FAQs about Business Stocking Related Articles: Stocking a Business,  Drygoods in Business, Livestocking a Business, Fish Food Business, Related FAQs:  Aquatics Biz 1, Aquatics Biz 2, Where can I find you?

Pet business questions  3/9/08 Hi to All, <Alfred> I am presently opening a 1800 square foot aquarium store specializing in fish, plants, corals. <Ahh! Congratulations!> I have never actually worked in the business as a retailer but I have done some aquarium service. <VERY different experiences...> I have a good head for business and work does not scare me. <Seven days a week... I do hope you have a hands-on equity partner, other good help...> My question in short is How many dry good suppliers will you need to adequately stock a store. <At least two good ones...> I noticed that some have certain products which are limited and others carry a full line but the prices may not be as good. <Yes> I have made contact and opened accounts with Central Pet and Royal Pet. Could you please give a short list of the DG suppliers you feel would benefit a new store in the NY Westchester area. <These two are good choices... I would "interview" others you can find through Pet-Business Buyer's Guide, the online resources of the APPMA...> I read your article on live stock dealers being concentrated in the airports and such. And don't know how to go about establishing relationships with them. <Contact them... via the Net, the phone... best, if at all practical, in person...> I have been getting stock lists from HIFI-Marindo, their prices seem very good, and wondered if you have any experience or insight in doing business with them. <None to share carte blanche on the Net, with someone I don't know...> I have taken your advice and subscribed to all of the possible trade magazines and am currently waiting for them to begin arriving. <Ahh, good! Not much directly of use in any given issue... but with a discerning mind, reading betwixt the lines... much can be gleaned> Outside of designing the store layout and negotiating the commercial lease; I feel getting the best prices for my end of the products and livestock is ultimately paramount to my success. <And that partner, and employees?> All Help is appreciated. P.S. If one of these topics was already discussed in detail don't bother answering the question just direct me to the discussion. I must have missed it and do apologize for being redundant. <No worries. Bob Fenner> Alfred Idone Allstar Aquarium LLC Thinking about an Aquarium for your Home or Office ? Looking for Aquarium Service or Products at Discount Prices ? Take a Look at my Web-Site : www.allstaraquarium.com

Freshwater Livestock Sales. Saltwater Not the Only Way to Go -- 10/09/07 Hello WWM Crew, Thank you very much for an outstanding resource of information. You have been very helpful to me as a hobbyist and with my industry questions over the years! Quick question for you today. I manage an aquarium specialty store with a main focus of saltwater fish and corals with a small freshwater fish section. The idea has been tossed around to eliminate the freshwater fish system in favor of bringing in more saltwater livestock. My fear is that if we discontinue freshwater livestock that we will be cutting off a good amount of customers to include beginners that may enter the hobby by way of a freshwater aquarium. My feeling is that the freshwater livestock sales may not be impressive as a category, but that the dry goods sales that go with them would be a noticeable loss should the freshwater system be taken out. What are your thoughts on this? Looking for someone else's expert opinion on this as I might just be clouded by my own enjoyment of the freshwater end of the hobby! Thank you in advance for your help. Best Regards, Michael < I have personally seen stores do this here on the West Coast with mixed results. The bottom line to any business is to know your customers and know your competition. I know the idea is that since salt water organisms are usually more expensive than freshwater organisms, that you can make just as much money with fewer fish and usually less work. Stores that converted totally to fresh water did not see a significant increase in sales. The additional inventory was not as desirable as the initial items that they usually were getting. If you cannot get regular shipments of saltwater items that maybe it make sense to stock up with big orders to hold you over between shipments. Bigger orders sometimes translate into bigger discounts with the wholesaler too. I am a firm believer that freshwater has its place in any fish store. Look at the Amano style of planted tanks with the fancy lighting and the CO2 injection and I think your customers will find a place for a beautifully aquascaped aquarium that will rival many of the salt water setups in your store. Try it out by setting a tank up for display and see what kind of reaction you get from your customers. The cost of setting up a planted tank could come close to a saltwater setup. I think it is worth a try.-Chuck>

