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

[mfinn]

I would love to see another saltwater store in the Tacoma area,( I'm in Olympia) but as others have mentioned the 10k you have saved up is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what you would need.
It's been suggested maybe a garage sales business.
There are 3-4 already established in the area, all with a large following. One even does delivery on certain days ( K & P).
Getting a start out of your garage might be a good test to see if you can compete in the area. After all Barrier Reef Aquariums started out with garage sales.

 

[fish farmer]

Good point. Most "small" places I know have maintenance customers that really keep them afloat. If you can land a few big clients (think hotel or restaurant tanks), that would help.

This is coming from a consumer/hobbyist who has limited LFS in the area. My one reef store has weird hours and may be out doing maintenance when I show up and the place is closed. Not good for walk in business.

Back many years ago I used to see professional design/install companies that you would have to make an appointment or had very limited walk in hours.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I attended a talk on this subject years ago and the speaker asked the audience " Do you know how to make a million dollars in this industry ?" Start with 2 million

 

[mosreef]

Selfishly, I would love to see another store in our area (I’m in NE Tacoma - Brown’s Point) but - how on earth do our existing LFS stay afloat? (2 in Bellevue, 1 in Renton) When I go there, sadly I’m the only customer in the place. Ordering online is sooooo much easier.

Also, as a small business owner - I would never ever rent a retail or office building location again. Such a huge unnecessary waste. I run a small business (POSHweddingflowers.com) in my home and love it. Huge tax benefits. Garage is built out with a cooler & workspace, 1 bedroom is my office. Then my husbands business (he’s a mental health therapist) uses another bedroom as his office. We write off a significant portion of our utilities, maintenance etc. Commute is across the hall, we work in pjs if we want.

If you don’t want people coming to your house you can meet at Starbucks or the LFS parking lot with their order. (I meet them at the wedding venue)

Just do it all legally - get a business license, pay taxes, get the right insurance if you do have people come in your house in case they slip & fall, etc etc etc.

You could easily do this - just setup a good website - I would buy frags from you!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Just my story: I recently retired and have had 15 years experience in the pet trade when I was younger. I REALLY wanted to open a store in my area and I had $100k to do it. I began to develop a business plan and soon saw that it was not viable for my area. The ROI was less than 10% with me working full time....buying a CD was a better option (grin).

It is a shame, but for brick and mortar single proprietorship aquarium stores to survive, they need just the right market, and then augment walk in sales with online, or aquarium maintenance contracts (lots of them!).

Use Ann Arbor Michigan as an example: In 1972 there were close to a dozen aquarium stores in the metro area. By 1985, there were 4 and now there is just one small one, in the basement below an insurance office.

Jay

 

[mosreef]

I would love to see another saltwater store in the Tacoma area,( I'm in Olympia) but as others have mentioned the 10k you have saved up is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what you would need.
It's been suggested maybe a garage sales business.
There are 3-4 already established in the area, all with a large following. One even does delivery on certain days ( K & P).
Getting a start out of your garage might be a good test to see if you can compete in the area. After all Barrier Reef Aquariums started out with garage sales.

Had not heard of K&P - where are they?

 

[mosreef]

March at Fragbox says he has 150-200k in dry goods inventory:

 

[GARRIGA]

Was in the business 30 years ago. Seen LFS collapse in south Florida past decade. Some have lasted the test of time but too often a new store pops up and out in no time.

Traveling to frag swaps might be more profitable. Gets you established. Creates a clientele. Best gauge of what’s selling and if sales enough to sustain a profit that covers expenses on a store and life.

Swaps will also help support online sales. Brick and mortar are becoming a thing of the past and although I see the value in being able to pick it out there’s a reason stores sell at higher prices than swaps. Not keeping the doors open competing with the cost of a table.

 

[X-37B]

Locally their are 3 lfs in my town. Next one is 3hrs away
Store 1.
The owner has been in the hobby, store owner, for 30 years. He has had several stores over the years and dedicated people who wont go anywhere else.
His latest store is in an industriel area. He does not need location.
This store is small and he set it up for around 30k.
Funny he does mostly fresh too.
One owner and does everything himself. His wife does maintenance accounts.
He sold his last shop for $120,000. The new owner killed the store within a year and its gone.
It was a real nice old school store too.

Store 2.
Been their for 10+ years and has good coral selection but makes most of his money on fresh and is expanding fresh as we speak. He collects shops that go under and has enough equipment to open another but wont. The key is keeping it small.
He and his wife run the store, good people.

Store 3.
Large store in a shopping mall. Great exposure. The owner was a hobbiest and came into some money.
They purchased a whole, out of town store, for $250K I was told and moved it here. Nice store and salt only.

Its like starting a job as a realtor. You need 1-2 years of money in the bank to live on while you expand your customer base.
Been their done that, lol.

Also none of them would be able to keep the doors open without commercial or private accounts
All of them agree with this.

Also to be know or successful you need to have a large continous supply of whatever you are trying to sell or people just go somewhere else.

Im retired and have thought the same. Everytime I look at the numbers I just cant justify it.

Also setting up a booth at a frag event will get you exposure even if you sell out of your house.
Again you need to know and have the corals your base wants . Also you need a good ongoing supply of them.

Just some local observations from a 30+ year reef hobbiest.

 

[RedoubtReef]

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?

Have you considered starting this out of your garage/home first? Would your property support an outbuilding where you could set it up? Maybe start as an appt only/concierge type of thing? If the demand is there, you can expand from there.

 

[X-37B]

One last thing that people overlook. If you have a store, make sure you have enough people to take care of the walk ins.

