Owning my own Pet Store

[beanersmysav]

For the past few years I've been thinking about opening up my own pet store, and I'm not getting any younger or further ahead in life, and I'm not very good at working under other people, so my own business is probably my best solution. However I was hoping someone could answer a few questions I've got about the starting up process, I've got a few questions/concerns, as well as just needing extra oppinions and advice. It will be located in Upstate New York however I'll take advice from any area pet store owner/ former owner. Either reply here with your contact info email or w/e you prefer or you can email me at dsreptiles@hotmail.com
Thanks,
John-Paul

[-okapi-]

Ive often thought of the same thing, Im in college getting by biology degree so I can go to vet school, and I was thinking, being a vet I could work like 4 days a week and be in my shop 3 days a week, plus have a staff of 2 or 3 people and run a small pet shop... But I dont know if that will ever happen.

As for the advice, find out where you can get large amounts of product for cheap (plastic bags, deli cups, etc.) I would go to a deli and ask them which company they buy their 1/2lb, 1lb, 1 1/2lb, and 2lb containers from, then look up that company and tell them you would like to set up a small business and need to get wholesale prices on their products. Also go to as many pet stores as you can and ask the employees what company they buy their fish from, where they get their herps, etc. Then look those companies up. However, be sure to ask regular employees, as managers might decide not to tell you because they are afraid of the competition. Also, when you have your store, it wouldnt be a bad idea to breed your own feeders (guppies, mealworms, superworms) in the back. I wouldnt breed crickets though, they can make your pet store stink (if you breed the numbers needed to supply your customers), I would buy them from someone like wormman.com and ask about any pet store discounts. For aquariums, dont order alot at once because chances are that they will get broken if you have tons of them laying around. I would only have like 2 of the larger aquariums (55+ gallons) in stock at one time. For smaller ones,like 10 gallons for instance, you should have at least 10 in the store at any time because your more likely to sell those. One good way to have alot of herps would be to either breed them yourself, such as leopard geckos, corns, etc which you can easily breed in the back room using a rack system and a home made aquarium incubator, or buy them cheap at expos and sell them for a little higher in your store. It would also be a good idea to call you local animal shelter and find out all the registration info needed to run an animal related business. Okay, im out of ideas, hopefully I helped.

[beanersmysav]

Thanks for the info. I had most of that planned out but the cups and such I wouldn't have thought of right away I'm sure. What I plan on doing as far as cages is using for the most part Rhino Rax and vision cages for my animals for sale as it just makes the store look better overall. I planned on buying up a ton of reptiles at a show as long as using my own breeders, sell most, and breed what I'm interested in breeding. And as far as feeder I'm on the same page as you everything but crickets is a good idea, I bred crickets once and it was a DISASTER! Middle of summer and I had more maggots than crickets... I hate flies... As far as a business plan I find myself to be pretty well organized. And wormman is already my feeder distributer, imo you cant beat their deals or service.

I'm just looking for someone to direct me in the way of experience, what seems to work and not work for them. I know pretty well what animals sell and dont around here as I am well known in this area, and am probably one of only a hundred or two herpers in the surrounding counties, and there is no a single pet store with reptiles worth a damn, and I know what most of my customers would be inquiring for (leos,balls,beardeds,boas) your average popular species of reptiles.

And I know I can get reptiles for REAL GOOD wholesale prices at the shows, but I don't know where to find those other animals people seem to enjoy as a rarity, ferrets, sugar gliders, chincillas, etc . I know where to find those animals online but the prices and shipping are STEEP! And the one shack of a pet store near me doesn't carry any of those usually, and when she gets them she pays a ton and charges even more.

My biggest area of needed help is trying to find funding, and wonder what others did. I figured a loan would be my best bet, but if I could get a grant that would be great!

Thanks for your response,
John-Paul

[-okapi-]

Np, another thing that could make your shop look good would be to set up display tanks which arnt for sale and add anoles, chameleons, or some day geckos, such as this: http://www.blackjungle.com/gallery/talltank/image51.html

You could also set up a nice looking beardy display using repti-sand and a fake rock wall, such as this: http://708designs.netfirms.com/customcage/customcage.htm

And in your fish department, have a "comunity tank" set up with all those stupid looking (I think) plastic sunken ships, treasure chests, dragons, etc. As well as tanks that are a little more inspired, such as a tank with drift wood, south american plants, tetras, cory cats, swordtails, etc.

All of these displays will not only help sell product (by inspiring people to do the same by buying the items needed from YOUR store), but also draw peoples attention to your store, which will also mean more money spent in your store.

