wHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN A REPTILE SHOP

How ARE YOU ALL DOING? I AM OPENING A SHOP IN THE, MA. AREA AND WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT EVERYBODY LIKES TO SEE IN A STORE? LIKE ANIMALS SUPPLIES. AND IF ANYONE HAS ANY GOOD IDEAS TO STRUM UP SOME BUSINESS LIKE ADVERTISEMENT.


THANKS a lot IN ADVANCE,
ALAN PITTSLEY:scatter:

Not trying to be an ars, but this thread has already been done. You might want to check it out. Lots of good input, and opinions. http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...highlight=show


As a buyer I would like to see a larger variety of Vendors, and as someone that has helped at Vendors tables a few time, and seeing things from that stand point. I would like to see a larger variety of customers, and more advertising. In this part of the country at least.

I have to apologize. I wrote my last post without paying attention to yours. Its about 5:30 am here, and I must have been half asleep. Sorry about that. Dont know why I thought your post was about shows instead of shops. Now I do feel like a horses arse.

I do apologize.

As far as shops go. I would just like to see healthy animals in clean cages, and employees that are knowledgeable enough to either know what they are talking about, or willing to find someone that does.

Allen,

I wish you luck, but I really think you are asking the wrong people. I doubt that many of us here will be buying from your shop. you should be asking the general public what they would like to see in a shop. Since that would be pretty hard, I'll tell you what they would like to see.

1. Cheap animals.

2. superior quality animals. As long as they are not more expensive than the place down the street

3. Good selection. They won't buy the oddball stuff but they all want to see it. and if you don't get different stuff they will ask about it.

4. Knowledgable staff. by this I mean someone who will tell them that they are right since we all know that they are the most knowledgeable of all.

5. Along with #4 staff who will tell them what they want to hear.

6. Animals they can see, which means that all the time you take to set up your animals in natural setups will be wasted because they won't buy what they can't see. What they will do is ask you to take it out so they can see it. they still won't buy it though because if set up properly they won't see it.

7. Animals they can handle. that leaves out many of the cheap imported or wc animals. Some people are content to observe the animals in a nice setup like they would tropical fish, but most of them want something that they can handle.

8. Bulletproof animals. they all want animals that will live through all kinds of mistreatment even though they will not say so in as many words.

9. Discounts. figure out what you have to charge for an animal and then add a few %. 8 out of 10 people will want to know if you can go cheaper. Even though they would never think of asking they guys at the big chain stores to go cheaper.

10. Free info about animals and equipment they bought elsewhere. If you are the local expert you will get the questions.

11. unconditional guarantee. Doesn't matter that the box sat in the trunk while they were at the outlet mall for 5 hours on a 90 degree day.

12. Maintenance free animals.

13. Minimal setups. "Do I really need a thermometer, can't you just tell me what size bulb to use."

14. Free babysitting. They won't call it this but if you are in a decent location you surely can expect it. Parents will drop their kids off while they go grocery shopping or tanning or whatever.

15 (this is for tropical fish) They want a fish that will live with the others they have others (but they don't know what they have), that doesn't cost a lot, that is colorful, and that will live through anything.

16. Cheap animals

I realize that this sounds very negative toward the public at large, but I see it every day. Not all customers are like this of course, but there are more of them than not. Many of the people on these forums have taken the extra step in the hobby. They may still consider themselves beginners but they are taking active steps to become more informed. Most of the general public is not like this. Kids want animals they can handle, and parents want cheap easy to maintain animals just to shut the kids up. You could set up a store that is fantastic, with a huge selection, and nice setups, knowledgable staff, and everything else that people here will tell you they would like to see (and those are all good things) but you probably won't succeed unless you have the things mentioned above. I know I am not the only one who feels this way. I know that many regular contributers here are shop owners, or former shop owners. I have spoken with a few of them via private emails and I am sure that many of them will agree with me. I am sure that there are a few that will disagree with me as well but I as far as I am concerned they are the lucky ones.

I recently doubled my reptile space to over 60 cages but for what I sell I could have cut it by 2/3rds. Everyone wants to see the variety but they buy corn snakes, ball pythons, leopard geckos, boa constrictors, green anoles, green tree frogs, newts (if I had them) and Iguanas (if I sold them). If I didn't have such an interest in the more exotic species I could have reduced my reptile section to 10 cages, cut my work load by 75% and increased my reptile profits by 1/2 or more. The increase in space was primarily due to my interest. I have had adult female crested geckos that I couldn't sell for $75.00 bucause they were to expensive. I have had CBB (by me) surinam boas that I couldn't get $150.00 for. I've got six different milk snakes on display that are CBB over a year old and I can't get $80.00 for one even though everyone loves the colors. Now they are getting pulled back and added to my personal collection.

I am seriously considering getting out of the live animal buying business and sticking with dry goods and animals I produce on my own (beardeds, leopards, corns, milks, kings, hopefully boas, and hopefully more consitently balls, among others) These are animals I would have anyway, so maintaining them would not be an issue and I could decrease my expenses dramatically. My problem is that I like em all (well most) so I probably wouldn't get rid of much anyway.

Anyway, I don't want to discourage you Allen, I just want to tell you they way it is from where I am sitting, and like I said, I wish you the best of luck if you decide to go on.

