Owing a retail aquarium

[onlyme]

Iff it is the shop in Penshurst Street, it was on for $250k, as offered in the trading post some weeks back. IHO that price is silly, LFSs are really hard to sell. There are a number of these business` that have been on the market for some time and remain for sale or are withdrawn for sale, but never sold. Again, in my opinion unless you have something to stand you appart from the many it may be a very hard road.

Craig.

[teflon]

Do you know the measurements of the shop?

I think you may need to provide a few more details on what you want to keep etc as it would be easier for everyone to give a unique opinion.

Im pretty sure you came to the right place to ask for suggestions because there are quite a few people on the site who could help with the building end of things like plumbing etc.

If you ever what a mural or the like with a fish theme i know a few guys that would be interested in doing it

[Ash]

Iff it is the shop in Penshurst Street, it was on for $250k, as offered in the trading post some weeks back. IHO that price is silly, LFSs are really hard to sell. There are a number of these business` that have been on the market for some time and remain for sale or are withdrawn for sale, but never sold. Again, in my opinion unless you have something to stand you appart from the many it may be a very hard road.

Craig.

←

There's was a targeted at mum & dad type pet superstore place up here that was listed for $500k!!

'sif

[onlyme]

Apparently the sale of a any live stock makes business` hard to sell.

$500k, I want harvey norman for that much,

Craig.

[trofius]

good luck with it.

I think service is important, i have a shop up here that treates me pretty ordinary, so i try not to go there, he is ok but she is a bitch ( i corrected her on a few names etc)

Stock, you need to supply what people are after, and ye lots of people like gold fish etc included with stock would be prices that need to be competitive, this may not be easy for selling to the experienced keeper as they know they can get it online for usually much less, than you could arrod to keep it.

If you do have a specialty, ie cichlids etc, and you KNOW thatyou have the best prices on stuff, you will need to advertise localy and on the forums to get people into the shop, that will be the hard part, convincing people to go there, once they are in, ...keeping them will be up to you

I like to see display tanks aswell not just of adult fish , but also for showing the different bioscapes that are avalible, people like to get ideas about tanks, and once they see the possibliities they will want to get everything to make it.

And if peopkle know that you are pre[pared to go that bit extra to PERSONALLY help them it is a deal clincher IMHO ie by selling them special orders special prices, (afterall you probably wont have to house them, or feed them) or by finding that fish that they love soo much.

be informative, offer good advice, and back it up, aftersales service is pretty important

Personally in a bigger city, it would be cool to have a shop that had a lounge type atmousphere, seats coffe table and fish books maybe even coffe! so that you canb talk to anyone serious about a decent display investment, or for people to come and browse, or meet, maybe have all the display tanks in this area. it wont make a huge anmount of cash but it may get them to come in....then you pounce!

[AdamR]

Trofius I think that would be awesome, you'd probably need a large shop for it. But it would have benefits if customers had a nice place to sit, read books on tropical fish. Think about all the fish youve seen in books and wanted to buy.

Great idea

Adam

[Fins]

Trofius,

With a shop like that, you wouldn't be able to get me out of there

Also have a big screen Plasma TV showing "The Jewel of the Rift"...etc..

Maybe have a fenced off toddler section to keep the kiddies out of daddy's hair.

Let's call it The Fishroom Cafe

"excuse me, can I get 10 Tropheus Memba frys to go? thanks, just put it on my tab "

[Ash]

actually, is that such a dumb idea - combine a cafe with a cichlidiot store.

Have the cafe seating area in a foyer type place with the display tanks on, er, display - and have a room out the back with the racks & dry goods

You could substitute the boring goldies etc for the cafe as the money puller - with anyone who likes a coffee dropping in to have it & look at the peaceful tanks etc & maybe use that to sell them a tank/livestock.

Is this crazy enough to work?

[OziOscar]

I haven't forgotten this thread... am just watching, listening, thinking and doing spreadsheets. Egad... spreadsheets!

What you're all saying, I'm hearing and appreciating greatly. Love to know more... so far I've heard about what a regular wet-shop should be like and some slightly more gandiose ideas (a good thing IMHO).