As for dogs and cats, see if you can set up some kind of system where your local Animal Shelter keeps some of their more adoptible animals in your store. You wont make any money off of the sales of dogs or cats (because the way the system works, they are owned by the shelter and the people pay adoption fees, not a sales price) but you will be doing the right thing (which should be your goal), people will see that you are helping animals and feel more inclined to keep you in business because you help save animals lives, plus you can make money off the adoptions by selling adopters all their adopted animals needed items (leash, food bowls, food, toys, etc...).

I would also NOT sell cedar, corn cob, walnut, and other such dangerous beddings, because your in the business to help animals, right? (thats one thing that makes me mad about pet stores, the fact that they sell items that they know are harmful to animals)

As for money, the bank is the only place that i can think of. Hopefully you will do well and pay off that debt fast so you can start actually making money.

PS- to save money, DO NOT HIRE ALOT OF PEOPLE AT FIRST, keep it small until you have the finances to hire more. That means more work on your part, but it also means less drainage on your pet store's bank account.

(Ive put alot of though into this in the past year, can you tell?)

[Phoenix]

I've been thinking alot the same thing. The pet store in my area is horrible. Each time I go in there I want to open my own. But at the same time I want to do a zoo and education programs. Maybe its a combo of a store and zoo thats in my future. Once I figure out the money aspect. :S

[ord]

My wife and I just opened one last week. There are some pics of it under "new pet store" or something like that. I can try and help you out but were in Canada so things may be a little different in New York.
Jim.

[Phoenix]

Congrats! Is that the J and J Reptile shop in Calgary?

[IBsmokin]

I had a pet sore but it failed because I did so many things wrong. well that along with personal problems that was happening with me and the person I was in a relation with at the time. I thought too much on live stock and high end then I did on dry goods and low end stuff. It is the small stuff that sell quicker. I sold just reptiles by the way.
The biggest advise I can give is, first of all if you are in a relationship make sure your partner is fully supportive in your endevours, and your life is stable.
The biggest money makers would be fresh imports. Especially lizard species because they cost you only a few bucks and you can make over quadruple your profits. People are more proned to buy reptiles that cost them 30 or 40 bucks then 400 dollar snakes. with fresh imports the biggest key to higher survival percentile is immediately hydrate and free them of internal and external parisites.
There are alot of pet stores so you need make yourself unique, I think if you specialize in something you will tend to atract more people then if you had a regular pet stores that carries everything, I say specialize in reptiles and amphibians, also arachnids and insects. Sell fish but sell fish that you dont normally find in pet stores, the biggest money makers would be Plecos. Carry many different types of plecos, ie zebra plecos. tiger pleco's ect.. there are too many chain pet stores who buy in bulk and there is no way you will compete with them. But they carry your basic species, ie, neon tetras, black neons, danio's, etc..
you need to focus on things they dont carry such as rare pleco species, species of fish that are not normally seen on the market. if you like email me and i will give you contacts on people who sell these fish and they have really excellent prices.
definately set up display tanks, but go with all natural looking aquariums, only sell natural decorations. try making 4 or 5 display tanks, each one do a locality theme, ie, amazon tank, asian tank, african chiclid tank etc.. the big thing now, people want all natural biotype tanks.
With reptiles, try to get a diverse species of low ends, import from tanzania and Nigeria, also asia and indonesia, and south america. there are some really great exporters, again if you need email me and I will give you contact info on the best exporters from these countries. Try checking out http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildfinder/ and search by place, type in the country and it will show you all the known species found in those areas, research on google on each species, and then email the contacts in those countries, most will go out and collect these species that you want, and again you will end up with species the big chain pet stores do not carry. This will seperate you from them and attract more people because alot of people these days want something that nobody has.
The market is flooded with american colubrids such as kingsnakes and milksnakes, corn snakes etc. carry some but try to carry colubrids from other countries as well. try to carry a nice selection of different species from different countries, and since most low end stuff are just a few dollars, the profits you make will be great. But try to have shelves full of dry goods, people might walk in and buy on impulse especially if you have a gecko, or a lizard or skink they have never seen before, and then they will want it, and of course they may need a new home for their new pet, so they will need all the goodies to keep their new pet, so you might make 30 bucks off the animal then a couple hundred off all the dry goods.
If you need my own personal secrets of having a high survival rate on fresh imported reptiles email me and I will give you all my secrets, I still buy animals from other countries and import them even though I do not own a pet sore no more, and I have a high survival rate, besides the DOA's, but now I have shared my secrets with the exporters so they follow my instructions now and their animals arrive healthy and there are many times I have seen no DOA's and the animals adjust to captivity with higher success.
Another idea would be to carry rodent species that are not normal seen in these big pet store chains. Again there are many exports who would be willing to collect these rodent species for you and since rodents breed fairly easily, you can establish a nice breeding colony after you first shipment and will not need to import these rodents again. these rodents will also help your rodent eating colubrids adjust especially if they are their natural prey. you can adventually change to lab rodents after a few feedings. Again since these rodents will be different, many people who keep rodents as pets will want them since they are different then what is normally found. and rodents are really inexpensive so your return rate will be great as far as profits are concern.
So I guess the key is to set yourself apart from the big chain petstores and go for the more exotic stuff. specialize in something that will attract people. have some nice display tanks to display the different species you carry, do research on all species that you are recieving, give out caresheets to all potential buyers. Remember to think low end affordable animals keep lots of dry goods. Have lots of live plants in your store and display tanks and give your store an all natural look that will attract people. Make it look like a place where people would want to visit and just enjoy looking at species they have never seen.
In the springtime i will have some really nice captive born african and asian colubrids that have never been bred in captivity, so email me once you got your store setup and I will share with you the many new projects I have on the go. i am trying not to let to much out because I have so many species that no one has in north america, and I do not plan to come out until I have a healthy stock of captive born animals.
One more big thing, is make a website, you will sell more animals on the internet then you will sell from your store. So definately build a nice website and have a page with pics of your store as well. I had a webiste and there were people that drove 5 to 6 hours just to come see the animals I carried. They only found about my store when they seen it on the net.
I hope this helps. Good luck! Mike

