If you owned an lfs...

Jrodinnola · Feb 1, 2017

What are two features you'd definitely want to have in the store that you dont see every day?

For me-

1) An aquascaping area. Bins of a few different types of dry and live rock, and a table topped with eggcrate or rubber matting to let people do a mock scape job and see which pieces of rock they like. One of my favorite parts of setting up a tank is doing the scape!

2) Quarantine tank's for fish and coral. I'd happily pay a bit more money for fish and coral that were qt'd.

What about y'all?

ahiggins · Feb 1, 2017

Im super lucky, my LFS just finished their quarentine system and they put a couch back there so you can come visit your fish while they QT

I like the aquascaping area though-thats a nice idea

I think I would like:
when you go to home depot or lowes, they have light displays of what it actually looks like...but for reef lighting lol and you can play around with the settings to see if thats the look you want, if it will cover you dimensions, etc.

andrew james · Feb 1, 2017

sushi bar

Jrodinnola · Feb 1, 2017

ahiggins said:
Im super lucky, my LFS just finished their quarentine system and they put a couch back there so you can come visit your fish while they QT
I like the aquascaping area though-thats a nice idea
I think I would like:
when you go to home depot or lowes, they have light displays of what it actually looks like...but for reef lighting lol and you can play around with the settings to see if thats the look you want, if it will cover you dimensions, etc.

That's pretty awesome!

It may be cool to combine the lighting display over the table for aquascaping! Have a few different lights that are hanging over the table, so you can see shadowing and all over the mock scape as well as how the light looks and spread, etc... that would be sweet!

bif24701 · Feb 1, 2017

Detailed care and requirement guide printed and ready for customers.

Compatibility diagram

Wall to wall frag tanks with small tiny $5 all thru 500+ large rare colonies.

Aquaculture facility

Equipment and fittings X1000+ lol

Flippers4pups · Feb 1, 2017

Had a great lfs years ago here that had a nice play area for the kids in their store. Was nice to let them play while I looked.

Would be nice if one had a lounge area with a couch and chairs. Coffee and soft drinks available for purchase!

Ty Hamatake · Feb 1, 2017

Getting orders in on time...

Maybe a display sump with most if not all options available so that customers could see how the different components are set up in real life as opposed to trying to figure it out looking at pictures.

FishGuyBri · Feb 1, 2017

ahiggins said:
Im super lucky, my LFS just finished their quarentine system and they put a couch back there so you can come visit your fish while they QT
I like the aquascaping area though-thats a nice idea
I think I would like:
when you go to home depot or lowes, they have light displays of what it actually looks like...but for reef lighting lol and you can play around with the settings to see if thats the look you want, if it will cover you dimensions, etc.

Love this idea!!

AdamNC · Feb 1, 2017

I like the lighting display area like the big box hardware stores. Who knows, I probably would not have purchased the light I have now and gone with another.

Bdog4u2 · Feb 1, 2017

30 day warranty on fish and not sell fish you will need to donate to an aquarium because it gets 6ft long

Jrodinnola · Feb 1, 2017

Ty Hamatake said:
Getting orders in on time...

Maybe a display sump with most if not all options available so that customers could see how the different components are set up in real life as opposed to trying to figure it out looking at pictures.

A setup area would be really cool! Maybe a complete setup with a "frame only" stand that shows all the plumbing and sump configurations and such.

Bdog4u2 said:
30 day warranty on fish and not sell fish you will need to donate to an aquarium because it gets 6ft long

A warantee would be awesome, but I highly doubt anyone could do 30 days.. maybe 2weeks?
And for real, a lot of places sell fish that get gigantic. Bad form!

NeuroticAquatics · Feb 1, 2017

I like the idea of a LFS allowing me to order a fish and then they observe and treat if necessary. I'd pay a bit more for that observe/treat part. I would not expect them to QT every fish they get, as there are logistical issues with doing that.

I'd also like to see a weekly update on what they got in. I've seen a couple places that post the latest fish arrivals (even corals) on places like their website, Facebook or Craigslist. One even does a video. If I see something I want, I'm heading over there right away. Otherwise, I might go once a month and I'm sure I miss out on a lot of good stuff.

Another idea that I saw a long time ago...do a membership deal. Charge an annual fee and give members discounted prices. If your normal mark-up is 100%, then sell to members at 50%. Buy a fish for $50, normal price is $100, sell to members for $75 within the first 24hrs of fish arriving in store.

JaimeAdams · Feb 1, 2017

How much more are you guys talking about paying for a quarantined fish? Lets say a fish retails for $100. Are we talking $120, $150, what kind of mark up? Just watch them or are we talking put through copper and prazi and given the full work up or what?