If you can - go nuts - tell me what shop would truly whet your appetite. What have you NEVER seen in Australia in a fish shop but is something that really rings your bell?

Cheers - OziOscar.

PS - Buying the business that was offered to me is off the cards. I won't identify which one for the obvious commercial and legal reasons. Price, location, redevlopment potential and neighbouring business issues really made the offer not work for me economically, even if it did emotionally. If you're so keen to know something, PM me but I won't name the biz.

[Sardukar]

I'd call it.... 'le blue cichlid cafe'

[Caesar]

Hey Ozi Oscar,

I know you are after details but I would like to hear what your thoughts are on this subject.

If you are putting a spreadsheet together I would be really interested in what you think were the best ideas!!

[trofius]

There are several shops i have visited in the past that left an impression.

I really like Wet petz in Qld, it has something for everyone,it is located in huge Hawkins nursery in Bisbane, the actuall shop is in part of a huge shed full of household nicknacs and homewares, while outside is huge really nice nursery with a cafe/resturant, pond area etc. seriously take the family and stay for a few hours!

Another shop i used to like is Aquarama in Brissy they have a nice shop all made up like a fake cave sorta thing, really trick job. they had lots of rarer tangs and cichilds once it has since gone pretty crappy, i think it was for sale for about 250k not sure if it sold. anyways they have about 12 4 foot displaytanks in the wall showing everything from tangs to riverine to native and maine all done as dedicated bioscapes.

I really think to have a truely fantastic aquarium store it benefits from associated stores, for the average jo the fishtank is a bit of furniture, not just a tank to breed your favorit exotic. but heaps of us nuts here are addicted to it, so it will be a balance i feel.

As for the coffe shop bit, they do it with bookstores now, so why not, coffe shops are cool meeting places, hmm is the shop next door for sale aswell, maybe turn thats into the coffe shop!

again good luck

[MikeWs Fish]

I'm not a huge fan of display tanks. they really tick me off actaully. I look at them and I say to myself look at all that wasted space they could have stocked up on more goodies to buy. Anyway,s that just my opionion.

Ideally I'd like to see the following at the 'ideal' LFS (although this may not be feasable).

African cichlid section

SA cichlid section/Discus

Catfish/dwarf section

standard tropicals section

Marine section

Dry good section/(food acessories filters and books /tapes etc)

Tank maufacturing section/department

Aquascaping section/department

and another lovely little section 'out the back' for 'exotics'.

oh oh oh and I almost forgot a plant section

oh yea and a goldfish/Koi section

-have knowlegeable staff. I hate it when i walk into a LFS and I know more about fish than the person that works there. It does happen lol and its annoying since ive only been into fish for 2-3 years.

- competeive prices

- good quality stock

- good range of stock (shouldnt be a problem with all those sections LOL)

- dont stock any dodgy products. Cheap yes, dodgy (unheard of brands) and cheap NO.

- if u want to make the place look nice, check out Aquapets at bondi junction. Beautiful presentation. You will see what i mean, when/if u go there.

I think thats it.

[Fins]

Let's have a bank of 5 PC's networked with internet access so that I can post on ACE to the guy next to me

While the other 3 play Grand Tourismo, there'll be a set of webcams, 3 of which are locked onto the display tanks, while the other 2 scan the room streaming live video to the internet so that fishnuts at home can see what's happening and who's at the shop

..... I place my coffee cup down onto the glass table and sense a group of eyes watching me, below my cup I see a school of P. lombardoi breaking the surface, thinking there's food where I had just placed my cup. They suddenly disperse as quickly as they had come. A gigantic silhouette with a familiar bump on his head cruises by. I see the shimmering blue of the lombardois flash across the other side of the semi-circular coffee-table which spans the length of the room itself......

[Ash]

now that is a cool idea!