Looking for dry-goods wholesaler that's not out to gouge your eyes out   1/18/06 Hello All, <Howdy>    My name is Borman Quiñonez and I have made the decision to start up a retail store for the less cash laden individual. I have secured the business name Dr. Q's Budget Aquarium and am thinking about starting online at DoctorQs.com. My goal is to place a decent salt water set ups in the homes of customers who can afford to keep them up, but cannot front 2 to 3 thousand dollars for a deluxe set up. I would like to sell Aquariums, Overflows, Sumps, Power Filters, skimmers, and pumps. My eventual brick and mortar business presence would also offer hospital tanks.  I recently opened an account with Central Pet in Santa Fe Springs, CA. I went to check out their cash and carry section and was disappointed to see that the prices were too high. A Bio Wheel Penguin 350 runs 27.99 on PetSmart.com and Central Pet is selling to me for nearly 20 dollars more. How am I supposed to compete? <Carry other products, lines... or buy them from the lower/est priced source and sell them for near-cost... Unfortunately the state of the industry> I obviously do not have the buying power that PetSmart does, but does that mean that am out of luck? <No, just out of Marineland> I understand some of you on the WWM crew have been doing this for years and some of you have even owned stores. I would appreciate any help regarding distributors in general and also maybe some leads to local distributors with better pricing. <Check Lee-Mar, the Los Angeles wholesalers (many carry dry-goods lines), like All-Seas, Quality Marine, Sea Dwelling Creatures... and keep a sharp eye out for their periodic "specials". Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Saltwater aquarium store? Sorry to bother you.... <Not a bother... a privilege to serve> but I have a question about stocking a saltwater aquarium store. I know what kind of fish I want to carry. But I'm trying to figure out what dry goods, lights, pumps, foods, chemicals........etc... That I want to carry. My store is only 550 sq feet. I kind of got a list but not sure how much to carry what products..... Is there someone I can get in touch with that could help me kind of figure out what to carry because there is so much out there you could go over board. I would like to carry just what I need to start off then I can add more products later. If anyone could help I would be very thankful. If you cant that's fine too. Maybe you know someone that could help that I could get in touch with. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks Lee Rustrian <All here can/will aid you in product assortment... there are a few ways to go about making your "set"... Ask yourself, "What sort of presentation am I trying to conceive?" For instance, are you hoping to sell complete systems? Actual installs and service? I strongly encourage you to make a systematic survey of your competitors... listing the lines they carry, their obvious mark-up structure... Do you want to be an "also-ran" offering just a different location, better, more service than your local LFS's? How will you distinguish yourself, your store? What is, will be your "assortment philosophy?"... You must offer complete selections, but will you just have one "Sears best" and no or just one other choice in each category of product? Or a "good, better, best" assortment? What are you most familiar, comfortable with? You should give these questions careful consideration... you have no room, and possibly not the need or funds to try and stock a hodge-podge of lines, products... Do you have a partner who you can compare notes with? Hopefully so... retail is not fun for long w/o good friends/associates... as quite a few of us here can/will testify from first hand experience. Be chatting, Bob Fenner> Aquarium Suppliers, (Wholesale) Hi Bob, Rick, (Dafishguy) from Canada here. It has been awhile since I had to submit a question as things have been going (VERY) well here with my 180 gallon reef converted to a predator tank and my new 360 gallon reef with centralized filtration between the two tanks. Oh I have been lurking here all along reading all the FAQ's whenever I get a spare few minutes which has been getting hard to find, I'm sure you can relate.  After some (not so discrete) prodding from the local marine & reef enthusiasts, I am putting my 30 years of fish keeping and 20 years of marine keeping to practical use, I have finally opened a reef and marine supply and livestock business on the desolate bald prairie simply because no-one else in the LFS business wanted to take the chance on higher end dry goods supply.  My goal is to supply only top quality livestock and dry goods to this often ignored part of the world and to sacrifice a sale if it is in the best interest of the animal and the customer to do so. Not many LFS's can say that but thankfully, at least for now I can. I am running it out of my garage to make sure it really takes off BEFORE I invest in a building. I have been very fortunate in that I have been getting guidance from a long time shop owner in another city. I have landed a few larger suppliers such as American Marine, Dolphin Pumps, Aqua-Medic, Ocean Nutrition, Argent Labs, Joe's Juice Products, Lifereef systems, URI Lighting, Aqua-C, Hamilton Technologies, etc. This is where my question comes in. I have been trying to find out who in North America wholesales Salifert test kits and Ebo Jager heaters. <Salifert I believe you can get through Quality Marine in LA... Ebo sells direct if memory serves. You can get both their addresses out of Pet Business Buyer's Guide issue... Am out in Hawai'i presently or I'd look them up for you> I have had no success searching the net. Their websites are of little help and I was hoping that due to your vast experience and many industry contacts, you would know where I might go to find the information I need to contact these suppliers. <... If you only need a few Ebo Jager's... I'd ask Ken Wong of Marine Depot for a deal> Bob, I am using your high ethics and conscientious approach to the hobby in guiding me with my business venture. I sleep very well at night knowing I refused to sell a Panther Grouper to a kid with a 30 gallon tank because he thought it was cool. Also, I am selling your latest book in my store as well as your first book and can say that sales are very brisk. As always Bob, thanks for your valuable time, I hope everything is well with you. If you are ever up this way, please stop in. Take care Rick Johnston, President - Canadian Marine Aquarium Supply <Will do so my friend. Congratulations on your new ad/venture. Hope to run into you... are you attending InterZoo next month in Germany? Bob Fenner>

