Opening a reptile/ petshop in South New Jersey mid. 2012

[bsash]

Well, I am going to open a mainly reptile pet shop in a strip mall up the street from my house in mid. 2012, it is a fairly large store, and has absolutely nothing in it and has been available for years, which is another plus for me. Obviously I love reptiles, which is what brought this idea on, but also got to thinking about lots of other pros for doing it. Some things I was thinking about was, the only stores near me are Petco and Petsmart and they are still 15-20 minutes away, so there is no competition. Another thing is, Petco and Petsmart do not sell any thing but large crickets, adult rats, and adult mice as live feeders, which would give me the upper hand as I will breed roaches, meal worms and crickets as well as the rats and mice, giving my customers way more to choose from. I'm going to sell mainly the lower end ball pythons I produce, bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and possibly some other smaller reptiles. I will be breeding my own roaches, crickets, meal worms, rats and mice to sell as feeders to try and prevent ordering them, although I'm sure I will need to sometimes. As well, I will carry a lot of dry goods no one sells such as good thermostats instead of the retrostats, enclosure decorations, good hides, rat/mouse food, ferret food, etc., maybe I'll build and sell small reptile racks, etc.

Any how, I am just looking for any other ideas/ suggestions any of you may have. I would love to hear everyone's suggestions, maybe other feeders/ pets I could carry in the store, even a list of cheap online suppliers for feeders/ dry goods.

Let me hear your ideas!

[anatess]

Keep your store CLEAN and classy looking.

Okay, have you ever been to the Asian food marts? For some reason, all the ones I've ever been in are smelly, dreary, messy places. I mean, it's not dirty or anything, it just "feels" dirty. Do you know what I mean? But, you go to the big grocery stores like Publix and they are nice, bright, wide aisles, and smells of baked bread.

Most of the reptile stores I've been to are like the Asian food marts. There's one reptile store by me that is "classy" and they work hard to keep it that way. It's in a nice strip mall next to Marshall's. They get a lot of foot traffic and it's like going to the zoo when you go in there. Nice exhibits of their animals. The only thing is their customer service is not the greatest.

Just my 2 cents.

[Diesel32]

Good luck I really wish I had the money and experience to open up my own reptile shop, there aren't many in my area either so it would probably be pretty easy. Its kind of funny I was walking around today and saw a recently emptied out spot in a strip mall and thought to myself "This would make a pretty cool reptile shop."

[j_h_smith]

Feeders will be where you'll make your money. Dry goods will sap your wallet dry. How often will you sell a high end thermostat?

Breeding can work, but trying to your entire stock will become a full time job and a stinky one too. Rats and mice stink enough. Wait until you get a wiff of a colony of crickets.

I would recommend having your breeding facility somewhere other than your store. I'm not sure, but check with the health department in your area and see if you can have a breeding facility in this location. If there are food stores in the same center, you may not be able to do this. You will probably have to invest in an air filtration system if you plan on venting the air from your breeding room outside.

Also, you mention the store being large and in a strip center. There may be more overhead than a new start-up store can handle. Electricity costs are going to be a big part of your monthly expenses. My pet store has an electric bill of $2500 and more. However he does have a lot of aquariums with fish. But he does have a central air pumping station, so that will reduce his costs somewhat. I would also recommend a seperate reptile room. Something where you can control the heat and humidity without having to do the same for your entire store.

I wish you the very best, it can be very rewarding starting your own company, but that's the easy part. Keeping it going can become a real hassle.

I've opened many businesses in the past with some success. But each time when the business got too large, I was able to sell and get out before the company's success ruined it.

Advance Computer Equipment-ACE
Dough Boy's Sub Shop
Parking Lot Maintenance Specialties

I would suggest a rock solid business plan. A visit to a business lawyer and setting up an LLC. An accountant service that specializes in retail sales. A business mentor and also someone in the retail pet trade.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

[Exotic Ectotherms]

My only advice is to be one of those rare pet stores who actually give their customers good, accurate advice. You already have a leg up in that department, because all the advice i've seen you give on this forum has been accurate.

I'm not far at all from Thorofare, so you can already count on 1 regular customer.

[bsash]

Keep your store CLEAN and classy looking.

Okay, have you ever been to the Asian food marts? For some reason, all the ones I've ever been in are smelly, dreary, messy places. I mean, it's not dirty or anything, it just "feels" dirty. Do you know what I mean? But, you go to the big grocery stores like Publix and they are nice, bright, wide aisles, and smells of baked bread.

