Help Please

[Ddddrgnfly]

Does anyone have any info about how I can go about getting in touch with suppliers and wholesalers for corals,fish,additives and general supplies. I am looking to start a small(very small LFS)out of my home.I travel on my job and no matter what city I am in I cant seem to get any info from any of the LFSs that I stop in,I've tried explaining to them that there would be no competition to them being as I live in a whole other state from them.Still no luck.

I have plenty of tanks and vats,just need some info for everything else.

Thanx,
Roger
[email protected]

 

[Ritteri&Bubbles]

You normally need to have some kind of commercial storefront or be in a commercially zoned area to get distros and wholesalers to setup an account with you. Dont expect much help from anyone on this subject though. Its cutthroat literally.

 

[Ddddrgnfly]

I am in a comm/res area and premits and the like are not a problem.My problem is finding the distributors.I really dont understand why this is such a problem with anyone giving me any info on this,especially if I dont live in the area that the info is coming from.I am not looking to put anything on the web and hurt anyones business,just local.If no one wants to post on here the answers they can e-mail it to me at [email protected]

Thanx,
Roger

 

[flameangel1]

Hi Roger,,
One of the reasons that LFS do not want to help ,
is that we have gone through all the red tape and paid thousands,
to set up legal businesses with storefronts /permits/licenses/inspections
commercial phonelines/electric etc.

When someone comes to us saying "I want to set up a business in my home", it kind of sets our teeth on edge.

It takes a lot of time to develop a list of quality distributers and wholesalers and we fight "fill rate" all the time , even then.

Would anyone want to give that "home guy" who did not go to all the extras we did, our contacts the easy way??

If you want to set up a legal storefront business,
yes- I would help you all I could.
But not as the guy running a business out of his basement.

There are too many "running out of their basement" now,
that undercut all of us pricewise,
because it did not/does not cost them what it costs us to do business.

Sorry, I hope you can understand.

 

[Ddddrgnfly]

Judy,
Yes I understand exactly where you are coming from.I myself already run a business,(communications...sattelite,home theatre,etc.etc.etc........
I have already been through the "red tape"with that one and being a father of four and being the only bringer of the almighty $$$,can not afford to just drop the business that I currently run to do a full fledged start up of another at the time.What I am trying to accomplish is to get it built slowly over the course of 1 to 1.5 yrs then help my wife to get everything going when the time is rt.She has been learning alot in the short 3 yrs we've been married but she is not ready to run with it alone yet.
Thanx,
Roger
[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

Have you flipped through a copy of FAMA recently, lots of distributers and wholesalers advertising there. You may also want to look at the Industry Behind The Hobby forum here at reefs.org. I am sure this isn't the first time that question has been asked.

 

[dizzy]

Roger,

Have you ever heard of Fresh And Marine Aquarium magazine? If not I don't think you really know enough about this industry to want to jump right in. One thing I can tell you for sure is that running a lfs looks far more glamorous from the outside looking in than vice versa. It takes incredibly dedicated people to make a go of it, and the industry is changing and getting harder and harder to compete.

Every time I hear about someone getting ready to open a lfs I think how truly naive they must be. No one really likes more competition, but online stores keeping popping up almost daily. Go out to a lfs or a Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of FAMA and you will find that the information you are seeking is not much of a well-kept secret.