Don't go through your local chamber of commerce. It costs a pretty penny and they don't help out at all. Go to your local courthouse and they should have an office there where you can get a DBA. Then, you go to your state and local tax/water and revenue office and get your tax ID numbers.
Most of the time, at the local tax and revenue office, you can also pick up a business license. They won't just give you one, however. IT costs money. They also won't let you have it without becoming insured. So, go ahead and get general liability insurance. You don't need to get a permit unless you are a fish store. You won't have access to live and dry good suppliers unless you have a "brick and morter" building. The permit is useless without a building. Just go ahead and order all of your live and dry goods off of saltwaterfish.com or another really good website and mark it up 20%.
I did this for a few years before I ever opened up my own store. Now I wish I kept doing maintenance instead of opening a store. The overhead is outrageous.
Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. I can give some pretty good advice through my experience.