Most of the reptile stores I've been to are like the Asian food marts. There's one reptile store by me that is "classy" and they work hard to keep it that way. It's in a nice strip mall next to Marshall's. They get a lot of foot traffic and it's like going to the zoo when you go in there. Nice exhibits of their animals. The only thing is their customer service is not the greatest.

Just my 2 cents.

I understand what you are saying. Trust me, I am very much so a clean freak too, so I can assure that my store would be very clean. As for customer service, I am a people person, and for the most part know what I am talking about when it comes to reptiles, though I am not trying to say I know everything.

[bsash]

Feeders will be where you'll make your money. Dry goods will sap your wallet dry. How often will you sell a high end thermostat?

Breeding can work, but trying to your entire stock will become a full time job and a stinky one too. Rats and mice stink enough. Wait until you get a wiff of a colony of crickets.

I would recommend having your breeding facility somewhere other than your store. I'm not sure, but check with the health department in your area and see if you can have a breeding facility in this location. If there are food stores in the same center, you may not be able to do this. You will probably have to invest in an air filtration system if you plan on venting the air from your breeding room outside.

Also, you mention the store being large and in a strip center. There may be more overhead than a new start-up store can handle. Electricity costs are going to be a big part of your monthly expenses. My pet store has an electric bill of $2500 and more. However he does have a lot of aquariums with fish. But he does have a central air pumping station, so that will reduce his costs somewhat. I would also recommend a seperate reptile room. Something where you can control the heat and humidity without having to do the same for your entire store.

I wish you the very best, it can be very rewarding starting your own company, but that's the easy part. Keeping it going can become a real hassle.

I've opened many businesses in the past with some success. But each time when the business got too large, I was able to sell and get out before the company's success ruined it.

Advance Computer Equipment-ACE
Dough Boy's Sub Shop
Parking Lot Maintenance Specialties

I would suggest a rock solid business plan. A visit to a business lawyer and setting up an LLC. An accountant service that specializes in retail sales. A business mentor and also someone in the retail pet trade.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

There is a lot of room in the store, which I plan to keep the animals and dry goods in, but there is a large back room (Kind of like a walk in closet) in the back of the store, which is where I planned to keep all of the breeders/ feeders. I breed most of my own feeders as is, so I know they can smell, but with regular cleaning, they don't smell too bad. I didn't think of regulations or anything on breeding in the store, so I will have to look into that.

I am planning on using flex watt for most of the reptiles, except those that need special lighting. I will not be doing fish, I'm not even sure about doing feeder fish, just because they are very expensive to run and they are not very big sellers. I am actually working with Repti racks to get a large quantity of cages from them, I had a few that held heat and humidity very well, so I may use that as an option as their cages are very nice and would hold up better than commercial display cages, which are also much more expensive. I am definitely thinking about the costs, all the way around, but starting is always expensive, so I'm thinking more along electric, water, ordering supplies etc.

I really appreciate your advice, it gave me a little more to think about and work with. I am definitely not jumping into opening the shop, I will have a solid business plan before opening.

Thanks again.

[bsash]

My only advice is to be one of those rare pet stores who actually give their customers good, accurate advice. You already have a leg up in that department, because all the advice i've seen you give on this forum has been accurate.

I'm not far at all from Thorofare, so you can already count on 1 regular customer.

I really appreciate that compliment, and I just wanted to give you a personal thanks, rather than hitting the "Thanks" button, ha ha.

[dc4teg]

Well in the time you have left, you really need to go to schools and such and do presentations of the animals you already have. You have to get your name into the community, or no one will even have a clue, or be to afraid to take the big step and go into your store. Its important to do public demos to show how good these animals are and most of your animal sales will most likely be to parents buying pets for there kids. So go show the kids how great of pets they are so you already have more potential buyers. And just as important, get your name out into the community not only as a business man, but as a friend to all your fellow neighbors.

[bsash]

Well in the time you have left, you really need to go to schools and such and do presentations of the animals you already have. You have to get your name into the community, or no one will even have a clue, or be to afraid to take the big step and go into your store. Its important to do public demos to show how good these animals are and most of your animal sales will most likely be to parents buying pets for there kids. So go show the kids how great of pets they are so you already have more potential buyers. And just as important, get your name out into the community not only as a business man, but as a friend to all your fellow neighbors.

Good ideas. I was thinking of posting fliers around my local towns and posting a grand opening on craigslist when I start getting close to opening. Doing small shows such as birthday parties would be a good idea to get my name out there too.