Opening a new fish store - gauging interest/advice needed!(Tacoma, WA)

Opus · Apr 24, 2023

Becoming a garage seller first is probably the best route. We have a couple locally that just use facebook mainly for selling. You just have to be very careful since facebook will put you in time out or shut your group down if you are caught too many times selling coral/fish. The local guys do daily/several a week auctions or mine games. They then either ship or let you pick up in person. The couple I've dealt with will not let you come inside and shop, they just bring you the bags to your vehicle. We have one that seems to do really well, He said he ships out 20 to 40 boxes every week.

You just have to be careful and not make any locals mad. They can turn you in to facebook and get you shut down there. Also, if you tick off a LFS, they can turn you in to the city if you are violating any city/county rules. I'm almost certain the ones around here aren't paying the correct taxes or have the correct permits. I know of a couple that don't charge sales tax if you pay in cash.

Kerbash · Apr 24, 2023

Opus said:
Becoming a garage seller first is probably the best route. We have a couple locally that just use facebook mainly for selling. You just have to be very careful since facebook will put you in time out or shut your group down if you are caught too many times selling coral/fish. The local guys do daily/several a week auctions or mine games. They then either ship or let you pick up in person. The couple I've dealt with will not let you come inside and shop, they just bring you the bags to your vehicle. We have one that seems to do really well, He said he ships out 20 to 40 boxes every week.

You just have to be careful and not make any locals mad. They can turn you in to facebook and get you shut down there. Also, if you tick off a LFS, they can turn you in to the city if you are violating any city/county rules. I'm almost certain the ones around here aren't paying the correct taxes or have the correct permits. I know of a couple that don't charge sales tax if you pay in cash.

Huh thanks, why does facebook shut you down? Do they not allow sales of stuff?

Opus · Apr 24, 2023

Kerbash said:
Huh thanks, why does facebook shut you down? Do they not allow sales of stuff?

I believe it is a no sale of animals policy or something like that. Not really sure. I know the garage sellers have rules for their groups and they use words like xcoral, xfish, wauction, etc.

sarahB06 · Jun 23, 2023

Kerbash said:
Hi guys,

I've been thinking about this for a while, but I've been playing around with the idea of quitting my job and opening up a fish store around Gig Harbor or the Tacoma area in Washington. I'm honestly very unsure about this as it is a very big step, but a fish store has always been my dream of sort. So I guess I would like some advice, on how to go on about this? I know most people say try selling online first, which I have so far been selling my frags and stuff, but due to limited room in my small house I dont have enough room for full on online stocks.

My house is paid for and Im partially renting out my house so personal bills not really an issue if I scrape by, however, what I am concern about is that the store becoming a financial burden, because I have enough to feed myself, but I don't have enough to keep a store a float if it comes to that. But as long as the store can pays for itself I'm happy.

I guess I have a couple of questions and would like some thought.

Question for Current Owners:
1. Right now I got around 10k that I can set aside for the store. Will that be enough?
2. How do fish store owner manages like 1k - 2k just rent alone? Thats like 20 people buying >100 bucks worth of stuff which is a lot maybe???
3. How much are the typical expenses?
4. How important is location?
5. Any general advice? Good wholesaler? Sale advice?
6. If you dont mind, how does typical income work? how much from livestock sales, equipment sales, services?

Question for Residents of South Puget Sound Area:
1. The main reason I think this is a good place because there seems to be no good fish store around here, am I correct? The closest one I can think of is + 30 minutes away.
2. If I do set up a fish store possibly around University Place or Gig Harbor would anyone be interested?

We live in Gig Harbor and there is nothing here for saltwater tanks we were driving to Lakewood but we’ve found their store is large with little coral selection. We are constantly driving to Seattle/Bellevue to find decent frags. I know my husband would be a frequent customer he is always complaining about the long drives and wishing there was a local option.

sarahB06 · Jun 23, 2023

sarahB06 said:
We live in Gig Harbor and there is nothing here for saltwater tanks we were driving to Lakewood but we’ve found their store is large with little coral selection. We are constantly driving to Seattle/Bellevue to find decent frags. I know my husband would be a frequent customer he is always complaining about the long drives and wishing there was a local option.

Also not a business owner but I know some of these stores offer other services like tank maintenance for home/business office tanks etc. that could be an added source of income without actually selling fish. Also, if you become a reseller for different tank companies think waterbox, Red Sea, they will list your business on their websites. You don’t necessarily have to carry the tanks/stand in your inventory but you can whole sale order it for customers. We wanted to see one on display before we bought waterbox and went a really far distance to see it. We ended up ordering with the shop that had it and found them listed on waterbox anyways that trip alone was $5k that we spent they had a small selection of all the tank equipment. Anyways just looking outside of the fish/coral specifically there are quite a few things to bring customers in and make money, Salt, supplements, Hanna test checkers. Also, my husband goes to the fish shop monthly and I don’t think he’s ever come home spending under $300.

RedoubtReef · Jun 23, 2023

On the above post and stocking aquariums; maybe not Red Sea...just saying.
There are a couple local fabricators in your area, or at least there used to be. One you could reach out to if you go that route would be Clear Fabrications Inc. Jason makes excellent acrylic tanks and sumps and he I think he's doing stands now as well.