Chinese aquarium products! To whom it may concern, If we have bothered you, please ignore this message and accept our apology. Our aim is to looking for a partner for long term only. We are a leading exporter of aquarium products from China.    Pls visit our website http://www.aquarium-China.com and you will learn that our main products are acrylic aquariums, all kinds of aquarium accessories and coral decorations. Hope you would be interested in our products. Best regards HENGXING INDUSTRY&TRADING CO., LTD. NO.588,JINGQI ROAD,JINAN, SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA POST CODE 250021 TELEPHONE +86 531 2903972                                       6627662 FAX       +86 531 2903962 HOMEPAGE    http://www.aquarium-China.com <Thank you for your notice. Will post on WetWebMedia.com. Bob Fenner>

http://www.aquarium-China.com May special 5% Off All Standard Reef Ready Aquariums- Discount Applies to Furniture, Lighting, and Accessories when Purchased with a Reef Ready Tank HENGXING INDUSTRY&TRADING CO., LTD.   NO.588,JINGQI ROAD,JINAN,   SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA   POST CODE 250021   TELEPHONE +86 531 2903972                     6627662   FAX       +86 531 2903962   HOMEPAGE    http://www.aquarium-China.com <Will post on WetWebMedia.com, Bob Fenner>

Pleased to quote www.plastic-bags.org Dear Sir/Madam     We are manufacturers of  plastic bags and we can  print up to 8 colors    we will be very pleased to quote on your requirements   "superb quality and competitive price" Thanks Charles        www.plastic-bags.org <Thank you for the notice. Will place on the "Aquatics Business" subweb of WetWebMedia.com Bob Fenner>

Visiting a new store in N.J., wholesalers Hi Mr. Fenner, <Carolyn> We are inviting you to the grand opening of our new store named The reefs, Inc. on March 1st.   We are located in Green brook, N.J. We would be honored to have you. <Yikes... as in a couple of weeks? Am unfortunately "backed-up" projects wise for now> Also can you recommend any outstanding wholesalers to us? <Mmm, for livestock? Please see our site www.WetWebMedia.com, the "Business Subweb": http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIndex/Biz%20Index/Biz%20index.htm for some suggestions.> Thank you, Carolyn Mcgowan President <Congratulations on your new store, adventure. Bob Fenner>

Subject: CA Bill Needs Urgent Action California legislature will consider a bill that would require people selling animals to provide their customer with written educational materials. Failure to do is a criminal offense. SEE ATTACHED PET ALERT. Please forward copies to people in California and urge them to respond before the April 8 hearing. As drafted, this affects pet stores as well as pet store customers that may sell their pets offspring Thanks Marshall Meyers Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council 1220 19th Street NW Washington, DC 20036 Tel: 202-452-1525 Fax: 202-293-4377 mmeyers@pijac.org pijac@pipeline.com Sounds scary for Calif. pet retailers! Tom  <Only government bureaucrats could come up with such asinine, inapplicable ideas. Bob Fenner>

[Fwd: [amdamembers] Latest on Calif. SB 1357...can anyone make the hearing Monday?] I do not know if you have heard about this since you were away. I think this would cause a paperwork headache. It all depends of the final version and how specific the care sheets have to be and if you need separate sheets for each genus or species. I just keep thinking about a full-line pet shop like Elmer's and the tremendous number of fish they move. If they would ever be required to give a care sheet with every individual animal sale, I would buy stock in a paper company. <Have seen this... from Marshall.M of PIJAC, Tom.F at Aq.Sys... you will see my comments to them re tomorrow.> Steven Pro P.S. I have left my position with the AMDA board. <Mmm, might I ask why? Bob Fenner>

