New Plant Store **help Wanted**

[fishmasterno1_2]

I have decided to take my addiction to the next level. I found a storefront downtown next to the casino that's perfect. Rent is kinda high,but space is huge 250' deep by 40' wide 20' high ceilings. The entrance is a v with space for two 200 gallon ponds in front.
Now I NEED HELP. I need at least one plant nut like me(taking applications) to care for this place when I am not there. Investors are needed too. I also need sugestions about possible layouts for the store. What sizes of tanks should I go with and WHY? I am thinking of using 2 sponge filters per tank. Can I run CO2 off a compresser thru the sponge filters? Do I need metal halides thru the store like amano? What are some of the shortcomings of the LFS's I can make sure to correct from day one? I know to buy from hobbyists-that is a given.
I was also thinking of putting in a huge "swamp" in the middle of the store for plants. Good idea or not? It would only have shrimp,endlers,and plants living in it.
I need ideas to make this one of the best stores ever. I will also need huge amounts of plants when I start setting up. I have alot however I know I will need tons more. I know you all will help me with that I will buy from fellow members exclusivly if I get enough people saying I will suppy this or that on regular basis. I am taking agreements on a first come basis. Well at least for the most part. I will remember the members who have sent me awsome plants.They have dibs on the market here. Post here if you want to be a suppier of plants to my store.
If I missed anything please bring it to my attention. Thanks TOM

[Sponsors]

[fishmasterno1_2]

Does no-one have anything to say?

[eds]

You might want to touch bases with the guys over at the CAGA (Chicagoland Aquatic Gardening Association) Yahoo Group. They may have recently changed their name to ChiCAGA. Several of them live in the N/NW burbs, and they are pretty tuned in to the stores/clubs/etc from Milwaukee to St. Louis.

You might also want to check out the several Illinois and Wisconsin fish clubs.

Sounds like a huge undertaking. I hope you have a good business plan and adequate capitalization.

Good luck!

[Fosty]

Now, I only wish I have experience to share, but I don't so I'll try to give you some uninformed opinions.

What sizes of tanks should I go with and WHY?

I would go with different sized tanks. At least two different sizes. High tanks may not be practical for most plants, but if you want to have any swords, have some higher tanks. Most LFS can't/don't have any tall swords because they have shorter tanks. I've even seen an LFS (one of the chain stores I think) that had tall potted sword plants laying on their sides dying in the tank because all of their tanks were too short.

I am thinking of using 2 sponge filters per tank. Can I run CO2 off a compresser thru the sponge filters?

It would probably be a waste of CO2. It would create too much surface agitation.

I was also thinking of putting in a huge "swamp" in the middle of the store for plants. Good idea or not? It would only have shrimp,endlers,and plants living in it.

That seems like a great idea.

Now I NEED HELP. I need at least one plant nut like me(taking applications) to care for this place when I am not there.

I just wish I lived around there. That would be a great job for anyone who does.

Well, good luck. Keep us posted on how its going. People may be able to give you more specific help if you post more details about your plans and goals for the store.

Also, I think it would be interesting to see the floorplan for this place. Maybe someone can give you suggestions on the layout.

Good Luck,
Devin

[Wasserpest]

This excellent discussion might give you some inspiration... or not.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=10691

[JHipkin]

You are very brave. Have you thought through your marketing? A blinding flash of the obvious but it will be very important to get and keep good customers. This is not as easy as you would think. People, bless them, don't change their habits easily or quickly even for a better option.

A deeper discussion on this would no doubt bore this group so send me a PM if you want to talk more about this. I am the managing director of a direct marketing agency in San Francisco. Good luck w/ it.

James Hipkin

[fishmasterno1_2]

Fosty- Great idea about tall tanks Thanks I will use it
Wasserpest- Thanks for that link!!! It helped me big time
Jhipkin- I am an American We are the bravest people on earth I would like to talk to you about marketing techniques. I am a open and truthfull so I don't like to send PM's. I will not be afraid!
Call me 630-854-3179 TOM
Anyone who has something to say to me may call me anytime 24/7

[figgy]

Hey!

