advise on opening a pet store

[vinnyraptor]

my brother and i are seriously considering trying a pet shop. i know the economy is bad but we have some really good ideas and all of us wives included are real animal lovers. if anyone ever had a petshop or still does i would love to pick your brain. my main concept is a green eco friendly type store. selling all natural foods, animals bred in captivity, rescued animals, etc.
what do you guys think? we can scrape up 12 grand or so and find a store front for about 1000 a month in a busy suburban location. but your only talking 1000 sq. ft. or so. i also build custom artificial trees for a living so i could incorporate that into the store as accessories. i also can make my own LR or buy the dry stuff and get it going and sell it as an alternative to the real stuff coming out of the oceans.
your honesty is more important than being nice here....

 

[jdl]

Originally Posted by VinnyRaptor
http:///forum/post/2913922
my brother and i are seriously considering trying a pet shop. i know the economy is bad but we have some really good ideas and all of us wives included are real animal lovers. if anyone ever had a petshop or still does i would love to pick your brain. my main concept is a green eco friendly type store. selling all natural foods, animals bred in captivity, rescued animals, etc.
what do you guys think? we can scrape up 12 grand or so and find a store front for about 1000 a month in a busy suburban location. but your only talking 1000 sq. ft. or so. i also build custom artificial trees for a living so i could incorporate that into the store as accessories. i also can make my own LR or buy the dry stuff and get it going and sell it as an alternative to the real stuff coming out of the oceans.
your honesty is more important than being nice here....
my advice: dont, especially since you are an animal lover. You are going to have customers that you want to kill for the way they treat animals.

 

[mimzy]

basically.... what JDL said. i admire the idea though. ...how about opening a rescue?

 

[reefforbrains]

Quickest way to hate something.......
Open a store with it as a specialty.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I owned a pet store/live fish store - just closed it in December. Sales were up 10% each month until Sept, Nov, and Dec. They fell 90% each month, couldn't even feed myself and had to close.
If you are dead set on opening a store, I will give you some tips and tricks of what I would have done differently and what I could have changed for the better. Just PM me, or e-mail me or my AOL IM screen name is SnakeBlitz33.
I guarantee you that I will try to talk you and your bothers out of it, but I will try to help as much as possible

 

[coral head]

If your rent is $1,000 a month and you are going to start the business with $12,000? You are GROSSLY underfunded and will burn through the money before you ever see your first dollar of profit.
You asked!
Rick

 

[snakeblitz33]

I started with 50k with my store. I blew through 30k like nothing. My rent was only 800 a month for 1400 sq. ft. But electricity is going to freaking kill you. I constantly had $1000 electric bills.
If you don't have a $750 budget per month for advertising alone - your sc rewed.

 

[snakeblitz33]

oh, and by the way, ordering 2k worth of live goods is not uncommon. When I started my store, I had only invested 2k worth of live goods and only 4k worth of dry goods and I stepped back and saw that I didn't have enough. So, I had to invest another 6k to have anything worth it in my store.
12k will only cover inventory - dry and live.
By the way, I highly suggest having enough in the bank to cover your rent for the first six months.
There's more to business then just customer service and paying bills. Merchandising can be pretty difficult if you have never been into retail before - and even then, the rules governing a live fish store are very different.

 

[darthtang aw]

12 grand is not enough. When we started our grooming business we used 30K. And even that was cutting it close at start up. You would be better off investing 12 grand in the stock market even as bad as it is than you would starting a pet store. When the economy is down people immediately cut unnecessary expenses and the definitely usually don't create new expenses such as a pet.

 

[usirchchris]

This is the best time to get in the market...the water is perfect for buying, but I would plan on holding for a few years. I am putting alot more of my check in right now. Not much ado about your business here...just sayin'

 

[jtt]

have you thought about becoming an investor in a small pet store? you know, like, surrender your 12k to a local store in exchange for partial ownership of the place? then you could work there, make huge decisions, but ultimately if it doesnt work out you can pull out of it. you also wont have to spend a bunch of money on start up expenses.
i dunno. thats what ive thought about doing.

 

[vinnyraptor]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/2914699
I owned a pet store/live fish store - just closed it in December. Sales were up 10% each month until Sept, Nov, and Dec. They fell 90% each month, couldn't even feed myself and had to close.
If you are dead set on opening a store, I will give you some tips and tricks of what I would have done differently and what I could have changed for the better. Just PM me, or e-mail me or my AOL IM screen name is SnakeBlitz33.
I guarantee you that I will try to talk you and your bothers out of it, but I will try to help as much as possible
thamks snake and i will take you up on that offer!

