My Own Fish Store Build!

Ok...gotta admit - i burst out laughing when i read this just now.

You are getting a ton of awesome ideas - excellent feedback - i think this is just the right kind of insight to get in order for you to really create and provide your customers with an awesome experience.

I am enjoying everyone's ideas - this indeed is an indicator that you are nearing the home stretch where it alllll comes together.

Have you an estimated timeframe to order and receive livestock and other merchandise? I bet you have mentioned benchmark dates in earlier posts and i have likely forgotten them so my apologies in advance if you have to repeat yourself.

I would love to be a spectator watching you stock all those tanks and receive deliveries for the initial setup. how exciting!

Be sure to get photos of that step as well if you are able.

keep it up!

 

Actually I don't have any dates set.
I am taking it day by day.
There is so many variables right now it makes it difficult. I still have not received an OK from the USDA. This makes it so I can only purchase stuff that I can use at any location. I also cant start any construction until I receive there approval.

I also enjoy any ideas and feedback

 

When did you submit to them for approval? It was pretty recent wasn't it?

I hope it is not too long of an approval process but I suspect it might be. Red tape - gotta love it.

Are you able to look your application up online and track its progress?

I go through approval processes all the time as part of my work too and some are just awful - all the haggling etc. nothing can chew time down like an approval process whether its a building permit, zoning change, Army Corps permit, SHPO, State Health Department....list goes on and on and some reviewers seem to love nothing more than to make the applicant's life a living hell. Then there is all the paperwork - whatever happened to the Paperwork Reduction Act? I have never done a USDA approval - bet that paperwork was not fun to do.

On the up side, sounds like you have most everything in place, staged and ready to launch once you get that approval / permit. Then it gets super exciting! At this point if it were logistically possible - i suspect you could have a full crew from the people watching this thread.

Hang in there.

 

I'm glad you decided against keeping copper in the sale tanks. That sets you up to destroy someone's reef tank at home. Some people are too lazy to properly put their fish in the tank and could end up with some copper water with their expensive corals. Keeping copper in the tanks would also make it impossible to keep any kind of CUC in the tanks. I think you're on the right track with the QT's in the back.

By the way, I didn't see a spot on your floor plan for my tent

 

Actually the USDA is easy to deal with. I have been very impressed so far. They are just a phone call away. You can call and talk to a human every time. We have even spoken to the head doctor a couple of times. It is suppose to take 10 working days

LOL - The copper doesn't go well with the L/R in the bottom displays to well either!
I have a place for you in the attic!;D

 

I had a little idea.
I would put a sign on the door that said,


CAUTION!
Floors May Be Wet!

 

Careful, if not set up correctly to start they may not be mutually exclusive

One thing I did not notice on your layout is where you will display the various equipment you are going to sell, nor a place to keep the extra stock.
One of my personal pet peeves is going into a nice looking establishment only to have a bunch of random merchandise crammed in every available spot above the display tanks due to lack of storage space or proper merchandizing areas that incorporate some extra stock.
It makes the place look unorganized, which can leave you asking what else may be lacking.

Beyond that it's looking good, cant wait to see whats next

 

Extra stock will be in our garage at home that is literally 2 minutes from the shop.
We will have stuff for sale in the front area on A frame type retail displays. We will also have stuff on the walls of the employee area and above the nano tanks. I know that kinda sucks but when your looking at the numbers for square footage its hard to go with a bigger store. It is also hard to carry a lot of different types of product with all the internet sales. I have to find that fine line between too much product that never moves and not enough product.
I will have a lot of different foods and get customer feedback on what they want.
I do have some exciting stuff in the works for equipment. I just don't know if its going to happen and can't say much about it yet.

 

LOL

Or wait that might not be so funny

Time will tell

 

When I worked in retail...our POS system had quite a different meaning behind the name It was a pain. Ugh. Memories.

And keeping easy to grab/expensive stuff in the employee area is a smart move. I know this seems obvious to some people, but other shop owners fail to understand the concept of theft. People can pocket something and be gone in no time. Every store I've worked at, whether it be a hobby store or the gift store at a state aquarium, we always found evidence of shoplifting. Keeping your small and expensive stuff behind the counter will greatly reduce that.

Another tip I know works (we had to take a customer service "class" when I worked at the Aquarium, half the stuff I already knew) is to say hi and make eye contact with as many people who come into the store as possible. Potential shoplifters normally loose their nerve when they feel that someone is watching them or someone knows they are present in the store.

You probably knew all of this already, but I felt it was relevant to the thread

The good thing about an aquarium store is that it's hard to steal a fish Unless you count the goldfish at walmart...but that's not the same as a reef store is it?