Lfs Can They Survive?

[martyn21uk]

I was chatting t the owner of my LFS today. I work in retail and manage a store in the same centre as him so we were talking about trade in the centre generally he opened up more about the financial side of his store. He's rent is £40,000 a year so thats £800 a week. Council tax is half of that again so thats £1,200 a week and then of course you've got all of your other overheads and costs on top of that. Now this is a busy fish store, I have never been in there when they haven't been serving. Its only him and his brother and they work 7 days a week just by themselves to trrade the store but still they are operating on a loss of about £1,000 a week. They've just re-financed their bank loans etc but still how can you sustain that kind of loss? Its just a survival for them and working 7 days doesn't do much for the rest of your life. The store is in its 3rd generation in their family now so I understand why they do it. But do you think this is kind of common amongst most lfs's?

 

[The_Dude]

Dude I think the problem is the really big chain stores like petsmart, or wal mart that are taking most of they're business. I for one, have only been to one LFS in my area, Bremuda Triangle tropical imports and oddities, and they have fish I would've never seen at walmart or petsmart!I don't think the big chain stores should've ever gotten into the biz, it's just that this multimillion dollar industry is a lot more appealing to them than oh say, sea monkies or corn snakes. However, chain stores are filled with ignorant employees, dyed and dead fish, and high prices. I had a job at walmart in the fish dept. made it to manager and fired the new guy and they sought help from me to find a new one. And I did,and he was better than that idiot chris was!!!

 

[Don Trinko]

We have 3 chain pet stores 10 miles north and I do buy some fish from them. Part of the time one or more die or they bring ick with them. There is a store in Toledo 60 miles north of me. They stock Discus, Angels and many other fish you don't find in the chains. They also QT their fish for 2 weeks before the put them out for sale. Geee... so far no dead fish and no sick fish!
When I was a kid ( late 50's) there was a store in Loon Lake Ill that had Great fish. He bred his own Angels (silver and black lace were your only choices) and had wild Discus plus many other fish. They were considerably older than I was so I'm not sure if they are still around but If you live in Northern Ill it might be interesting to visit them if they are still in buisiness. Don T.

 

[martyn21uk]

Both spot on and lfs over here in England are pretty much the same, with a better choice of fish and "better" advice, but you need to sell an awful lot of different fish to cover those sort of costs.

 

[Night_Market]

Whenever possible I will gladly pay a little more to get stuff from a LFS.

 

[iairj84]

Whenever possible I will gladly pay a little more to get stuff from a LFS.

I agree, their are 4 in my city and I really only frequent two of those. One of them is family owned and operated, and I'll do whatever I can to buy my stuff from them. I don't mind paying $1-2 more for something than it would be to buy it from walmart or petco. These days the gas money to get across town to those places almost makes up for it. Not to mention I'm helping a family put food on their table. They're great people and it's worth every penny extra to buy from them. I wish other people thought that way.

 

[Tolak]

They will survive if you help them. Find out what they usually sell the most of, and breed those fish. Only give them the best quality fish you breed, and ask a decent price. They will be selling fish for a little more than the corporate shops, but will be offering better quality fish that have been bred in the same water that is in the customer's tank.

You are only one customer that returns, by breeding & selling to them you are creating many more return customers. These customers return because they are pleased with their previous purchase, not because they need to return dead fish. Locally bred fish are what keeps the smaller ma & pa shop in business.

 

[thegnu]

i breed and i sell fish to lfs not to make money but to recoup some of the money it costs me to fund my hobby. its not cheap to run 3 36"X12"X12" tanks with 3 box air filters, a 100W heater and a 36" 30W light on/ in each tank. then the cost of the BBS eggs and frozen bloodworm, not to mention the "work" involved. and i've got a 5'X2'X2' tank to look after as well. but its worth it when i take my fish in and they tell me they are really good! they only give me credit notes i can spend in their shops but one is a garden centre and the wife's got her eyes on some garden furniture! last week one had 63 off me consisting of blue rams, a cacatuoides and a agassizii and its lovely to see "your fish" swimming in their tanks

 

[iairj84]

They will survive if you help them. Find out what they usually sell the most of, and breed those fish. Only give them the best quality fish you breed, and ask a decent price. They will be selling fish for a little more than the corporate shops, but will be offering better quality fish that have been bred in the same water that is in the customer's tank.