Tropical Oasis

Sorry, Steve. I know exactly where your coming from. Some weeks it just feels like your pounding your head against the wall.

I think many of the points that Steve brings up are accurate and also the reason I feel a hybrid retail/internet store is the way to go. This allows you to increase your volume of sales (thereby letting you purchase in larger quantities lowering your prices without having to cut too deeply into your profit margins). It also allows you to justify the space you utilize for the rarer items that the general public won't buy but which can draw them to your store (at which point you can sell them the normal dragon, leopard gecko, or corn snake). These rarer animals will sell online because of the enourmous audience you have. No longer can you think of online and offline as separate entities but to compete you must use both for the advantages they have (to offset the disadvantages that they both have as well).

The hardest part will be staffing the establishment. Employees are expensive (insurance, tax, etc) and no employee can be an expert on all species even if you limit it to reptiles. As I plan the growth of our company this is the stumbling block I am having the hardest time with.

One point that really needs to be added...

Massachusetts is a BAD place to try and open a shop for a number of reasons...

1)It's not called Taxachusetts for nothing.

2)The laws about which species are allowed to be sold are more restrictive than the surrounding states and in many cases, are quite inhibitive with no substantial reason.

3)It's only about an hour, maybe hour and a half drive from any point in the state to New hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont or even Upperstate New York... all places with shops selling with a lower overhead than you can have anywhere in Massachusetts and selling a greater variety than you will be capable of.

4)The few local niches that exist for reptile specialty shops are pretty much full, with an established (usually Loooooooong term) shop already in place in ten or twelve towns across the state (again, the drive time is low).

5)You will never be able to out-sell the big chain stores in terms of dry goods and equipment. Combine this with the limited avaliability of species avaliable for sale and the ease of just taking a quick drive to Regal or NERD and there's nothing left for you to sell.

There are a few well established long term specialty shops already in the state, subsisting simply because they've been around since before many of the more restrictive laws were put in place and they have a forty or fifty year customer base built up... there are also attempts at new shops at least every couple years, nearly all of which fail in a really amazing manner, out of business in under two or three months in many cases. The demand of the area is simply already being met by either the big two (supplies and dry goods) or by the out of state or long term facilities (Regal, NERD, Boston Tropical Fish and Reptiles, etc.).

Here's a link to a thread from a guy who is/ was considering opening a petshop in the Tampa area. Quite a few good pointers/hints/no-no's in it as well.


http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...hlight=petshop

Seamus,
You are correct on there are a lot of animals that are illegal to sell and own in MA. But there are also a lot of nice animals that are legal to sell and own in MA. And I do not think that someone from MA. will drive all the way to Regals or Nerd for $3.00 worth of crickets. I am not saying nothing Bad about these guys. They have an awesome thing going on for them. But they did start some were. If I can find a store cheap enough and in a well traffic area. Then I think I. Can keep the cost down. I think I can do it if not then I know were I have to improve. Well, thanks for the post all
I will keep you in formed when I decide to do it!
Thanks again for the time,
Alan Pittsley

I have two reptile shops near me. Both specialize in only reptiles. But niether EVER has ANYTHING I am shopping for. They are always willing to order it, but I am an avid internet shopper, if I wanted to wait on shipping I would order it myself!

And I'm not talking about ridiculaous things. I went into one of the shops recently and asked for "Provent-a-mite" Nope. Okay..."Black Night"? Nope.........he had a lovely BIRD remedy he thinks MIGHT take care of reptile mites.

No Thanks. I don't even have mites in my collection, I was just looking to have some on hand as a preventative.

I went to BOTH of these local shops, I wanted a thermostat. You know, ESU makes them, A-Life, I think a few others.

Nope~ No thermostat, but they would order it. I needed it in a hurry, so I agreed as the man assured me he would get it in on his order coming on Friday (This was a Wednesday). Well, I got the thermostat, and I got it on a Friday......................2 1/2 weeks AFTER I paid for it and he ordered it. I could have gotten it faster on-line---or at PETCO!!!

What I want to see in a reptile store is some supplies. Not isles and isles of it....but how about a bit more then the 5x8 foot area set aside in reptile stores for supplies?!?

I don't even want to start in on customer service, but it sure would be nice if employees were reminded that sometimes the woman IS shopping for a snake, and sometimes she DOES know what she is talking about (NO~ I DON'T think I would like to try the bird remedy you don't even think will work!) and if you talk down to her she will just go buy it off the internet!

I would probably have to say that most people who have opened pet shops did so because if their love for animals first......and money 2nd.....but I could be wrong.

Anyone who is trying to make a fortune is going to be let down pretty hard and pretty quick.

I personally dont see anything wrong with someone willing to sacrifice the time, energy, and funding needed to establish their hobby and love into something that might just pay off.

I know alot of big breeders who started off with pet shops or vice versa.

The MOST important thing is to love the animals first, establish youself as a honest and respectable person....those three things will ensure that you will be looked upon differently then the guy who's just out to make a buck.

I personally dont think the phrase "pet shop" is what you really want to be categorized in.......you need to see yourself as a breeder/resaler who just happens to have a retail location also.

Alan,
I know you're a good guy whos willing to take the time, energy and funding needed to make this work.....I wish you all the best.