www.euro-reef.com is back up.. For any of you that have been trying to reach us during the past 45 days, please accept our sincere apologies. Our host at the time decided to "not host" any more and did not tell us so... We are back and ready to help in any way we can. Happy New Year to all... Sincerely, Jeff Macaré Euro-reef Sales & Marketing www.euro-reef.com 949.770.9913 Office M-F: 9-5 ( lunch from 12-2) <Ah, yes... what a timely message. Am sending you on to a friend with a possible scam concern involving your products: Bob Fenner> Euro Reef 6-1 skimmer (e auction purchase... suspicious) I wanted to get your opinion on something. I made a bid on E-Bay for a EuroReef skimmer. The seller claims to own a video store and to be a hobbyist that decided to try and run a saltwater specialty shop, too. He got over his head (who would have thought it!) and needs to clear out the inventory. He has made me an offer to take 25 EuroReef CS 6-1 skimmers off of his hands. <What? Very suspicious... would check with Jeff and dad re this person... not likely there is such a standing inventory anywhere like this... sounds too likely like a scam to me> My hesitation is in the price. It sounds to good to be true, $XXXX each which includes shipping. I checked out his user profile on E-Bay. He has 82 positive responses from 64 unique users with no neutral or negative responses. Most sales are for video stuff, but I did see some aquarium related gear. He has a lot of sales of bulk aquarium items now, so it seems his liquidation story checks out. Basically, I am looking for other angles to double check. <Contact Euro-Reef: http://www.euro-reef.com/ (their site wouldn't come up... or else I'd be cc'ing Jeff> I want an invoice with business name, address, phone, and owner's name spelling out exactly what I am purchasing before I would send him my credit card information.  <Smart... don't do anything till you check with the manufacturer> I am also going to check with American Express as to what kind of protection I have with them. Do you have any contact info for EuroReef?  <Yes> Your link does not work.  <I noticed... let's see, where is their ad in FAMA? Argghhh, it's the same URL!> I was thinking of contacting them and asking if they ever heard of this guy. He claims to buy direct from them, so someone there should recognize him. Below is all of the correspondence to date. Thank You, Steven Pro P.S. You may not want to post this on your FAQ's as exact prices are involved or block them out somehow. <Will do so... and not so. Be chatting. Bob F>

Re: www.euro-reef.com is back up.. Bob please call me or have this contact call me immediately 949.770.9913 office <Am sending this on to Steve and Deb Pro for their response.> Thanks for everything and have a great new year!!!! <You as well my friend. Hope to see you and your father/Robert at Interzoo if not sooner. Bob Fenner> Sincerely, Jeff Macaré Euro-reef Sales & Marketing www.euro-reef.com 949.770.9913 Office M-F: 9-5 ( lunch from 12-2)

Re: www.euro-reef.com is back up.. Bob, Wanted to let you know I talked with Robert at Euro-reef. He, too, thinks it is too good to be true. He mentioned that sometimes his son will sell "cosmetic flawed" reefs around that price, but never perfect ones that cheaply. <Yes... the wholesale is about three hundred dollars a unit...> He is sending us a catalog and we will deal with him directly instead. <Ah, good. I am pleased> Thanks for your help and direction, Deb <A pleasure my friend. Bob Fenner>

aquarium manufacture Dear Bob, I knew you a long time ago at the fish club in San Diego. Currently I live in Australia.  <Ah yes, you lucky pug. Which part?> I have noticed that most of the aquariums for sale there are glass and look like they were made in someone's back yard. I was wondering how hard (and expensive) it would be to set up a small facility to build acrylic aquariums.  <Not too hard... considering/stipulated you can secure the sheet, solvent to meld... and relatively simple tools (for a small volume of business) like a table saw, blades for cutting plastic, clamps, propane burners for burnishing...> Most of the small aquariums for sale in the USA have bent corners instead of glued corners. Is that for looks or for some other reason? <Mainly looks... (though time to make tanks reduced, a bit stronger... like castle keeps.) heat-bending is simple once you have the heating gear, jigs made up, timing down...> I think that it would be too expensive to import aquariums to Australia from the USA due to the low value of the Oz dollar. <How about the cost of acrylic itself...? And is there some sort of market currently, one you could hope to create... within a few years?> Do you know anyone I could contact about this subject? I will be in the USA until December 29. <A bunch of folks... who would likely help you themselves. Please contact Craig DeWalt of CASCO/SeaClear: c_dewalt@seaclear.com, check out their site, www.seaclear.com on the net re your wishes, visit. We are old friends/associates... make that middle-aged ones, so please do mention my name.> Are you still living in Mira Mesa?  <Yes... moved a whole couple of miles to the north recently... sigh. But we're hauling down to the "land down under" this March...> I was in Fiji two years ago and went out diving with Walt Smiths' collectors a lot. They were very friendly to me. I heard that you came out to give a talk.  <Yes, folks so nice they put up with even me...> Unfortunately, I couldn't attend. I hope that all is going well with you. I like your web site. My e-mail address is Sweetdreamfiji@hotmail.com. <Hope to dive with you soon! Bob Fenner> Mike Sweet