[midnightexpress]

make it a franchise and ace gets 10%

[10050460]

well,my favourite fish shop in Sydney are Trans,Monaco and Ideal. they are all in Canley Vale. also the one in marrickville and JMS in carlingford.

the reason y i regularly buy from them is that they are willing to negotiate on price. i must admit their water is not the cleanest and sometimes they sell sick fish in overstocked tanks.

example, monaco is selling small clown loach for $5.95,when i wanted to buy 5 i asked for a better price so they said $5 is the best price!the way he spoke to me was genuine.whereas some shops just wont budge 1 cent and speak arrogantly! the fish shop owner has to realise that we know the prices of the fish at other fish shop too!

i must say these days i seldom go to one LFS anymore because of the attitude of one of the worker there, the tone she talked all the time is just so arrogant. so i hate dealing with her,hence going back less.

one of the expensive fish i bought from there died,so i took the fish back and explained to them that maybe they can give me a discount on some other fish i buy in the future because i spent so much money on the fish i bought from them that died so fast. They said to me "yeah no problem,we'll look after u!" and then we talked abit about how hard it is to keep the fish and possible reason for death etc. whereas the person which i spoke to originally first gave me all these excuses and said "look,you knew the risk, you wanted the fish and u bought it". her tone was so aggresive,trying to make me feel as if im wrong and she dont give a damn if she has my business or not!

so i think having a reasonably competitive price,excellent customer service before and after sales, knowing what you are talking about is the key!!!

also stocking a variety of products is also useful!

but i think being an owner of a fish shop u need to know what price other shops are selling in order to be competitive.

if your goods are expensive even though you have rare things, people will just come and look regularly but they wont buy most of the time. if you let customers know that you are willing to match or lower your price to beat competitors,it will encourage people to go back!,,,,like how Ben of AOA has done.

[kemst]

I really like some of the ideas that you guys have had...

Imagine, a place you go to as a regular to get coffee and they just happen to have fish too!

How many of us regularly go to cafes and read something for the sake of it...I would certainly go to a fish themed cafe...It would mean no longer having to make an excuse to go and just look at fish (and the missus will have something to do!)

There could really be something in this...if it is done well both sides of the business could make money and others could get enthused by fish while fish-addicts can get something to drink or eat while getting their fix

I shudder to think at how much money you could spend getting it set up though

Just make sure the coffee is good

[AdamR]

Kemst, You made an excellent point with the coffee shop idea. That is you dont need a reason to go there and look at fish. The amount of times i go just to see whats going on, whats new, whats coming in and because i have a couple of minutes and im passing by, it would be a great excuse saying, oh im only here for the coffee.

Honestly, it sounds like a wonderful idea, and if i had way more money than i do, Id set it up.

Adam

[Vicious Camel]

Great thread guys -- I must say i agree with almost everything that has been said here.

One thing though that i have ALWAYS wanted to see in the LFS, is pre-cycled filter media! I've lost count of how many times i've seen people leaving the LFS with a brand new tank, light, filter AND fish all at once!! It would be a great way to get the newbies off to a good start, and would be very little effort on your behalf IMHO!

HTH

VC

[kemst]

Great idea about the filter media.

I must admit it woudl make life easier for a noob - When starting it took me a while getting my head around which media would be best for me...never mind how to cycle it!

You could give the option at a premium or use it to make the sale (have fish right away rather than an empty tank or dead fish).

You'd have to have a good system to ensure you had enough media and that it was ready to go.

[frontyluv]

clean shop, clean tanks, quality fish, clear labelling on fish, staff that are knowledgeable, honest, friendly & helpful. Advice thats corect. Thats what Id look for.

If i was to drive up to an hour Id want to see something special! Id expect to get a car park. And I would want a good price!!

In the end it comes down to you.

Is there a nitch there you can fill?

Who are your competitors?what are their prices, fish etc like? can you price match?

Are you going to carry a few fish of all types or specialize in cichlids or saltwater species?

Are you going to stock tanks, filters, medium, parts n pieces?

Advertize & get a website. Get a members sceme happening to get return clientel.

I buy fish food in bulk & all my parts n pieces for filters etc off the net because they are often the cheapest. I buy emergency stuff from my lfs. If im after a new tank,medium/substrate or filtration system I will shop around for the best price on what im after.

good luck