Looking for some advice, Opening my own LFS!!!

[Scott Turgeon]

Good Morning all,

I am in the starting phase of opening my very own shop in Central Maine. I was hoping for some advice from you folks that helped make your shop a success. What is the difference between a thriving LFS and one that isn't. My hobby has truly turned into my passion in life, and being an Afghanistan Veteran, I know the benefits of owning and taking care of Aquarium. I plan on specializing with wounded warriors/PTSD Vets, and First Responders. I would love to hear back with any ideas that my be of some help to get my sop up and running. What do you wish more shops carried (hard to find pieces of equipment and ect...)

 

[Gui Paim]

Wish i had some advice i could give you, but good luck man! Thats a great cause and i wish you nothing but the best! I myself find the hobby to be very therapeutic.

 

[fragit]

I live in Freeport Maine! First it's nice to hear that another shop will be opening. There are not enough good LFS in this area. Where are you planning on opening your shop? The only advice I can give, having lived in Southern Maine for over 12 years would be to start slow. I've seen 3 LFS close their doors in the last number of years. One opened in Portland's old port and was closed in less than a year. I think they tried to start way to big and couldn't cover the over head. I have also seen one open in the last 5 years and is quite successful, as far as I can tell. I would try and be as diversified as possible. For me as a hobbyist it is important that I feel that the LFS is knowledgeable, carries quality dry goods, and gets quality livestock. I want to see clean healthy stock tanks. My hope when I walk into a new shop is that the systems are well thought out, and designed with the health of the animals being sold at heart. It also seems that in this area anyway, being able to offer maintenance services seems to help out. I will surely stop by once you open!!!! Congrats and best of luck.

 

[diablomaster9045]

Do maintenance on the side. Most LFS only stay afloat because they do maintenance on the side.

Do cheap cleaner crew its a great way to get people into the shop. I believe Cortez Marine was where I ordered cleaner crew from.

Dip all corals coming in. You don't want to be the shop that caused a coral pest infestation.

Have the hours towards later in the night (Weekdays) when most people are off work. I found most sales were between 5pm and 8-9pm and longer hours on the weekends.

 

[brandon429]

the #1 task

have no algae wrecked tanks you sell me frags from, not a pinch. whether we work 24x7 or hardly ever to reduce cross infection, its a job that can be done. there is simply not one possible reason in the universe other than purposeful farming of plants that someone should have a tank with items for sale that has algae, bryopsis, dinos, anything. sell from a great ecosystem or don't sell it. sorry for the harsh lol. if someone has a given up on tank then it must be priced like cans of mountain dew are for sale, fifty cent acans and stuff.

all im saying is given the option to self infect with bryopsis, or not, its ok to request not.

 

[bbearden101]

Tank supplies, a good light sponsor, good variety of fish. Slow and steady wins the race. Starting out I would keep away from corals tho and after a bit install a separate system for just corals. I would also do maintenance work, or maybe custom tanks on the side (small scale). Have some tanks set up, and culture your own pods, and phyto. You could make some money selling these once they started booming.

 

[Browner20]

Advice from a customer - pick a lane and don't try to be everything to everyone. The only two decent LFS in my area are heavy into reefing and one store only carries saltwater/reef equipment, no freshwater at all. The one that carries no freshwater also has all their drygoods priced at similar levels as the online retailers. As @brandon429 mentioned the quality of your livestock and displays will make or break you as you will probably need to make all your money in livestock, maintenance, water as you will probably only break even on drygoods. Even the best online retailers in the reefing game are very selective on the products they sell as they only will put their name behind products that actually serve a purpose. I have even seen them offer certain products by certain mfgs and disregard others because they do not believe in them. In summary, decide what you want to be before you grow up and fiercely stand in that lane.