Sweeeeeeeeeet

Congrats corallineadam you lucky SOB

nice prize too i think...

now to just get caught up on work and get the shop rolling...should have done it in the summer when we are slower...

I still think snail depot would have been cool haha.

Well congrats Adam, if you don't claim your prize in 1 day its going to someone else, me

You are slower in the summer? Huh I wonder why that is.

people are out and about. strange thing about this business is that the worse the weather the more people want to stay inside and look at their tanks. when they see algae, they come see us..so...that is the way it goes. but really winter is "season" for all the wholesalers etc...and summer is the best time for divers etc...it is all flip flopped. I best if you ask your soft coral collectors for a deal in winter they wont do it...high demand and hard to get supply, in the summer, the supply is high and demand low...

sorry, forgot to check the thread, lol. late advice is better than no advice though.

there are a lot of stores that sell tanks as loss leaders - $1/gal and whatnot. they obviously don't make money on those tanks, quite the opposite. but they are there so that they can be a one stop shop for their customers.

the more specialized/rare/unique your livestock is, the less you can rely on dry goods, imo. here locally we have a little of both - some larger shops selling to noobs which stock a lot of dry goods, and some smaller shops selling to seasoned reefkeepers with the focus placed on livestock and less on dry goods. you need to decide which direction fits you better. I've yet to see an LFS that didn't carry at least a small selection of tanks, though, for what it's worth.

of course, this is just speculation based on my own research. have you chatted up some of the LFS owners in your area (or if they know you, the next closest metro area)? worth it's weight in gold, imo. don't tell em your intentions, just pretend to be a customer interested in how the business is run.

also, nice name. :hi5:

thanks! I got a friend that is an old timer that helps me out...he thinks it is crazy to not have tanks, but I don't like inefficiency or loss leaders...eh you cant have everything i guess. no big price tag all-in-ones though. special order can get it in 4 days, but not in stock...that is my compromise! Well off to sleep soon....almost caught up on work....

thank you for your help jeremai. I really appreciate it.

john

OH!
MY!
GOD!




me either!!! LOL!!! i tripped over my words

Hey congrats man! Great name!

John, will The Reef Source ship

I can't even say that once...

To quote a friend of mine who ran a "pet store" for years and finally got fed up and went into coral farming with only an on-line presence... "I had to maintain a $100,000 inventory regardless of how well I was doing that month or what I sold so I got out. Much higher margins on livestock only"

Nice name, congrats corallineadam.

I have never bought a tank from a LFS and I doubt I ever will. I use the LFS to get a visual, then order online

congrats to the winner and great name!

Sounds about right if you have a bunch of tanks and what not. You would need a 6000 sq. foot place to hold 100k in livestock though. Which is why I would prefer to have lots of livestock and that is about it, and the essential dry goods. Livestock sellers locally have between 300-500% margins, but dry goods is near 5-20%. (no overhead included in any of these numbers, just wholesaler to retailer to consumer, so actual margins are much lower). The idea of having to pay double the rent (and associated costs) to house a bunch of empty tanks isn't very exciting to me, but maybe one or two nice ones, some standards, and then a catalog on the wall they can special order from. I dont mind making $5 off a tank that someone orders and prepays for, I just dont want to maintain inefficient overhead. Either way, I will probably have to hold off for a bit on the store, the seas have been a nightmare lately. I can't count how many times I was tossed around today and I think I am going to have to really step up my diving efforts. I usually don't get seasick under the water, (or in a boat for that matter), but my insides are still doing flips. Will probably wait until summer time when the living is easier to move into the new store. Plenty of things to do in the mean time anyway.

Pssh seasickness.

You should have a competition for some store sign ideas lol. I suck at that kind of stuff but it would be interesting haha!

Thanks! We like it too.

probably just general "being shaken sickness" Maybe, that is an idea.... the problem with it is though that colors kept to a minimum are kind of a good idea...full color signs are expensive and raise the cost of printing a good deal. Maybe 2-3 colors tops...eh..I wouldnt want someone to do a lot of work for a contest.