If you owned an lfs...

[NeuroticAquatics]

The QT rental idea is great.

Check out Reefers Garage on FB for the video ideas on fish/corals. I'm probably not speaking for everyone, but I have a family and limited time to make it to the LFS. I go maybe 1-2 times a month, at best. Sometimes not at all. If my LFS did a weekly list and/or videos, I'd find time to go if there was something I was interested in.

 

[JaimeAdams]

There is a store that is pretty far from me, like 2 hours that claims that all the fish that come in go directly into QT and are treated with copper and prazi for a minimum of 30 days. His prices seem to be pretty much on par.

 

[Whyreef]

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

30 day? That's like wanting a toilet made of pure gold, it's just not realistic.

 

[Reefpharmer]

I haven't seen anyone mention what happens when your prized fish died in their care. Qting is good but some fish do die especially with copper

 

[Shameless_Dood]

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.

A store near me does that on everything with the exception of their big display tank, which is great for educational purposes. I see them talking to new hobbyists using that all the time. Once you get past the big display tank to all the other tanks, it just looks sloppy. Between the equipment in the sumps and the equipment just laying around the place looks like a disaster. Which is a shame, they have these 2 huge raceways (10X3X1.5 ish) where they will put larger colonies. People aren't enticed to stay there and fall in love with something and put down that $300 they weren't really planning on spending. To make that work I think you need to be OCD to the max so it looks super clean.

As far as what I would do, for me it mostly revoles around this formular the longer they stay = the more they spend:
- Lounge area, already been brought up
- Lots and lots of frags, make people stand at the tank for a long time looking
- Hire a marketing / retail specialist to help lay out the store. There's a whole science on how to display products that entice people to buy.
- The computer nerd in me would collect all kinds of data on each sale (what display it came out of, how long it's been there, how much profit in that particular item, etc) More data = more educated decisions for the owner.
- I would put all the floor staff on a hybrid hourly / sales commission pay scale. The goal would be to keep your employees eager to help customers, but not overly pushy sales people.
- Let some staff members build and maintain their own display. Something they can take pride in and talk to customers about. and it should keep every tank from looking the same.
- Online sales, I think this is a must anymore, unless you have a line of people out the door everyday.

 

[Water Dog]

Okay, that's more clear. We have just been discussing the closure of several LFS in the Connecticut sub forum so from that perspective, Id'd like to try to make suggestions that will keep your doors open.

Have lots of frags with clearly labeled prices set up on frag racks, divided into price sections like a $10, $15, $20 and up. Make sure you have a lot of cheaper frags as it's imperative for you to drive in volume through your doors.

Look for an item that hobbyists often need, be it a particular brand of food, salt, RO water or something to that effect and make it your loss leader. Again, this is in an effort to drive in volume, essential for the success of retail operations IMO.

Make friends with the local reef club and encourage them to have meetings at your establishment... more buying opportunities

If you do the QT thing, I'd charge a per diem rental for the space of the QT tank. All requested meds for treatment must be purchased from your store or you charge extra per dose of treatment med (perhaps this is where you could get a good markup). This is a luxury that takes time and valueable real estate in your retail facility so it should be charged accordingly.

As far as having every fixture or piece of hardware, that's a harder thing to do as having too much inventory that collects dust on the shelves, especially expensive hobby stuff can be killer for a business. So maybe each frag tank or display could have a different brand of light so that the customer can see what each brand looks like in use. Again, the danger of this if you don't have it in stock is that they'll come to take a look and just order it online anyway to avoid taxes.

I think as a hobbyists, we want variety and selection in healthly livestock. As a business owner I think it's imperative that you have a lot of more affordable fish and frags so you can drive in volume and foot traffic through your doors so that they can be exposed to your more rare and more expensive items. It's the livestock that will keep your doors open, as the hardware game is one you will never win against the online giants IMO.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Great thread! I want a coffee bar and seating area so I can sit and talk reef with friends!

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Best thing I have seen elsewhere but not done locally is having a big display tank that they frag from. If you're a newbie then it's great to look at something in the stores DT ask what it is and see if they have any frags for it.

 

[NeuroticAquatics]

The clearly labeled frag tank with coral name and price is always good. For zoas/palys, I would love name and price too. I've never seen it done, but I don't like them all laid out with no name or price. I don't like going "what's that one and how much?" A dozen times. Set up a Battleship game grid and show that A1 is a Rasta frag for $25 and D6 is a Utter Chaos for $35. Then have "no names" sectioned off by price.

 

[mmw64]

I just want a decent fish store with in driving distance, which I don't have now.

