The ideal petstore/LFS....

You have a lot of great ideas. I like the part about not having dogs and cats for sale in the store. the people that pet stores buy from are back yard breeders and puppymills. A database of reputable breeders int he area would be great, and also connections to your local rescue groups. A couple of local rescure groups have "open house" days at a couple of local pet stores. They have potental adoptees they bring in for people to see. Also include info for local kennel clubs and breed clubs and obedience clubs, etc. Just ahving the info available to the public would be nice. There is a website to find adoptable aminals online, www.petfinders.com (or is it .org..I don't remember) if you are going to have internet acess to look up fish info, have it to look up pets to adopt too.

We get our pool chemicals from a store that has a data sheet on our pool...it is kinda nice that they have this info, so when you need pool parts, chemicals, or have problems and you go in, they have that info right there.

If you do water testing for fishtank owners I could see where that kind of info would be good. Also...when you have a sale maybe you could search your database and send flyers to the people that use a certain type of product that you are running a sale. Might be nice. Or offer people who's tanks are lower stocked coupons for fish...those that have plants when new plants come in that fit their tank specs. Lots of possibilities.

I would say have sheets made up for different sized of tanks and suggest compatable fish communities. People ask that kind of thing here all the time.

Also have listings of good internet web sites to find info.

A lfs that I go to will hold fish in an in store quarentine for regular customers...you might think of percs to offer your good customers. Ordering special fish is another.
 
Quarintine would be an obvious must. In fact I think it could be rather beneficial if done properly.

Say I were to get a shipment of 20 L-No plecs. I'd put five in each tank out where they are visible, but on the tank I'd have a piece of paper stating when the fish had arrived and that they were currently in quarintine but could be reserved. Then on the lower right hand corner have a box that said "Number of animals currently reserved ___".

The flier thing would be tough to managage. The nice thing about the rest of the store is it would be pretty automated.
 
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I have my favorite LFS, but I don't get there often because it's a good 35-45 minutes away, IF you don't hit bad traffic....

They always have the same people working there, for as long as I've been going... so they must pay them well and treat them well. They are solely a fish/aquarium store. No birds, hamsters, dogs, cats or even newts. When I am looking at fish, someone always asks if I need help or if I'm looking for anything specific. Even on a busy Saturday afternoon, they'll at least acknowledge me and tell me they'll be right with me... and they DO! The fish ALWAYS look healthy. If there is a tank with even a couple "iffy" looking fish, there will be a big black marker "X" on the tank and they won't sell from it. All fish go through at least a 7 day quarantine when they arrive at the store. No sales until after that point. I have yet to see a floater in any of their tanks. When I ask to purchase a fish, the sales person will ask me what size tank I have and what else is in it before he/she bags the fish up for me. If I ask to purchase frozen foods, I am asked what kinds of fish I have and if I've fed frozen foods before. (I assume they'd tell me to thaw the food first and/or point me to the better kinds of foods for my fish if I was selecting something inappropriate.) They have a website and an e-mail newsletter. Their website lists the fish they have for sale now, and the e-mail newsletters come about weekly and alert me to sales or specials in their store.

This is the best fish store in Denver as far as I'm concerned, and I've been to a LOT of fish stores!

:dance2:
 
PurpleSmurf said:
The petstore will not come into being for probably another fifteen or twenty years
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Aw, man. :( I wanna work there! Then maybe I wouldn't get chewed out for refusing a sale, like the lady who wanted to put an oscar in a 2 1/2 gallon tank!
I'm so frustrated with my job, I'm going to quit...the bit- I mean MANAGER (hehe!) that runs the dept. hates me and wants me gone. She'll have what she wants sooner or later. I wanna leave SC so bad, if I got the chance I'd be out of here so fast it would look like I got shot out of a cannon! I might not be so well received in CO, though, with that big huge Red Wings sticker on my car. :p:
 
aknif said:
When I ask to purchase a fish, the sales person will ask me what size tank I have and what else is in it before he/she bags the fish up for me. :dance2:
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HeeHee..I guess mine has me trained....the last time I was in to buy fish, I started listing my tank and other fish after they asked me if they could help...I knew the guy that was waiting on me was a real pro and wanted to be sure he thought what I was adding was going to work out.
 
Purple-
If there is any advise I can give you- Take all of your expenses and add them together- rent, insurance, utilities, associate wages, your own expenses (mortgage, car payments...cost of living), the amount you feel you need to save for the store, the amount you need to save personally, store inventory, etc. etc...essentially everything you need to pay to sustain a small business and live modestly at the same time. Once you have this total, divide it by the total amount of showroom space in your store- storage rooms, offices, not for sale displays, etc. don't count. This number will give you the number of dollars you need to sell per square foot per month to break even. If you decide to go through with this, you will make this calculation one time and one time only. Quite frankly, it's frightening!
 
nursie said:
I think someone should invent a simple computer program for fish shops that you could input a type of fish, and see what it's requirements as far as tank size, water conditions and types of tank mates are. And a plus for the pet store, it could say what types of food to buy for it there :D
Then print out the info and send home with the people. I can't believe one of the big chains hasn't thought of this.
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Actually, Petsmart has a care sheet for each fish they sell (well, not each individually, but for various types of fish i.e. tetras, barbs etc.). We are technically supposed to give one out for each fish bought, but that is a bit silly!! I ask if the customer would like a care sheet, and if so provide one. Most people who shop don't really like the care sheets, thinking we are just trying to sell them larger tanks than they need, or trying to 'control' what fish they buy. (i.e., the people who inisit balas do just fine in a 20g tank!)

Emily
 
ok this is a little off from the fish world, but someone mentioned having a list of reputable breeders. A good pet store would not even offer that, there are too many homeless animals out there that are just as loveable. if they want a purebred they need to find it on their own. It is almost as bad as using animals from mills.

Anyway, when someone opens a store with all these great ideas let me know, i am moving to that town.
 
It is probably too much to expect a pet store to screen for reputable purebred breeders. One of the Petco's in town used to have a bulliten board that people could post their own ads.
Vets are probably a better source of info on the quality of a breeder, or a purebreed kennel club. If you list the breed clubs in the area then people could contact them for breeder names.

I'm pretty dedicated to my boxers. You can't just pick up a well mannered one from a shelter..I've tried. Everyone else wants them too, and they are snapped up as soon as they are listed.
 
It would be pretty difficult to make any money brokering dogs through a pet store. The breeder is going to want a set price for what he is selling, whether they are sold through a store, an ad in the paper, or whatever avenue he opts to take. It will then be the responsibility of the store owner to add whatever "finder's fee" he feels is fair. This isn't easy when an animal is being sold "sight unseen". The outragaeous prices pet stores bring for their dogs is directly influenced by a cuddly puppy in the prospective buyer's arms.
Furthermore, the buyer is going to want some type of guarantee/warranty through the pet store. After all, the pet store is the one selling the puppy. I could see how this could very easily create some major problems.
 
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