No I live about 3 1/2 hours from him now. The store that closed is apparently still doing "educational shows" and selling online. Their store closed in September 08. I haven't talked to Steve in a few years. Did he close his retail location?
In a flurry of animal abuse, warrant dodging and general thievery.
You had posted on one of the good guy threads he had five or six years ago, he went into a nosedive decline from that point forward and ended up declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on various loans, taxes and child support payments.
If he had told you his location was profitable, then he was lying. If it's not him, then disregard the thought.
Small aside, replying to more than one person in the order the posts showed up in the thread-
Reptiles are a lot harder to care for than fish,
That's not necessarily true. Seven thousand odd species of reptile, most of which aren't considered pet shop fare... hundreds of thousands of species of fish, with a much, much wider variety of them making their way into tanks. There are some species of fish that are hardier than some delicate species of reptile but while there's overlap and individual examples of reptiles that are trickier, on the whole I'd say it's a lot easier to lose fish over shorter periods of time with less that can be done to prevent it. Take all the same environmental conditions that require control for reptiles and add water chemistry elements.
Even excellent, highly specialized fish specific stores generally have an anticipated in-store loss of 5% or so (lower is better but very very rare), most stores will be someplace between 10-15% big box stores often run 15-20% even though they keep hardier species and avoid anything real touchy. Tack on to that customer returns in an equal or greater amount if there's a guarantee offered for even a short period of time.
High loss and a low profit margin. Fish are mostly in the stores to give customers a reason to purchase dry goods. Although that's true of any live animal in any shop... give 'em a reason to hand you several hundred dollars for a glass box and keep them coming back on a regular basis for the filter cartridges with a 400% markup.
Anything that eats and uses electricity and requires a disproportionate amount of labor relative to the profit is going to fall into that category though. Animals don't make much money, they're just the bait required to sell supplies. The few places that actually do regard live animals as their primary profit area are very VERY few and usually working some kind of angle that boosts the sales in unusual ways.
Wow! Thank you for the ignorance. I truly love when people make assumptions without knowing any of the facts. I asked for someone willing to offer advise not call me an idiot and tear me apart.
I didn't call you an idiot. When I call people idiots I'm very very clear on that point. I said that, given what you had presented, I would anticipate a high probability of an unsuccessful attempt to operate a small business.
I'm not clueless on the logistics of running a business, I am unaware of trials that may face me in this particular line of retail sales.
Okay then...
You're facing a tremendously disproportionate level of labor, space and resource investment relative to profits directly generated by sales when it comes to live animals.
You're facing a market where specialty stores need to keep a diverse selection of higher end and rarer stock to draw customers in- and in which that same stock will rarely sell well. "This place is great, they have this huge enclosure with this giant _____/rare _____ in it, it's so cool! Let's buy a cornsnake."
You're facing consumers who rarely fall into the middle of the spectrum where they think purchasing from a specialty store is a good idea. The ones who don't recognize quality will spend their money with whoever gives them the absolute lowest price (hint: this will not be you). The ones who do recognize quality will usually go find a breeder, either locally or online and skip you completely. The ones who need quantity for whatever reason are buying from the same places that are supplying you, for the same cost. Your target customer is a fairly rare person.
You're facing customers who will ask questions and expect you to know the answers from direct, personal experience off the top of your head. They'll rarely feel comfortable accepting any information that you yourself have to pause the conversation to go look up. This is especially true of a specialty store- if they wanted care sheets and a google search, they'd go to Petco. If they're coming to you, they want absolute expertise tailored to address the minute specifics of their situation.
You're facing a seven day work week, in before opening out well after closing. During that time you can expect to clean up feces, handle dead things, deal with stupid questions and angry customers, be a general handyman, a manager, an accountant, a cashier, people expect you to be a vet (even though you aren't and can't be), handle every problem that comes up with your employees, handle every nuance of dealing with shipping and receiving, arrange product displays, stock shelves, try to minimize theft, feed and water everything in the building (water at a bare minimum twice a day), deal with your insurance, your landlord, the tax-man and animal control.
Say goodbye to your family because you won't see them again until you retire or the business fails.
