What would you like to see at your LFS, what do you not like about the LFS?

[Jeremy Blaze]

I am thinking about opening a Marine Specialty shop in my area. What are your ideas for things you would like to see at your LFS? ( Anything, livestock, staff, policies, whatever)

What are things you don't like about the LFS?

Feel free to pm me if you like. I am really trying to research this as much as possible before I risk my financial well being!

[dwarfatize]

A large coral selection, friendly staff, high quality and rare corals. These are the things that make me drive 45 min to go to my NSLFS.

Things to stay away from are lying, getting in corals/fish/inverts that nobody could keep alive, the owner not being at the store enough, keeping too many corals for your personal use/show tanks.

If you are ever out in the San Francisco bay area check out Tropical Paradise in San Leandro. Eddie Runs a LFS how one should be run.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Thanks for the reply. I am thinking of those things you mentioned. One of my ideas was to post a list of livestock that will not survive in captivity, and vow not to sell them. Not keeping all the good stuff for your display is a good one, one of the new LFS in my area was doing that, although they had not even begun thinking about setting up a display tank. Whenever someone would ask about a large coral or clam, in their for sale tanks, they would say, not for sale, or name a rediculous $ amount.

[dwarfatize]

Also make sure that you don't set up shop in an extremely high rent area. I have seen several stores go under because of that. True reefers will find you no matter where you are.

[lil_mikey69]

Good selection of corals, zoas too. I've never seen nice zoas in any LFS. If your confident in your livestock, offer a gurantee, even if a short one. Only one of the 5 or so LFS's offers any type of warranty on marine fish. It's only a 2 day gurantee, and its not even a full refund, just wholesale I believe(Thankfully I've never had to use it), but it gives you piece of mind.

Another important thing is to ask people how they have their tank set up and what equipment and stuff. Whenever I buy livestock, I've never even had a person ask what kind of tank I have etc. I think thats poor sales. Thankfully I research things before I purchase so it's not too big of a deal, but I'm sure beginners end up with a lot of stuff they shouldnt have because of that problem.

[greenbean36191]

I would like to see new fish in QTs. It would also be nice to see fish in appropriate tanks and conditions. For example, at the local stores I routinely see large angels in 45g tanks, and temperate species in tropical tanks. I understand the small tanks are meant to be temporary, but alot of people get the impression that oh, that tang was in a 20 gal, so it will be fine in my 45. It also looks hypocritical to have a tang in a 20 gal and say it needs a 75. I'm not saying all the tanks need to be big, just 2 or 3, to hold the larger fish, seperated by compatibility.

I also see the quality of coral tanks sacrificed for quantity. I would rather see one nice coral tank than 10 poor ones. If you don't have healthy corals I'm not going to shop there no matter how great your selection is.

A few other things I would like in a good shop are clear labels and prices on livestock, helpful staff, willingness to trade, and willingness to special order livestock.

[slave-of-rock]

i think that you should have a display tank with all the nice stuff, but make all the stuff for sale also, my lfs does that and i think its great, he has a beautiful display tank but everything is still for sale, and also i think have special sales every month, like certain fish/corals on sale, or a price slash, also he has a membership card where its 15$ to get it then you get 10% off all things in the store and twice a year he has a 25% off sale for members only, thats one reason i love his store, also a knowledgable crew, one of the stores i **use** to go to didnt have one person in the store that knew what a d%#$ chromis was except for the owner! thats why i stoped going there

[Tahoe Ocean]

I would like to see a local store that could survive here. The last one sucked, gave horrific advice, and went out of business then re-opened then thankfully went out of business again. They gave wretched advise, stocked ill looking over-priced fish, and had employees who wouldn't even have qualified to work at petco. They were not nice and believed their way was the only way. More than once I walked out swearing I'd never give them another chance, but being the only thing within 30 min, I tried to give them some business, and occaisonally had no choice but to go there or drive over the mountain.
Good luck. Whatever you choose to do, remember: Be nice to the customers, give good advice, and try to offer good prices.