This is a great topic--don't go getting all private! A few ideas:

I have been bothering my only decent lfs store owner FOR YEARS to put in at least ONE planted tank for display. It's a virtually unknown hobby around here. Plant selection is nil. No info or equipment whatsoever.

I really like the idea of a "Swamp" display. The lfs I have here has a huge central walk around reef tank set up that fascinates customers. Could you add terrarium stuff and species to your offerings? Stuff for those river tanks, turtles, rocks,wood, flora?

And how 'bout a decent line of info books? Walsteads book, a few other classics on plants and planting. Don't put in those dusty useless generic aquarium books.

Plus: do up some "Beginners How To " sheets with a shopping list for those new to the concept. Better yet--put together a "StarterTank" for a single price.

And a decent freshwater shrimp section....

And, if you can manage it, a website with some stuff available on-line.

OH!! and make sure to put a couple nano's out there for ideas for the desktop crowd!

Also find a way to make it interesting to kids--a fancy planted Betta bowl done au naturel instead of spongebob [!] Kids love turtles too...
You might want to look at a book called Guerilla Marketing to get an idea about advertising plans with small budgets.

Hope that's useful--sounds like it could be a great store!

Figgy

[fishmasterno1_2]

Figgy- I have no intention of hiding under a rock(all PM's).
I am going with all planted tanks with seperate filtration for each tank! I will be posting info all over store. No equipment will be stocked. I am not going to try to compeat with online cheapos. However I will special order if customer requests items. I planed on offering many terrarium suppies,plants,newts, wood ,rocks,and frogs. I hear what everyone is saying with preassembled combos(nanos) for one set price. I am going to run with it!!!! I planed on making ALL my products available online to ALL those who what them. Even combos provided they pay for personal delivery by my staff (Jeff or Sue).
Oh and yes I AM going to have many different kinds of shrimp 20+. Also I will make sure I have all populations stable and producing before offering them to public when possible. Why should I buy them more then I have to? I know about adding genes to the gene pool at various times. I am prepared to do that yearly. I am going to do the same with snails,and livebearers.
One other thought--Maybe I should start a new club + have club meetings at my store!! Heck I know alot of people who don't like the clubs here,and may want a new club to join. Why not I will have 10,000+ gallons of water when I am totally built. I am leaning toward 2 400 gallon ponds in the front of the store. 60 75 gallon tanks on one wall. 120 20 gallon tanks on other wall. The huge custom built 2000 gallon swamp<---full of plants. Planing on having 100 planted desktop nanos set-up onsite for sale at reasonable set price.
I was also going to have a ton of live foods available at all times.
No saltwater in the store at all. Too many others got that covered around here. Some of them are just AWSOME. One local guy has stuff N. Geographic would be wanting to photo. He sells most of his shipments before they get into his tank while in totally white bags sight unseen. Who knows what is in those bags?

[Fosty]

Nothing is going to sell better than a customer walking in, looking at a beautiful tank, saying to you "I'd like to setup a tank like that" and you being able to set them up with all the things to do it including the information. People will pay a great price for something that looks good if you make it really easy for them. Now, thats only good for the casual customer, not someone who really knows what they are doing. That's just for people who wander into the store with no or little experience. I'm not sure how many of these types you expect to attract, but if you think you are going to get customers like that, its probably a good way to make money. Then again, you may be looking to attract more advanced aquarist that wouldn't be interested in that. Just a suggestion.

Good Luck
Devin

[fishmasterno1_2]

I am looking to attract both kinds of customers. More so the advanced hobbyist. I will have some "really easy" set-ups for newbes. We were all newbes at one time. What better way to get more people interested in this hobby then to get them off to a good start? For the advanced hobbyist I plan on having alot of rare plants and livestock. I do plan on ordering anything a customer wants if legal. I also am not going to have petco type fish. I am going to have fish that acually are worth keeping. Why would I sell $1.39 fish? It's not worth the tank space Unless I am missing something.

[figgy]

Cool!

