costs seems like a good combo to me. Priceville would be even better but may be harder/more expensive to get off the ground.

 

[JDowns]

Free sweet potato pie with every purchase.

 

[USCG CWO]

Put the store in South Alabama!!! I know, I know not helpful but truly, we need a better LFS down here.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Location: Birmingham

I don't think you're missing anything. I need the planted tank class as soon as possible. It's something that still mystifies me, and I've had reef tanks for 3 years now. The one thing I think I'd look at is utilizing available data. I hate seeing a ball of 30+ clownfish at an LFS knowing that most of them are going to die there.

 

[GrouperStupor]

That's a lot of features and restrictions you've set. My first wish would be for you to be able to stay open for over a year.

The pre-qt/healthy fish sounds like a good hook. I have qt, but would still drive out of my way for healthy fish & corals. The others I can take or leave...I like looking at fw and reptiles. Long as you have lots of coral and good salt in-stock at a good price, I'll show up. The closer it is to Madison, the more often I'd visit. Don't care if it's in a warehouse behind your house.

 

[GWHouston]

My .02. Great idea with the assumption that it is friendly to the exchange of ideas and information. Too many times reefers give up bc of the lack of knowledge or a source of information. We all know how expensive this hobby can be and to have a catastrophic failure due to poor decisions will in effect destroy your customer base. The survivors of this hobby are either too stubborn or have deep pockets. So in effect the LFS should encourage sharing of information be it from the employees or (emphasis) the many reefers with decades of combined experience. A class room environment would be tremendous. Heck, who wouldn’t want that.

Regarding @Brew12, maybe there could even be a way to swap/trade from within the store. Say H@rry has some nice SPS to deal, the store could take them in on consignment for sale or trade. To many the corals are the biggest wants. We have our stable of fish and really don’t want to upset the good balance. Just some ideas.

Edit. I like the idea of Hartselle to Cullman area. That would be convenient to Huntsville and Birmingham (which has really no choices of a good marine store). Since a good LFS is a destination place, ease of access is more important than the actual location.

 

[dantimdad]

OK, I would love the location to be Hartselle, obviously I live there!

I was thinking Priceville at the beginning so we will have to see. Huntsville is not friendly to small stores. The cost for licensing alone is nuts compared to Morgan County.

Also, it will be close to the Interstate no matter where we put it so it's convenient. And there will have to be plenty of parking.

@JDowns I was a classically trained chef for my first career choice. So, to say there will be food is an understatement. However, I am not a baker, but, there are three women in my new family that are...

@fosin there is no point if we can't stay open. We will be in it for the long haul. We want folks to come to the store to keep it open that's why I am asking questions from local reefers.

@Brew12 The high end SPS will come I promise.

No, we probably won't allow trade ins. The reason is liability for contamination. I have actually seen a traded in frag bring red bugs to a store and the devastation it caused and the amount of money the store owner had to give the customer who got an infestation. IF we did allow it, they would be in a separate system and folks would have to have a warning that we weren't liable for buying discounted trade-ins. That just takes out the friendly part of the store. IMO. Now, that being said, there are a few people we will seek out to supply initial stock for our aquaculture stock.

 

[dantimdad]

Oh, I forgot about the comment about the salt. Yes, salt mix is one of the things we will most definitely carry and try to get large buy discounts on.

 

[dantimdad]

I just got asked a question in a message(And questioned my sanity in opening an LFS to begin with): Why will you pick up and not order from XYZ they are well known?

This is easy. The fish will go from the tanks they were raised in to in our system within 7 hours allowing for 2 hours of drip acclimation. This will be beneficial to the fish and us because we won't have losses from shipping delays, horrible weather or some other unforeseen issue with shipping.

It just makes sense to us to pick them up ourselves. Plus, I really enjoy visiting with them and some of the reefers I met in that area.

 

[Brew12]

IF we did allow it, they would be in a separate system and folks would have to have a warning that we weren't liable for buying discounted trade-ins.

I think this is a great way of handling it.

That just takes out the friendly part of the store. IMO.

If marketed correctly I think this could make the store more user friendly. It would be like a flea market in the middle of the commercial store.

 

[dantimdad]

I think this is a great way of handling it.


If marketed correctly I think this could make the store more user friendly. It would be like a flea market in the middle of the commercial store.

This would be something you and I need to discuss off thread. I have done it before, but, I would love your input on a couple things, if you don't mind.

 

[Brew12]

This would be something you and I need to discuss off thread. I have done it before, but, I would love your input on a couple things, if you don't mind.

Of course!

 

[joejoe1055-1]

Things I look for.
1)Ease of location.
2) friendly staff and atmosphere.
3) wide assortment of corals (easy to more challenging)
4) wide variety of price points ( budget and up)

I'm excited for this.

 

[dantimdad]

Things I look for.
1)Ease of location.
2) friendly staff and atmosphere.
3) wide assortment of corals (easy to more challenging)
4) wide variety of price points ( budget and up)

I'm excited for this.

Thanks!

Us too!

 

[GrouperStupor]

Oh, I forgot about the comment about the salt. Yes, salt mix is one of the things we will most definitely carry and try to get large buy discounts on.

My UPS driver will be thankful

 

[dantimdad]

My UPS driver will be thankful

;Hilarious

 

[Sod Buster]

A big parking lot so I won't have to stay on the Tom Bigbee river Corp of engineers campground on my way home from dirt weeks in Florida with my camper? Kidding, haven't gone down in a few years. Rattlesnake Saloon is a lively place though. How about a wish list for us northerners looking for stuff that you guys get to see all the time and ship it? Like a xmas tree worm rock for an example?

 

[headdr]

From a business viability standpoint you need traffic and visibility. South Madison on county line has a business Park where rocket republic is at. Proximity to the other store is also a good thing. Think about car lots, build them together and you will draw more customers. There is also a business park on Mooresville South of Athens has near 565 that has warehouse space that can be seen from I-65.