[dogfacepuffer]

One of our LFS sets up accounts in his computer and enters your personal tank data, like lights, tank size, other fish, filter system. That way, if you forget what you have (or like me, go buy something for your husband, and don't honestly know what lights you have) the answer is there. Plus, he doesn't try to sell you something everytime. He even has comfy chairs to sit in and just look at the tanks if you want. Very welcoming, and always busy.

We always look for good quality, friendly staff, and fair prices. And, we are willing to pay more in order to have the quality kept up.

[tonkadawg]

The good LFS here uses a program that actually tracks your purchases - very good if you send a significant other to pick up bulbs or something. All they have to do is look up in the system what the last kind was and from there, they are able to figure out what it is you want.

The same store has excellent coral selection, a nice qt that everything stays in for atleast a week. Prices are higher, but in the end, you get what you pay for. I think the number one priority on my list is friendly knowledgable staff.

[s1xtyfe3t]

The program that we currently use at our store (athletic store not lfs) is called retail pro... you can use it to catalog just about anything, purchases, names, systems, addresses, what they have, anything!

[s1xtyfe3t]

also... guarantee's and return policies are a big deal... The store that I manage has the best return policy and guarantees around. We are surrounded by large chain stores and several other athletic shops, and for our policies alone we take business from all of them.

[MiddletonMark]

My thoughts:

Always have prices marked, with clear and specific names [esp on corals ... it's fine to give common name but give scientific Genus too if you can].
I generally don't buy at the store without listed prices in my area. Maybe they're giving me a good price ... but it just sketches me out too much.

Buy / sell frags. I'd even consider keeping them all in their own system [avoid major pest problems, or isolate them to this tank]. It's the only store I stop by regularly [or buy dry goods from] is the store that buys [store credit] my frags + regularly carries frags.

I'd keep an eye on both sides of the market as I see it ... a tank set up with all `easy' corals that are more hardy. Softies, LPS ... I'd prefer not to see chili corals, flowerpots, elegance, and other `poor record' corals being sold at all .. but esp. don't have these in the `easier' tank. You need a tank with some nice acros, lots of frags, and other sweet pieces / unusual corals for the more advanced hobbyist ... and it's a PITA to `split' the two groups but I'd focus on both. The advanced hobbyists will be around, will buy the amazing pieces you can get ... and IMO are an important `word of mouth' sort of customer.
The newbies drive the market ... and IMO any place that gives good newbie advice will keep busy. A lot of work, frustrating ... but yet if you're the one place that doesn't stock/sell them Goniopora among other common new-to-hobby bad coral choices ... you'll win their respect.

[ginntonic74]

I would like to see big chested women that have to do water changes with white shirts on.

[MiddletonMark]

Mermaids in the display tank?

[lil_mikey69]

Originally posted by ginntonic74
I would like to see big chested women that have to do water changes with white shirts on.

Could you go ahead and get those out of the colder tank? Yea, from the very bottom.

[TheBimbo]

Shame on you guys!!! LOL... I used to do the orders for the s/w and I was able to see first hand the price of fish and coral and rock for that matter... The mark-up is incredible... I have such a hard time spending now on my tank, as I had seen it first hand!!! If you can offer good, fair prices on your stock then I'd say your business will be good... Also offer tank service, just to stop in and check out for yourself that these people actually know what they are doing... I know that you will have a large volume of customers, and this would be a hard task to do... But if you'd somehow figure out a way to do this, like a monthly fee, or just a one time fee??? Something like that would be awesome!!! And to do the maintnance thing would be great, you'd be able to have first hand knowledge of just what the customer's tank is about!!! These are just some of my thoughts... I hope that you will consider them...

[Jeremy Blaze]

Anyone else like to comment? Anything helps.

[saltycurofaseadog]

going to upgrade my store into a larger area so will need some help, and input would be very helpful as well. Anyone close to the sharon/hermitage area in pa? Ohioans welcome to and any travelers.Will incorporate any good suggestions.

