my own store/business...

Sweet, I wish you luck!

 

wish you luck, hope I can do that in 10 yrs or so =p

 

All I know is that I would keep that lime green wall ;D

But... in all seriousness, one thing that I absolutely HATE about my current LFS's is that they either have teenagers (with little knowledge) working the fish room or they will say anything that will sell you something.

Don't fall into that trap! It is 10x easier to retain a customer by providing honest info than to try to acquire new ones because you sold them a tang for their nano and it died.

So many people have lost the value of keeping customers vs. just making a quick sale. Loyalty is where money is made in business. Even though I hate them, think about how Apple has established themselves, their customers won't even consider a non-Mac. While your store will be much smaller, you need to establish that bond.

Word of mouth is the strongest marketing tool. If someone has a great experience, they will come back consistently and tell their friends. Think about it!

Credentials- Marketing/ entrepreneurship degree, 3 years brand management experience, and a love for trying to help people succeed in business 8)

Quick questions- have you created any kind of business plan? Also, where will this store be located (city, state)?

 

following along, this will be awesome. there is a nice store build thread when coral collection built their store. might be beneficial to look through it and get some ideas. their build was very very nice. but also honest, personal business is the number 1 way to make it! this leads to word of mouth and soon your the best LFS. best of luck and i am excited to see this come together! here is the build thread if you wanted some design ideas or anything

http://www.3reef.com/forums/coralco...n-tropical-fish-store-build-enjoy-110910.html

 

best of luck to you!

 

hey all..thanks for the words of encouragement and support. as for the other build thread, been reading those for months..lol definitely helpful and awesome reads.
ASTRik-Im with you 100%. i want to be a reef store for reefers. yes it will be smaller, but we will have better service, better specimen selection, and a fun and helpful attitude. I feel like the LFS really do try to just make a sale, instead of actually educating their customers(myself included). i will strive to suggest what is best for the animal and its keeper, not whats best for my pocket. hopefully, those two can ride the same line.
as for a business plan, i have a basic one and lots of plans/outlines/ideas. but, working on a full blown one as we speak to push me further and for potential investors.

 

location=behind the redwood curtain.(NorthernCalifornia)

 

Oh yeah.. Keep the lime green huh? That's possible! Lol that is the back room.

 

alright...well time to take a trip down south. anybody have any good recommendations for some modesto/Sac area vibes?? Business calls and this boy is heading south for some R&D and to pick up some equipment. any input helps. thanks. and more pics to come!!

 

well...its been awhile since i updated. there has been some progress and much planning. getting things done slow and steady. want to make sure it gets done right. So, got almost all the painting done, finishing that up this weekend. then on to the floors. Equipment coming in this week includes some multi tank fish units, water tanks, pumps, and more.
my goal is to get the back room up and running in the next week or two.

currently working on the design and modifications for the front of the space. and the retail counter. living in the middle of almost nowhere its not so easy to go get used items. ive got my eyes open, but needing to research all the options. ill post a few pics in a bit.

and,, no...the lime green wall did not stay!! but, has been replaced with an equally awesome magenta!!