owning a pet fish store?

Question

How do you make a profit by owning a tropical fish store? where do pet stores get there fish from? wouldnt they lose money?

Answer 1

I own because I enjoy fish and this is the only way to support my hobby. Unless you are in a large enough market area and you have lots of money to put into stock and supplies I would not suggest this business.

Every day I loose some fish. This means that my proffit is gone. I also have people comming in wanting things that I don't have, so I get them, then no one wants them any more so I am stuck with stuff that drain my pocket.

Here is one reason to think before you jump. To have a proper supply of light bulbs for a fish store you need a wide range of sizes and types. The smallest display with the minimum lights will run you $1400.00. some of those lights will never sell but you must have them to be in business. If you want to keep your customers comming you have to have what they want. And Walmart always beats your prices.

Volume is your only hope and that is not having volume but selling it.

Knowlage is king. You need to research, research, research.
To properly run a fish aquarium store you have to serve your customers with information that is correct. If they loose fish because you didn't tell them something about their fish they blaim you.

Cleaning and maintnance is a daily chore. Not one day do I have that something doesn't potentialy go wrong, and when things go wrong you loose your fish.

If you are going in to it just to make money DON'T.

Usualy fish stores get their supply from a broker store. These are regional because rules change for different states as to what fish you can have. Certan indigiouness fish are out as well as some types of snails and plants in California. Most stores use the same brokers. To get the fancy more exotic fish you should check out the brokers near International ports or airports.

It is a little known fact that the fish come from real wild places and 85% of them when captured do not servive. This is one of the real black eyes on our industry.

If you want to learn more you can use the site that I go to a bunch. fishlore.com most of it is free and all of it is interesting.

Answer 2

Pet Fish Stores

Answer 3

From what I understand, owning a fish store or any pet store, is a struggle. First of all you are always in competetion with the chain stores. Most fish stores get their fish from wholesalers, they sell the fish at discounted prices to the retailers, just like anything else. Then the pet store marks it up to make a profit and sells to the public. I don't think anyone should go into the pet business with the idea that they are going to get rich off of it, because it isn't likely to happen. When you factor in overhead, and the high turn-over rate of employees, it is tough to make a successful go of it.

tina

Answer 4

I too own a shop and will join the other knowledgeable answers in saying if you are interested in doing it for money DON'T.

Wholesalers are the primary source of fish to pet shops, but with market pressures as they are, mark ups are shrinking by the day it seems.

Most stores do in fact lose money the first year or two, so you need to be in the position to add more money tot he shop during that time and take away nothing, not even a can of food. Since most people can't afford to do that and many don't plan well enough to get a loan large enough to carry them through that period, about 60% of pet stores fail in the first 2 years and even more in the next 2 years.

Do it for the love of the animals and not for the love of money, that's for certain!

MM

Answer 5

They get the fish from fish farms, and fish farms sell them the fish at whole sale price (very cheap) while the pet store sells you the fish at Retail price or any price they want. It all adds up and they make good money depending on what fish they get.

Answer 6

wholesale my friend..

a friend of the family is a wholesaler and i visit him about twice a year. He sells fishes to petstores at low prices like all wholesalers. Then the petstores sell them for much more.

Heres can example.

He charges me what he pays for them.

i get crowntail bettas for .50 ea... Where the petstores will sell them from 4.99-6.99 dollars.

The way you make money is knowing your fish. If you know about fishes, you wont lose money and lose fish.

Answer 7

some exotic salt water fish are $500+ and require expensive food- these fish store owners knowhow to get that same fish for free, then charge $$$