John_Brandt":3uv4o8p5 said:
In Chicago, we have the luxury of several nearby wholesalers. We can go and hand-pick Nemos without freight or box charges tacked on. The disadvantages of having a specialty marine shop a distance from a brick & mortar livestock wholesaler are apparent. Locating a marine shop far from a center of high-income individuals is dangerous too.
There is great negativity in this forum on starting retail operations. But properly located and planned stores are often very profitable. I would never locate a shop in an area with extreme price sensitivity. Highly-profitable LFSs are commonly in areas where residents have larger incomes. I can imagine a highly-polished marine specialty shop making a killing in Buckhead. I continually hear you say that your customers will run to another shop to save $2 on a $25 fish. I could not deal with much of that. It's unfortunate that you are forced to face that frequently.
I always understand what Vitz and yourself are speaking of with profitability factors. I have also worked for a good number of retail owners who have become quite wealthy from their shops. And they don't often sweep and close the store at night, their on-duty manager does.
By "we" are you referring to yourself and other aquarium service providers? We have a wholesaler here - and sure you don't pay freight or box charges, but you pay MORE per animal - I daresay they are buying from the same LA wholesalers that stores do - and marking up accordingly. I do know that they transship some, but their prices are high because I'm sure they have to repack in LA before they come on to ATL. I still think that $4.95 for a perc is a bit conservative, and God bless you if you can charge $30 for one!
If one never located a shop close to a big wholesale hub, there wouldn't be much past LAX or Chicago-Ohare now would there?
There's nothing wrong with locating a store where there is a good airline connection - for example there are a lot of direct flights from LAX to ATL, and from other points on the west coast. I only have one supplier who ships out of LAX, and one who ships his fish out of his base in Portland, but the rock I buy from him comes through his agent in LAX. One starts running into problems with connecting flights, bumped shipments etc., but hobbyists live in every corner of the country, so if there is no LFS accessible to them, then they *cough* have to resort to e-tail.....
Yes there is a large store in Buckhead - they also have to pay Buckhead rent. I've spoken with the owners of that store, nice guys. Most of the folks who frequent boards like this would blow a gasket over some of the prices that they charge there - some of their stuff is competitive but some of it has been described to me as highway robbery - but hey - if they have customers willing to pay the prices they are asking - well more power to them! It's an expensive hobby. Not everybody is out to find the cheapest price. This is a good city for this industry - there are a lot of good stores and a lot of educated hobbyists.
I know a lot gets put on the retailer's shoulders - but why don't people make the hobbyist more accountable for his/her actions? Slam the people wanting to put Nemo and 20 of his closet friends into a 5 gallon tank. Doesn't take a marine biologist to see that they aren't comfortable in such a small space.....
My husband and I were talking about this the other day, we counted our total number of clients, versus the ones who make us crazy -- only one out of every 100 drives us nuts with repeating the same mistakes and not listening to common-sense advice.
Jenn