[ord]

You bet Phoenix!! The one and only! (At least for now)
Take care for now.
Jim.
J & J Reptiles

[Phoenix]

Thats fantastic! It looks great! Did you make the display yourselves?

[-okapi-]

Thanks IBsomking, you really provided some awsome info.

[ord]

Yhea Phoenix. Me and my buddy did the on the floor of the shop. Would have been nice to use a mill shop but oh well. The next set will be nicer.
By the way, thanks for the compliment.
Take care for now.
Jim.
J & J Reptiles

[-okapi-]

ord, do you have any tips for would-be/wanna-be pet store owners?
Thanks

ps- i tryed to go to www.jjreptiles.ca and it didnt work (I saw the address on the pic on the front of your store). Is your web site down?

[-okapi-]

Btw, You could breed hissing roaches in your store. The adults could be sold as pets, and the young sold as feeders/used as feeders by your bearded dragons and garter snakes. There was a pet store around here that had them but they hated them cuz they bred too fast and they didnt know what to do with all the extras (except freeze them and throw them away, which was a horrible idea because they would of sold nicely as feeders while they were small). You could sell "sets" such as:
emperor scorpion set
(10gallon aquarium, cork bark piece, bag of bark substrate, scorpion book, screen cover, and small spray bottle)
Leopard gecko set
(15gallon aquarium, medium reptile hide, small reptile water bowl, reptile carpet, and gecko book)
Corn snake set
(15gallon aquarium, medium reptile hide, medium reptile water bowl, reptile carpet, corn snake book)
Pacman set
(10gallon aquarium, bag of moss, frog book, small reptile water bowl)

Just dont sell something unethical like an Iguana set that includes a 10gallon aquarium, small hide box, hot rock, and bag of bark substrate like most pet stores do.

Sets are a good way to make money by insuring that new pet owners get everything their new pet needs from YOUR STORE, as opposed to getting home then realizing they forgot something and buying the other items from your competition who just happens to be closer to their home.

[nguyen_inc]

the combo idea is great okapi

[-okapi-]

Ty Nguyen.

hey John-Paul, I got you some info:
The kroger Deli uses these companies to get their plastic items:
Placon (www.placon.com)
Georgia Pacific
Trendco supply Inc.

I hope this helps

-oakpi-

[ord]

Okapi my best advice is to know what youre getting into. It takes a lot of money and your time. When you first open you cant hire a staff. You dont know how much money youl be making. I came in real low on my budget and had to find more money fast to finish. Do a bunch of checking around to make sure youll be able to find a good supplier for your dry goods and for your animals. Captive bred animals are for sure the best but at times youll need to bring in wild caught. I dont like to do the latter but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Our web site is being built as we speak. It should be up and running soon. Check in a couple weeks or send me a message and Ill let you know whats going on with it.
Takw care for now.
Jim.
J & J Reptiles.

[TessMillerDT]

I would also NOT sell cedar, corn cob, walnut, and other such dangerous beddings, because your in the business to help animals, right? (thats one thing that makes me mad about pet stores, the fact that they sell items that they know are harmful to animals)


I've never heard of the whole Corn cob bedding being detrimental thing. Does this apply only to herpes? What is the health concern?

[-okapi-]

"They are not very absorbent compared to other materials, and they're unstable for traction and can be harmful if ingested."
Searcey, Rex Lee. Cold-blooded Cribs. REPTILES MAGAZINE. July 2005. page 67.

By the way, its herps not herpes lol. Not to be mean or anything but your making me laugh :)

[Phoenix]

They also mold really quickly when they get wet.