Most people here complain about walking into a store with 10 customers and their is one person to attend to all. People need to at least be welcomed to the store. Its impossible to do when only one person is available. So people just go to another store to buy their stuff. That happens every day here.
Its very hard to get people to purchase from you if you dont have the manpower to take care of them.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I designed and built many stores on the I-5 corridor during the 80's and 90's. I would recommend acrylic tanks to keep you liability insurance lower. Yes they scratch but they can be polished out.

I would open by setting up a maintenance business first with a holding section in your home or find a cheap location to house your livestock and sales systems. Take appointments for direct sales. Offer fresh water tank items as well as saltwater for your maintenance customers.

Pick a single line of products that are underrepresented in your area for dry goods and tanks. Stock it heavily and do not buy from the Central Garden and Pet as they will charge you more for products than they deliver to the local mass merchandisers like Petco and PetSmart. I like Tunze and Eheim but there are other product lines. The afore mentioned do not have good stock through Central Garden and Pet.

Save up $150,000 or more before you open a retail space and then make it a destination for serious hobbiest. Buy a retail space if you can. Rent is a four letter word! Location, location, location with good off street parking.

Square makes great inexpensive point of sale systems but do not have much to offer in inventory control.

Consider making your own items for sale or contract manufacturer your own brand. Avoid China period. Alibaba is the leader of the of 40 theives in mythology so why would anyone name their company that? Just think about that a minute. Many companies are decoupling from China world wide for a reason.

Propagation of your own stock will be a nessary skill for the future. If that is not your skill you will be stuck with whatever you can buy in the future. Just a thought given the desire for environmental movements to ban the aquarium trade.

Be prepared to ship or deliver to compete with internet stores. Not a great model for live stock unfortunately.

Look at other business opportunities cause the ROI on aquarium stores is not great! I think the ship has sailed on the aquarium store as a good business opportunity.

Learn how to write a good business plan that includes market research. Does your area have the customer base to support your dreams? Look for aquarium stores for sale and get a good look at the books. You might get a better deal buying from someone ready to retire! Have an accountant look over the books with you. Find an attorney you can trust and work with! Find insurance company and find out the cost of coverage! My policy for making aquariums ran $750 a year now the same policy is $3500-$5000 and up for year for 2 million aggregate.

Finally consider working in an aquarium store first before you make the plunge. You may not have the attitude necessary to work with difficult customers that make it their business to drag you through the mud just cause they can! Social media is a bear to deal with because the outright toxicity to business owners nowadays.

Aquariums are fun why ruin that by making it a business that you need income from to survive?

 

[RedoubtReef]

Consider making your own items for sale or contract manufacturer your own brand. Avoid China period. Alibaba is the leader of the of 40 theives in mythology so why would anyone name their company that? Just think about that a minute. Many companies are decoupling from China world wide for a reason.

yep.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Im not sure would you know but how do these smaller store normally get these contract? Just like call around? Or facebook? and does that many people do maintenance?

Many stores by me get the maintenance customers by setting up the tank set at the corporate or residential location initially, then continued maintenance.

 

[jimk60]

I would consider selling cat and dog food and supplies as well. It's a bigger market and will bring in people that will look at the fish and coral side and say I want that!

 

[mfinn]

Had not heard of K&P - where are they?

It's K and P Aquaculture.
There is a website, but I think the majority of it's business is from Facebook.
They are in groups such as NGPNR and PNSA

 

[Kerbash]

Thanks u everyone for an answer! I really appreciate the input. I guess what I gathered is hold off on the retail location for now, which I can definitely see due to the economy and such. I guess I should look into getting a business license and contact wholesaler for now which I think works fine for me, because I think the number one reason I want a fish store is so I can get first pick at coral and fish

 

[alton]

Typically unless you have a business address no wholesale company will sell to you. I compare opening a fish store to opening a restaurant. I am only posting because of your last statement. I have what I consider four good friends who own fish stores from 5 years to 30+. Not one has a personnel fish tank anymore. The last thing they want to see is a fish when they get home. Good luck on whatever you decide. FYI the person who has been open for 30+ years has been at the same location for those 30 years which is a low rent district but at a major intersection. He runs a million dollars through his store a year. His biggest thieves have been employees over the years so have a great camera system. One of the idiots when showed him stealing cash from the register said "I didn't think the cameras worked"

 

[Kerbash]

Typically unless you have a business address no wholesale company will sell to you. I compare opening a fish store to opening a restaurant. I am only posting because of your last statement. I have what I consider four good friends who own fish stores from 5 years to 30+. Not one has a personnel fish tank anymore. The last thing they want to see is a fish when they get home. Good luck on whatever you decide. FYI the person who has been open for 30+ years has been at the same location for those 30 years which is a low rent district but at a major intersection. He runs a million dollars through his store a year. His biggest thieves have been employees over the years so have a great camera system. One of the idiots when showed him stealing cash from the register said "I didn't think the cameras worked"

Wow that is honestly depressing, life seems to have a way of killing the joy in everything. When I was younger my current job was my dream job. But now that I am doing it Im so sick and tired of it.

 

[Fungusamongus]

Selfishly, i would love to have a LFS in Tacoma. Living in the North End, we have to drive to get to any fish store. I think the need is there, but as the others have said, is it something you could/should do given the current economy and competition?
The responses have been amazing. A lot of experience and knowlege came in their replies. Many great ideas of how to protect yourself and keep costs low while you establish.
If you do set up in your garage, let us know. Love to have a new place to check out. I have found many of the LFS coral displays to be underwhelming and sparse. Some allowing algae to kill the stock on plugs! Sure would love not to have to drive to Renton or Seattle. Hit us up, would love to see your garage.