I need a petstore owner to help me...please

Opening a niche store in any small town, that already has one or two stores for that hobby is a difficult thing. I have seen a many cycling shops close down, along with many other stores of the nature. You have to have ALOT of customers available in your area to really make it in a business like that.

Either way, I think its a good idea for any store to compare itself to others in the area, in terms of what the established store has in terms of customers, supplies, and knowledge. You want to have the customers from the other stores shop at your place. If, and when you do open your shop try to have stuff the other shops wont have. None of the shops around here have any displays outside their fish room - even in their fish room its all crap. Having large displays on the floor would be a good way to one up the compettion. GL, and GL with your report

Sowilu,
I don't own my own shop but I've helped design, build out, and open two and helped run one for over 5 years... With the right business model they can be VERY PROFITABLE! There are some people here who know which stores I was affiliated with so I can't post exact numbers but let me say that it's not unheard of to do nearly 1 million $ in sales, per year, out of less than 2000 sq. ft.
I say "follow your dreams" and open a shop if it pleases you. Just be sure to do your market research first and study the competition. Avoid an area that's already saturated with whatever product you will vend. Hire intelligent, cheap labor. Don't waste your money on printing coupons, making T.V. commercials, or expensive advertising. Support your local clubs. Don't set up your shop on "the other side of the tracks" and expect to sell high dollar items. Your shop doesn't have to be the tidiest but it may not smell under any circumstances... foul odors are bad!
Take care.

Starting a fish store is far from easy but at the same time far from impossible. My buddy has turned around a once stale shop into something that is becoming quite a success (I'm there nearly every day, I see a lot that most casual customers don't). Before the coral range was limited to just the basics but he's expanding into more exotic corals. Why? No one in the area has them! You can apply the same idea to freshwater as well. A LFS here just started carrying a wide range of plants. Guess what? They can hardly keep them in stock.

The trick is to find something no one in your area has or is doing poorly. You take what they are doing poorly and do it correctly. With the right connections, advertising, and so on you can have a profitable and enjoyable job. It's not an overnight thing either. It can take a year just to even start "paying" yourself if not longer.

Anything Spypet says.....well.....:icon_roll Not everyone has to make $100k a year to be happy. For someone making fun of those who work at a store and basically calling them morons, search his posts and take that into consideration. Oh yeah the gross tank cleanings, oh boy. Turn that into a side job and you can make darn good money. How does $50+ for less than a hour of work sound? Yeah, that's crap pay. :icon_roll No shortage of customers either.