My first tank was a 12 gal nanocube with ecocomplete and a "Plant Package" from an on-line store. Almost a "Newbie Kit". I wouldn't have even tried a planted tank otherwise. Newbies become enthusiasts.

I LOVE the club idea! Have a Saturday class for newbies and offer everything they need for a desktop right there in the store [fabric stores do this all the time with sewing classes and sell tons of stuff that way]. How about invite Diana Walsted and have a book signing!???

And yeah, I wouldn't mess with salt if it's being done down the street--I did salt for years and don't think anything compares with some of the tanks I've seen on this forum!

Looks like I'd better mark my calendar for the Grand Opening! What will the name of the store be?

Figs

[Indy]

Those 1.39 fish are the bread & butter fish of most lfs. Even the most exotic stores usually have at least a few tanks of these fish.

[gsd78]

It would be really great to see a photo journal of this whole thing take shape. Start with some photos of the empty building and update as you go. That way people can offer advice and give opinions throughout the process.

Its definitely an ambitious project and it will be exciting to see it take shape.

As far as the $1 or $2 fish go, I think you'd have to stock alot of them. I doubt there are enough planted tank enthusiasts in your area to keep the store running. Your gonna have to attract plenty of new comers to the hobby and you'll want to start them out with easier to grow plants and cheap/hardy fish. If from the get go they are losing fish and plants are dying there not likely to stick with the hobby.


Good luck with it!

[BiscuitSlayer]

This is pretty cool! I was actually thinking about doing the same type of thing (on a slightly smaller scale) when I have the funds to do so. In the Atlanta Metro area, there are no good stores that have a variety of plants. The stores tend to lean towards a mixture of salt and freshwater with the emphasis being on the fish. There is one store that sells plants, but they don't offer too much with respect to high tech setups. IMO, the store that offers information as well as complete packages is the one that is going to do the best because the clientele will have more success with a setup that is proven.

I used to work in a large pet store while I was in college, and the majority of our sales were reptile related. That was our biggest selling point because we were one of the biggest stores north of Florida. We used to spend a lot of time talking with customers and telling them what they needed from the beginning and offering them information as to how to be successful and what to avoid. The result was that we had customers that would travel from out of state to buy from us. The other thing that made us successful was the fact that we were able to offer discounts based on complete setups.

One of the biggest disadvantages that I see now is trying to compete with online sales with respect to dry goods and equipment. Retail stores have a lot of costs associated with them, and as a result it is more difficult to lower your prices and compete with online stores. The overhead can be a killer to the lfs owner. The general rule of thumb for a smaller establishment in the pet business (not including large chains like Petsmart) is that items for sale are generally marked up 100% over wholesale. This is a huge factor and problem for the lfs because the online seller only has to worry about inventory and minimal overhead. If you can operate your business by staying as close to the prices of the online sellers plus whatever they are charging for shipping, then you should be OK. Even if you go slightly above the online totals, people won't mind as much because they will have the convenience of buying everything from you and they will not have to worry about shipping issues or possible failures and the hassle of returning items. Most people like to touch what they are buying rather than buying something blindly. Many people make a trip to the lfs for this reason... They look at what they want to get an idea of what it is going to be like, and then they go home and find the cheapest price on the Internet. If you can come close to the lower end of the prices then chances are that the people will just come back to you for the sale. If you offer them the full package, then chances are they will come back as long as you are in business.

One word of caution: Don't get overzealous with your initial setup! The store that I worked for was eventually sold to an employee and his parents. The employee lost focus on sales and turned his "unfocused" focus on numerous setups that were not part of the "core" business that was leading to success. As a result, the shop doors were closed within a year. The second owner was a really intelligent, creative, and young person, but he had absolutely no business sense. He got carried away with things that ultimately had nothing to do with selling for profit. He also got rid of things that were pure money making attractions. A couple of examples were an octopus and several nurse sharks that people could feed for a couple of dollars (big goldfish). People loved this concept, and it drew in people again and again. We made money off of this concept two fold because people were paying for our livestock to eat!

I love this topic, and I am extremely interested to see how it unfolds. I wish you the best success. I am also jealous of you!