Repoly Resin Corp.  <Will send your offer about to companies involved in using resins in their manufacturing. Bob Fenner> Repoly Resin Corporation 2F,No.112-2,Sec. 2, Chung Kong RD, Taichung , Taiwan Tel:886-4-22521177 Fax:886-4-22525577 E-mail: repoly @ms 49.hinet.net *GOOD PRICE* / *BETTER SERVICE* / *BEST QUALITY* Dear Purchase Manager, As to the market change & technical improvement. Now we introduce you our new developed product -- MbOCA as the following. Our products all processed by the factory is certificated of ISO 9002 and made in Taiwan and we selling a lot in the world. Product: 4.4' Methylene-Bis-Orthochloroaniline (3.3-Dichloro-4.4-Diaminodiphenylmethane) MBOCA or MOCA (synonyms) can be granular & liquid form per your requirement. It's also curing agent for epoxy resin or epoxy urethane resin and applicable for athletic track, roof coating, floor coating, rollers, skates rollers and bumpers, casting elastomer, waterproof materials... etc.. Now we have a new promotion program for your reference. We have Japanese high quality but more competitive price. If you are interested in, please tell us. We will contact you soon. Sample asking is welcome upon having your request. Your kindly early reply will be very appreciated. Best regards, REPOLY RESIN CORP. Charlie Cheng/ Marketing Manager

"..And the Dead Sea became the Sea of Life.." The Sea of Life has come to you!!  Sea of Life Corporation is a joint Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian venture  with factories in Arad, Israel and Amman, Jordan, focusing on Development, Manufacturing, Dead Sea Mud, Dead Sea Massage Salts, Dead Sea Water, Neutraceuticals such as Dunaliella (rich in Beta Carotene), Spirulina, Rhodella, Low Sodium Salts with Micro Algaes and an advanced marketing concept for Spas&Resorts/Day Spas/Health products and Retailers. We are giving peace a chance since 1997 and we are committed to promote peace in the spirits of the prophets forever.  You are invited to visit our international site for distributors at: www.seaoflife.net  You are invited to visit our American Distribution Center at: www.seaoflifeamerica.com  You are invited to visit our scientific Literature site at: www.sea-life.cc  Visit our Retailcatalogue at: www.seaoflife.net/retailcatalogue.htm  Visit our Company Philosophy Site at: www.sea-of-life.com/philosophy.htm  You are invited to our Retail Online Shop at: www.shouk.com  Please contact us at: mars@seaoflife.co.il  This is not spam! Please consider this message as part of the liberties The Internet gives to the people. However, if you did not request a subscription or do not want to be on our mailing list, please accept our apologies and unsubscribe by sending an email (with remove in the subject line) to: remove@seaoflife.co.il <Thank you for this notice. Will post to our sites. Life to you. Bob Fenner>

info for Captive Reef Systems (business) Bob, 1st let me start by saying thank you for all your generous support and wonderful information. <You're welcome> Forrest Hayward and myself got together last night to review the material I have collected for our business plan. There is more info I need and I remember you said you might have this in for me. <We'll see> I need the names of reef product distributors and a good tank builder for custom orders. It would be great if the tank builder was close to Sacramento, CA <For acrylic... the fine folks at Tru-vu Aquaplex are in Hayward... For reef products, see our sites links pages: http://wetwebmedia.com/links.htm and use our ad tracking form: http://wetwebmedia.com/adtrackdb.htm for more in the way of addresses, numbers, contacts...> > Now, if you don't mind, I have a question about my reef tank. When Forrest was over he warned me about a small patch of green hair algae growing on my live rock. The only animals I have that would possible eat it are 2 red legged hermit crabs and one yellow tang we call Frank. <There are others...> Can you recommend something I can add to my tank to eat this algae. <My fave choice for first try: a Salarias fasciatus: http://wetwebmedia.com/avoidingalgaeproblesm.htm> Also, are you planning any events I could attend or are you planning any trips to Sacramento in the near future? <None planned for now... Are you going to MACNA XIII? Will be there two weekend hence. Bob Fenner> I would love to get together with you again. Thanks, Bruce Captive Reef Systems

Re: Marine Livestock Business I searched the Web and could not find Bob Rofen or "Aquatic Resource Center". Can you provide more detail? Yes, I would appreciate any connections you could provide for my introduction to get my hands wet. Thank you! <Yes, you are welcome to petition Dr. Rofen mentioning my name. You may know the company as: Novalek Inc. 2242 Davis Ct., Hayward, CA. 94545 510-782-4058