 

[lion_crazz]

I am going to be another person that says don't, for all of the above reasons. Owning and operating a pet store is an extremely difficult task and something that requires a boat load of money and an infinite amount of time. I would not recommend it to anyone.

 

[stdreb27]

have you ever worked in retail sales?

 

[corals1376]

while i agree that it is not the best time to start a retail store it is also not the worst thing you can do aslong as you are offering a good product that is unique in an area that has the need for the type of store you want to offer. i know people that have started small businesses with much less starting capital and they have made it. may not have been the easiest adventure but it worked for them.. don't give up on your dreams.. if it is something you really want to do then you can do it... just think about it alot first and make sure it is the right thing to do

 

[nwdyr]

12k.....wow that's really NOT enough to start anything! sorry to sound mean , I owned a bar and a restaurant , I know they are totally diff. but any biz needs 100k++ to get off the ground! put it on paper , monthly overhead-even if you all work for free( who's is paying your personal bills then?) stock any kind of store - even at wholesale your stock is going to be 100 or nobody will come to look at a half empty store. PLEASE don't do it! save your money! I started with 300k and the first dry spell (only 3mo's long!) and I was OUT! Take the money go to Vegas the chances are better there. remeber all the "little" things , when I made my first small wares order for the kitchen...just knives ,forks blah,blah...it was 8k!!! and this was NOT a big fancy place just a bar and grill. I cant tell you enough NOT to do thid with only12k ,find more investors and sign a contract with them to buy them out in a yr if you make it. Talk to a lawyer....ok I will shut up now sorry

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by nwdyr
http:///forum/post/2915472
12k.....wow that's really NOT enough to start anything! sorry to sound mean , I owned a bar and a restaurant , I know they are totally diff. but any biz needs 100k++ to get off the ground! put it on paper , monthly overhead-even if you all work for free( who's is paying your personal bills then?) stock any kind of store - even at wholesale your stock is going to be 100 or nobody will come to look at a half empty store. PLEASE don't do it! save your money! I started with 300k and the first dry spell (only 3mo's long!) and I was OUT! Take the money go to Vegas the chances are better there.
What business were you running that could not sustain a 3 month dry spell with 300k starting funds?

 

[reefraff]

A year ago would have been a really bad time to start a business. Now I am not so sure. If you are dead set on this track the other stores in your area. Are they cutting back on hours or closing? Is there one you would like to own? You time it right and catch someone going out of business near the bottom you can get a good deal on the place and ride the wave back up.
I think you might be better off putting the money into ford stock.

 

[nwdyr]

If you have never been in biz you have no idea the cost , it was a restaurant....
Rent- 12kmo
ins- 2500mo
supplies 2-3k mo
payroll-18kmo
utilities 4kmo
trust me the list goes on and on.... I started with 300k , I spent EVERY dime getting it up and running , then soon as the dry spell hit I was loosing 30+k per month with no cushion! this guy will spend 12k in about 10min then if the store don't make money from day one ( nobody makes money from day one!) he is toast!....If you do this please post the result...but please don't!
My point no matter how much your rent or bills you need 1 years expenses in the bank before opening ANY business. Call any accountant in the book that is what they will tell you...I did not listen,,,,wish I did

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by nwdyr
http:///forum/post/2915495
If you have never been in biz you have no idea the cost , it was a restaurant....
Rent- 12kmo
ins- 2500mo
supplies 2-3k mo
payroll-18kmo
utilities 4kmo
trust me the list goes on and on.... I started with 300k , I spent EVERY dime getting it up and running , then soon as the dry spell hit I was loosing 30+k per month with no cushion! this guy will spend 12k in about 10min then if the store don't make money from day one ( nobody makes money from day one!) he is toast!....If you do this please post the result...but please don't!
My point no matter how much your rent or bills you need 1 years expenses in the bank before opening ANY business. Call any accountant in the book that is what they will tell you...I did not listen,,,,wish I did
Ah, I see it now. Pet store is different than a restaurant. The overhead is lower...The insurance might be lower, the payroll would definitely be lower, and the square footage and code restrictions are different. I believe it could be done for a lot less than you recommended. Granted my business is grooming, as I said we started out with a lot less than that.