Inspired You?

[khombre]

Ever since I was a kid, I always had this sort of attachment with water. When I started snorkling when I was about 12 years old, seeing those underwater creatures in their natural environment somehow got me fascinated with aquatic life. The biggest "push" to get fishtanks came when I was in a public zoo during one of our school field trips. I don't know what came over me but when I saw this 4 or 5 foot arapaima hovering in the zoo's huge pond, I decided that I should get a fishtank. A week later, I had a bowl (couldn't afford fishtanks by then). About 14 years later... I have 4 tanks and a pond at home... and some tanks in my friend's house. There's something fascinating and therapeutic in watching a fish move through the water. It's always a good way to fight off stress.

Happy fishkeeping everyone

 

[wackydan]

depending on what college i go to, i'll probably stick to core classes the first year or two and then decide on a major.

from what i hear, LFS's don't make too much money (after you pay the workers, outrageous utility bills, rent, manage dead losses, annoying customers, etc) but i guess if your really good at it (and you get the right employees), it won't be too hard to manage and people will keep coming. all i can say it, stick to a LFS and not a LPS! they have a lot more to deal with.

My impression is that there is a trend of very large LFS's and that they must make some decent money if run properly but the investment up front is ridiculous.

I looked into setting up an Aquarium Adventure franchise after I had seen two of them recently, -those are some of the largest all fish stores I've ever seen. I didn't have over a million dollars to start one up, so I shrugged that one off...

I then found a large store in Charlotte called Fintastic, which looks to be a private store/non-franchise. It's almost as big as the Aquarium adventures, and even more nicely laid out.

I'm betting that you are better off starting your own if you can go big, and from my understanding in talking to one of the Aquarium Adventure owners, about 50% of their revenue is tank servicing for all types of customers. I imagine that they "lease" tanks as part of that offering for customers that want it as well though I forgot to ask.

Of course, being part of a franchise system brings economy of scale into play - you benefit from the volume of product that the other stores are also moving......

Sigh.... If I found another hobbiest or two in the charlotte area that had a little bit of $$ to toss into a store, that would be cool. Would be a good way to have all the fish you ever want, and really dive into the hobby while maybe making a just a little money on the side.