You are only one customer that returns, by breeding & selling to them you are creating many more return customers. These customers return because they are pleased with their previous purchase, not because they need to return dead fish. Locally bred fish are what keeps the smaller ma & pa shop in business.

Agreed, If you are able to help them with the breeding it can be a very rewarding experience. Not to mention it helps you recoup some of the costs of fish fishkeeping while helping to ensure that you're giving the store a little more of a fighting chance.

i breed and i sell fish to lfs not to make money but to recoup some of the money it costs me to fund my hobby. its not cheap to run 3 36"X12"X12" tanks with 3 box air filters, a 100W heater and a 36" 30W light on/ in each tank. then the cost of the BBS eggs and frozen bloodworm, not to mention the "work" involved. and i've got a 5'X2'X2' tank to look after as well. but its worth it when i take my fish in and they tell me they are really good! they only give me credit notes i can spend in their shops but one is a garden centre and the wife's got her eyes on some garden furniture! last week one had 63 off me consisting of blue rams, a cacatuoides and a agassizii and its lovely to see "your fish" swimming in their tanks

I can't agree with you more! I haven't sold a ton of fish yet to stores, but it's very rewarding to see your fish with all the others and notice how much better looking they are (at least in my eyes of course) you know they will be much hardier than most others.

 

[Maximus]

I carn't agree more will all said above

I work in a large (not chain lol) family run pet/garden centre in the fish house,
and all of our discus come from one guy

 

[Gill]

I will go to an LFS before a chain store.
We have 2 petsathome in the city and 1 of them is 2 minswalk from my house. But I rarely go there as most fish are crap and overpriced.

There are 2 LFS' in the City and a3rd thats not worth mentioning.
1 is really good 1 guy running the place - i go there mainly.
1 is a fancy refurbished place - overpriced and crap fish.

there are 2 Massive LFS outside the city both in Nuneaton which are really good.

I tend to use A5 the most, even though its a good 20min drive from me - the staff aren't the best but the fish selction is really good with something new every couple of weeks.

I prefer to support the LFS.

I just wish more people would open LFS and have better ranges than having to go to larger out of town LFS'.

 

[Night_Market]

Yay! Big up your local LFS -

Make a point of buying something from your LFS at least once a week - if only for something small.

 

[channing]

i work at a very small store. i was talking to my boss and we only get payed min for a reason. its sad really we have such nice fish and every thing else but instead of coming to us they go to the big chain stores. i really wish i know where people get the idea that small pet stores make such a big killing. we don't. boss man can't even give us benfitts.

 

[iairj84]

Like I mentioned before, I will support my LFS and will continue to as long as they're still around. But I can see why a lot of people buy from the big stores, they're cheaper and cater to the people that aren't nearly as dedicated as most of us are. Being a college student it isnt necessarily $$$ smart for me to spend $15 for a 10 gallon tank instead of $10 at my LFS.. I know the equipment is where they make the money though when they sell an XP2 for $160 when I can order it online for $75. I will never buy fish from the big stores though, and always buy foods and things that I can afford a dollar or more extra to buy.

 

[Tolak]

Privately owned shops mark up fish by around 3x the purchase price. They can get away with this because most of the fish are locally bred, so they live. That doesn't leave much money for payroll, benefits, or advertising.

Chain shops can order from places like http/grandaquatic.com/ They have a 7 case minimum, so you are ordering anywhere from several hundred to several thousand fish, for pennies per fish. When you add in shipping & certification you get platys for around 18 cents, small angels for 40 cents, and so on. If they have to replace a dead fish they don't care, they mark up the sale 6 to 8 times the purchase price. More return for the money invested means more available funds for advertising.

From there the parallels are similar to McDonald's. Keep pushing the product in the consumer's face through ads, and they get it in their head that it must be good. They sell the equivalent of an aquatic's Happy Meal. Quick, cheap junk, with the assurance that through advertising that you will be back next week for more.