I want to start a petstore...BUT

For years I have wanted to be a corrections officer. after doing my schooling and training and so on, I figured out its not what I really want to do with my life forever. My bodys been made weak by being sick that Im just not to thrilled about it anymore. One day it hit me, I have loved Animals in general for many years and take pride in all of my varietys. I decided one day I want to open a great petstore. All we have in my town are petsmarts and petcos....and ONE small petstore that doesnt have good ratings at all. (a little petstore in the mall who overcrowds all their tanks and has no room for anyone) Also the closest place to get bigger cichlids and bigger breeds of fish is across the river and in another state, the middle of down town portland oregon. Which makes me wonder. Is the reason there isnt ANYTHING good up here because it just wouldnt work and this one place got lucky? And I was also thinking about selling different varities of BPs. I know they wont sell like hotcakes and I would be totally fine with holding onto some in my store for long periods of time. But I just dont know how that would all work out. Can someone who maybe knows a thing or two about this point me in the right direction to figure some of this out. Im prepared to go back to school and get some management and buisness owning classes but for right now, thats all I know I need to do...please help

I would love to have a pet/herp store. My husband and I have talked about it before. I just wonder how much money would really be in it. It sure would be fun though. Good luck if you do it! :gj:

Hell, I know that one! I worked thoroughbreds until I got sick. Chemo kicked my ass and now I'm absolutely bent on running a herp shop or something of the like. Where do you live? I have a lot of local shops and breeders who share a lot of valuable information.

I also work at an accounting firm. I suggest you learn your book keeping first. Calculate high and predict income small. Subtract money for everything, including what you pay yourself. Nothing is free but profit is more than attainable with the right amount of will power, practicality, fiscal savvy and willingness to make the right decision, even if it doesn't yield the most immediate profit.

the idea is cool,,, BUT, you cant tell a potential "customer" NO, I cant/wont sell to you.
There are only certian people that I would sell to (for the most part), so I couldent let go of one of my animals to a crack head. Unless you are willing to give up your animals to sub-par people, your gonna have to come to terms with the fact that your letting money (your rent) walk out the door. Every time I go into a pet store, I think to myself, "theres no way I would sell an animal to those people". maby Im just too picky,,,,,, thats why I dont have a pet store,..
spooky

I wanted to open my own for a while as well.
You would have to save up money for quite some time.
I currently work for a herp shop in Largo. (which i might add is the pet herp shop i have ever been to. ;) ) You wont be making much money in the first one or two years.
The electric bill will be sky high for sure. Getting your name out there and having a clean shop is good. You have to know products like the back of your hand, whats in them. How they are used and what you can recommend to people for their animals. You must be knowledgeable in all aspects of reptiles. Taking zoology will help out a lot, also getting books helps. You don't want to own a shop and not know about frogs or turtles, or what someone should do to kill ants without killing their spiders. Be friends with a herp vet close by so you can take your animals and customers animals, buisness for him/her and you.

You also need to get a feel for the area you decide to put your shop. You cant go and get a $500 snake to sell, and if you were to hold onto the more expensive animals to sell. You might be losing money on it. Who knows how long you will have that animal for and the feeding cost. Most people do not want to spend that much. Cheaper animals sell a lot better. Our corn snakes go like mad men.
It helps to take some type of vet schooling or tech. If your animals get sick you want to know how to help them. Specially if you get anything farm bred plus if you catch anything from other people's animals coming into the shop or people even just holding them.
Most of your money you will get is from feeders. so you would have have to build a room just for rodents, crickets, worms.
Dealing with the your suppliers will suck to. XP Making sure your tank orders are not cracked and broken when you get them.

There is way much more. But that is what i have notice from working in a herp shop. The day to day cleaning we do is crazy. Takes me 4 hours each day to clean everyone's cage :] But boy is our shop clean and the animals well kept. ahah
It is all about learning what you can and having a team of reptiles lovers that will make you go far.

That's what I'm in school for: to own my own exotic petshop (I was wanting to do auto body and repair but I'm more passionate about animals and exotics). I would recommend doing what you mentioned: go to school for a management degree (I'll be done next semester with mine - whoo!) and take some small business ownership classes as well (I'm also going to work on getting my Small Business Certificate). If you can talk to an actual petshop owner I would do that too: maybe they can tell you how to go about opening, operating, and starting up a business. Perhaps gauging interest in your area would be a good idea too (to see how much interest there would be in the products - animals- you'd be selling). Good luck!

The thing I have thats handy to me, is my boyfriend and his sister, both worked in a store called "the pet gallery" They were both laid off cause the store was closing down cause the boss stopped caring, but they both got excited when I told them my plans. and they both said they would help out around there as much as possible. My boyfriend and I are the Google of the house. I enjoy researching things I love, So I have researched tons about atleast the animals I own (snakes, turtles, fish, cats, dogs, rats, even pot belly pigs lol)

My area By the way in Southern Washington state (vancouver to be exact)

This is actually a big relief that people on here think this would be possible. It makes me feel like I can actually do this. I know its going to take years and will probably make me gray before i know it. But I do know that i wouldnt get into selling puppies and kittens because they makes me sad to see free animals like that in a cage.

Where would I begin to even start looking for supplies for a Herp store? Will I learn this schooling? Im getting kind of pumped for this. :D "I think I can I think I can"

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Originally Posted by pinkeye714

Most of your money you will get is from feeders. so you would have have to build a room just for rodents, crickets, worms.

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This is a very important point! Selling a $100 Pastel BP is one thing. Selling rats (Live or F/T) to that BP owner for years to come is how you pay the rent and keep the lights on.

Be the shop in town that always has clean and healthy feeders, and herp owners will beat a path to your door. You won't have to beat the internet retailers on price, you just have to beat them on price + shipping. A much easier task.

I don't know how much it will help but Mike Wilbanks from Constrictors Unlimited did a short video on the BP business you might want to check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYrHO...20FAAAAAAAADAA

He also said in the video that he is going to have a DVD coming out that explains alot about the business.

Hope it helps.

A pet store is alot more then just selling or working with the animals you like. The problem with opening a pet store especially in an area where big box stores like petco and petsmart is surviving. This is why most small pet stores have gone the way of the dodo bird. Same thing happened to hardware stores when home depots and lowes came about. Location is key for any good retail establishment. Therefore price of lease is crazy expensive. Also the general pet store public arent aware of the ball python market so selling morphs would be difficult. One thing to get into if doing a pet store would be saltwater fish. There is a way bigger market for general public sales with saltwater. Most big pet stores dont fool with saltwater stuff so you would be able to corner the market on it. Also dry goods is important but it would be very hard to compete against petco and petsmart on that. In order to be succesful you will need to move product fast. Again this will be hard with the big box stores in your area.