And yes I am not a fish person. Can I keep a fish tank running and fish alive? Sure. From working in the pet shop I've cleaned the tanks, fed the fish, watched the temps, etc. but honestly don't know much about the specifics hence me saying prior to opening I would need to find someone experienced to help me along with my research. After speaking with an existing full scale pet store owner(my previous boss) she informed me that fish were an essential part of a pet store even if I just sold the basic fresh water variety.
There are a lot more consumers looking for fish and fish products than there are looking for reptiles. In that sense, despite my comments about the low to negative profit margin involved with the sale of live fish themselves, they are certainly a step towards greater profitability. Or rather, having a reason to sell fish supplies is a step towards greater profitability.
You will need someone with expertise though. That person will want to be paid in a fashion that is appropriate to their experience, responsibilities and skillset. It'll definitely cost you to get that person employed. They're necessary for long term success but in the short term, extremely high cost, high overhead, high risk time of your first couple years, this person will probably end up making more money at the end of every day than you do.
I do know what mites are, I do know what quarantine means(believe it or not we even quarantine in the cat world when we add a new breeder), I do know how to treat for mites. In the time I had my collection I never dealt with any serious health issues. I made sure all of animals were in proper habitats with proper heating/lighting, substrate, and diet.
As a practical concern then, I pose the following question- where do you propose to set up a quarantine area in a retail store that is worth anything?
Anything less than ninety days is utterly useless as a quarantine period, even that is the bare minimum. During those ninety days, you've got animals on the sales floor that have been sold and their enclosures are sitting empty.
You have a lot of enclosures where multiple animals are housed together in greater than normal densities- if you anticipate housing thirty green anoles on the sales floor and you sell about twenty every week, how are you planning to rotate them? Are you going to have three months worth of anoles in the back room? Are you going to have twelve separate quarantine rooms for each week's shipment to sit in for three months?
Quarantine rarely happens in pet shops unless an animal is visibly ill, then they usually get stuck in an area with any other ill animals, regardless of when they all entered or what they're sick with.
Plus euthanasia and replacement is often a lot less expensive than treatment. It's practical, if distasteful... is that something you're prepared to deal with the realities of?
I would never sell an animal that I couldn't properly care for or explain proper care of.
How many species do you really feel you know well enough to do that for then?
The reason I am considering this is because the shop that was closed down was actually quite profitable to the owner. I had many discussions with him when he first opened up. Unfortunately greed got the best of him and someone caught wind of how the animals were being kept behind the scenes. In the store front everything was beautiful, apparently not so in the back room as someone stepped in and put a big ol' closed sign on the door.
Here's an unpleasant point to ponder... Would he have made a profit if he weren't cutting corners, hiding issues and having that nasty back room? Was he profitable because his negligent and unsavory practices allowed him greater sales:expense ratios or did he really run it successfully and well for years before allowing it to catch up to him?
All that is left are Petco and Petsmart. Neither are in the towns I am considering though they are only a 15 minute drive away. Of course they sell the same 10 reptiles and that is all.
And the other small shop, which you did add a post to indicate.
Petco and Petsmart will be cheaper than you. On almost every product they sell. The chains buy in sufficient bulk to get discounts from the suppliers and their distribution models save them a tremendous amount on shipping costs. You won't have those luxuries.
And those ten reptiles they sell are the ten reptiles that DO sell. If you want animal sales numbers, you'll find yourself dealing primarily in those same species... maybe with some twists of course, albino this and rarer locale that... but those same species will be the bulk of your live animal sales because they appeal to consumers. You need to distinguish your twenty five dollar leopard gecko from Petco's ten dollar leopard gecko... and you'll probably be getting a lot of them from the same supplier, so the actual differences may not always be present.
I was 5 years younger then. I now have a mortgage, two children, and an adult life that requires a bit more planning on my part.
All things that can be difficult to juggle when all your time is spent working your ass off in a venture that won't be profitable for years, if ever.
I'm just trying to do something with my life that I will actually enjoy. I'm sick of having a job that makes me miserable. If I have to work 80 hours a week I'd rather be enjoying myself.
Chances are good that you'll spend a lot more time with the parts of operating a store that are less than fun... more like stress inducing headaches. Unless you just sink money into it and hire someone to do every job you dislike. The easiest way to make a million dollars is to start with a billion.