I'm just thinking that takes allot of time and space. What percent of a stores customer base do you think is going to pay the extra?

FishGuyBri · Feb 1, 2017

JaimeAdams said:
How much more are you guys talking about paying for a quarantined fish? Lets say a fish retails for $100. Are we talking $120, $150, what kind of mark up? Just watch them or are we talking put through copper and prazi and given the full work up or what?

I'm just thinking that takes allot of time and space. What percent of a stores customer base do you think is going to pay the extra?

I would. Space is limited for me and would love to have LFS quarantine my fish. I'd pay a pretty good premium.

JaimeAdams · Feb 1, 2017

I mean it sounds great and I would pay extra too, but I've hung out at lots of fish stores and it seems like the great majority of the customers kind of want nemo and dory for their 20 gallon and it's you or Petco.

JaimeAdams · Feb 1, 2017

If you had a BIG store and had space to waste it would be awesome. To be honest I would pay 50% markup for a fully treated 6 week quarantined fish. I would have a large area to aquaculture rare anemones, chalices, mushrooms, paly&zoas, acros. I would have a lounge area with seating, beverages, maybe streaming BRS 52 weeks of reef keeping videos. I love the light comparison where you can play around with them over maybe a tank of live rock with some realistic looking coral inserts. I would also carry a ton of everything.

Granted BIG stores cost BIG money. You would need to have your QT system full at all times to make it pay for taking up the space that it would. Lounge area would take up a ton of space. Beverages is the exact thing you want people to have in their hands while hovering over open coral tanks with thousand upon thousands of dollars of live stock; has anyone tried dosing caramel late in their system recently? The light comparison is cool, but most stores I've seen only carry a small number of brands and the mark up on the high end lights sucks from a retail perspective. The TV streaming BRS 52 weeks of reef keeping would be awesome unless you are busy and have a bunch of people standing around in your way watching TV. Now aqua culturing corals in the basement or the back is the winner as far as something that can actually make your LFS profits.

NeuroticAquatics · Feb 1, 2017

JaimeAdams said:
How much more are you guys talking about paying for a quarantined fish? Lets say a fish retails for $100. Are we talking $120, $150, what kind of mark up? Just watch them or are we talking put through copper and prazi and given the full work up or what?

I'm just thinking that takes allot of time and space. What percent of a stores customer base do you think is going to pay the extra?

I would say about 33% mark-up. I'm not sure what percentage of customers would do it, as I assume many/most are clueless.

I don't like treating unless there are symptoms. I'm also not a fan of copper, so I'd prefer CP or hypo if needed. It seems like a logistical nightmare unless you treat every fish though.

JaimeAdams · Feb 1, 2017

NeuroticAquatics said:
I would say about 33% mark-up. I'm not sure what percentage of customers would do it, as I assume many/most are clueless.

I don't like treating unless there are symptoms. I'm also not a fan of copper, so I'd prefer CP or hypo if needed. It seems like a logistical nightmare unless you treat every fish though.

I'm a big fan of Cupramine. I've experienced it's use with tangs, wrasses, lion fish, eels, clowns, cardinals, blennys, triggers. I probably wouldn't try it on a shark or ray though.

It's almost like you would either have to have a bunch of smaller tanks all on their own individual systems to be able to treat only one tank at a time or you would need to treat the entire system.

It's like would I pay the extra for an Earls Wrasse, yeah I would and it would probably be financially worth it for a store to house and feed that fish for a month and a half for me for the added percentage price. Would it make sense for them to do it for the extra $5 for a neon cleaner goby, ah probably not.

Water Dog · Feb 1, 2017

Clearly, we are all here opining as hobbyists and not business owners...

Jrodinnola · Feb 2, 2017

As far as QTing goes and the logistics, I wonder if it would be easiest to offer it as a flat rate service, I.e., you "rent" a QT tank and the lfs treats that tank (with your choice of what and how many fish are in it) for a flat rate.. maybe like $20 to treat fish that fit in a 15g, $30 for fish that fit in a 40g, and $40 for fish that require something like a 125 (large tangs/angels)? Then, QT would be an option for customers, while still being able to have competitive prices on all livestock.

Water Dog said:
Clearly, we are all here opining as hobbyists and not business owners...

Actually, this is exactly why I asked you all: I wanted the hobbyists perspectives. The owner of an lfs around here is retiring and wants to sell his business, and I'm seriously considering buying it. All this information is being recorded and logistics will be reviewed and considered in my business plan.

So, the more info you guys put up, the better!