 

[Empress]

sushi bar

DOH!

 

[Empress]

If I owned my own store, I would have an area with a table, some chairs, and tons of up-to-date informative books with lots of pictures of corals and fishes for customers to use.

How many times have I gone into a store and saw a fish or coral that I bought and knew nothing about? Impulsive purchase. Then I get home and read up on it and find out it's incompatible with my setup?

 

[swayd]

A lot of what I was thinking has already been posted but let's give this a go:

CLEAN store with clearly labeled items from livestock to dry goods.

Memberships that give discounted rates and free items.
Example:
1 gallon of free salt water with every $10 purchase
etc...

Transparency, leave filtration systems(sumps, RO/DI, etc..) open for customers to see how systems are run, whats being dosed and so customers can see that the LFS is keeping up with their maintenance.

Of course a lounge area would be nice.

Aisles with space for more than 1 person to walk through, I've been to too many LFS that have very narrow aisles or poor layouts.

 

[mckinleyw]

Along the qt idea the lfs here qts all shipments for 4 weeks i beleive. they have their qt veiwable in the back of their store with fully qt fish in their other tanks up front.

My idea would be to have 1 set up for each type of qt. Maybe a copper tank, a prazi tank ... as examples. That way as you watch and care for your stock you could move a sick fish in your sales tank to the qt needed for that issue offering a deal to run a customers fish through for a per week charge. Maybe just a thought. Also would be great to have a response team to be there when a customer ends up with an issue they could bring in said fish and then try to figure out diagnosis and treat there like a fish hospital charging for the er just like a hospital...

 

[Jrodinnola]

Along the qt idea the lfs here qts all shipments for 4 weeks i beleive. they have their qt veiwable in the back of their store with fully qt fish in their other tanks up front.

My idea would be to have 1 set up for each type of qt. Maybe a copper tank, a prazi tank ... as examples. That way as you watch and care for your stock you could move a sick fish in your sales tank to the qt needed for that issue offering a deal to run a customers fish through for a per week charge. Maybe just a thought. Also would be great to have a response team to be there when a customer ends up with an issue they could bring in said fish and then try to figure out diagnosis and treat there like a fish hospital charging for the er just like a hospital...

This QT system idea is on point. I realllly like this.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am a former store owner and had quarterly care seminars with light lunch for customers and also Care sheets fopr ever specimen and animal we sold

 

[jhatfield]

Howabout a really slick, modern and clean display area. Make it feel high-end. I keep seeing these videos. of European fish stores which look like an aquatic version of the Apple store. Not that they're all like but I've seen enough to realize there is a real difference in the buying experience. Basically, make the buying experience match the investment. Just because most fish stores here in California are tucked into a small space behind the 7-11 in the bad part of town doesn't mean they have to look and feel like that on the inside.

I like the post-sale quarantine service (or rental).

 

[mckinleyw]

This QT system idea is on point. I realllly like this.

Ty I like the hospital/vet approach seems like the right idea. Idk if this would be worth the expense of keeping up levels in copper and what not. Still seems like customers would really be loyal if store helped with qt/medicine.

 

[SandJ]

There is a store that is pretty far from me, like 2 hours that claims that all the fish that come in go directly into QT and are treated with copper and prazi for a minimum of 30 days. His prices seem to be pretty much on par.

If you are talking about ERC (Exotic Reef Creations) I have only heard great things about them. They are "local" to me, being about an hour and a half away.

But to answer OPs question...
I would love to see all the corals and fish labeled so I don't have to ask what everything is (with pictures would be great).
And having a good coral/fish resource book to flip through and look up the coral would be awesome also. I know most people have their phones for this, but it would be a nice option.

Someone mentioned a kids area. I would love this! As a homeschooling mom, there are not many times I go to the LFS with out kids (two are older now, but still have a 5 year old). If it was in a central location where I could keep an eye on her but still look for a couple minutes while she plays I could probably find something to buy lol

 

[Orly20]

Along the qt idea the lfs here qts all shipments for 4 weeks i beleive. they have their qt veiwable in the back of their store with fully qt fish in their other tanks up front.

My idea would be to have 1 set up for each type of qt. Maybe a copper tank, a prazi tank ... as examples. That way as you watch and care for your stock you could move a sick fish in your sales tank to the qt needed for that issue offering a deal to run a customers fish through for a per week charge. Maybe just a thought. Also would be great to have a response team to be there when a customer ends up with an issue they could bring in said fish and then try to figure out diagnosis and treat there like a fish hospital charging for the er just like a hospital...

Yea this is exactly what I'd love to see in my lfs