[Freed]

QT all your fish/live rock/corals/inverts and not just for one week. Four is usually standard to allow ich to die off and to see if any other disease or unwanted critters are accompanying the QT animal. Staff that actually know what they are talking about and that will listen and help and not act like God.

[Caryliss]

Have a display tank with all of the equipment/plumbing/sump visible, maybe even labelled with signs indicating what everything does and what direction the water flows through the system. It's so easy for a newbie to become overwhelmed by it all and give up before even starting, or to just "skip all the fancy stuff" they don't understand and just buy the undrilled tank and SeaClone!

[kyman_33]

Quality over quantity, friendly and informative staff, and decent prices.

[Hoggn]

I vote for half naked big breasted women too!

Serious, I would like to see clearly printed names like others have said... QT would be big also.... How about saltwater 101 classes...

[PhantomFE3]

ive got some suggestions that noone else has seemed to touch base on.

how about the right equipment/supplies? IMHO you should be stocking things such as joes juice, chemi clean, good skimmers, UV filters, etc, things that people will NEED!

for someone who is just setting up a tank, they get a bloom of cyano, what do they need? hand em a bottle of chemi clean and say, this will take care of it, guarenteed. and if they use it and it doesnt work, tell em to bring back whats left of the bottle and give em their money back, and use whats left for your tank

someone notices a little anemone growing on their rock, have a card ready with pictures of aiptasia (all the different kinds) along with a description of it, tell them they need joes juice, it will kill it, guarenteed, and if it doesnt, tell em to bring back whats left, give them their money back and use the rest for your tank

i wouldnt suggest giving a guarentee for just any product, only products you know will work, lots of people swear by joes juice and chemi-clean, i would say they are good candidates.

skimmers, someone needs a skimmer, dont slap some sort of half *** skilter on them, have a fine selection of skimmers on hand, put some of the more popular skimmers on your tanks int the store, if they have questions, show em that you run it on your tank and its working awesome.

i think someone mentioned this before, but, have 3 main show tanks, 1 tank labelled 'beginners' the 2nd tank labelled 'intermediate' and the 3rd tank labelled 'experts'

in the first tank just have a couple small VHOs or even NO flourescent, make it mostly live rock and some easy stuff like sun polyps (which dont need light at all, correct?) and mushrooms, but mainly focus on fish and live rock.

in the intermediate tank, have some PCs or whatnot, keep stuff like muchrooms and kenya tree and softies and lowlights.

in the expert tank, have metal halides with clams, SPS and other corals for experts.

have a label on each tank suggesting the time periood the tank should be running for before adding anything from the tank, the lighting it needs, the type of flow, fish that should be avoided, and just general stuff about the tank.

another thing you would want to stock that i wish my lfs did is phytoplankton, i would buy some but i dont really need it right now and the only place i can get it is online, make sure your pricesarecompetitive with online prices, i know you have to markup items to make a profit, but maybe a price match on selected items would help sell that skimmer or live rock

[TheBimbo]

very good advice you are getting so far... But I'm not so sure about the refunds on opened and used products... Maybe a discount on another product or some type of a store credit... Some people are looking to get over on stores... It would be nice to maybe have employee meetings to make sure that the same advice is given to the same questions asked... Nothing worse than getting different advice from employees at the same store... If a customer is wondering your store and happens to ask somebody that is taking care of the Birds, about aquarium care, and that employee isn't sure, then they should be honest... Tell them they do not work in that area, but that we'll walk over and get them some help... I think that type of customer service is great... If your not sure, then don't go blowing smoke up their @&% just to make a sell !!! But by the employees all giving the same answers to the same type of questions is going to be noticed!!! And instead of instructing a customer where a product is, take them directly to it, and even read the carton or whatever it is, so that they understand the directions... Customer service is going to be crucial, you'd never want to hear what alot of people have said about my old boss... They ask me why I had quit, and when I start to say " too hard to work for " they don't seem surprised at all, but agree with me... So good luck and let us all know your plan of action... Hey maybe shipping out fish to your fellow R/C friends, may not be a bad idea ... Christy