Inquiring Exotic Retail Store

I've already met with a realtor who I will be renting a 1.6k sqft retail shop in the mall down town, but I honestly am clueless on how much I should stock in that kind space. I know what I'll stock, but I just don't know how much. Including my lease I have about 20 grand budget, but I'm trying to aim as low as possible for the first few months until I start making profit.

Any suggestions?

Also, I should add, I won't be selling live stock, since BP morphs tend to run out of everyday people's budgets. Only supplies.

I'd suggest on stocking up on thermostats. I had to get mine online, as the only thing available in pet shops was the zoomed rheostat :/

Yup, thermostats and flexwatt, maybe some hides. That was stuff I had to order online, couldn't obtain locally.

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PAM!
And good sturdy water dishes.

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I recommend PAM, Shed-Ease, thermometers, thermostats (RBI's popular Vivarium line. I've heard Rich has a great reseller program so anything off of ReptileBasics.com.

Feeder rodents & insects in a variety of sizes. That will potentially help you build up a "regular" customer base.

If you're only going to stock dry goods, how do you plan to get people through the door? You're setting up a retail store for a niche market, and I think you'll find that the prices you have to ask on supplies to cover your overhead might be more than many people want to pay.

Even in the established, independent store which was well-known for being the best in the area, we'd hear "Oh I can get it cheaper online" all too frequently. Pet retail is *tough* no matter which way you slice it. Not trying to discourage you, either...just be prepared to burn through that $20k faster than you'd think.

1600 feet in a mall...just dry goods...hmmmm, and on a budget of 20K....

Are you SURE this is a good move? What's your customer base? How will people find you or find out about you? Just dry goods with a limited customer base is not the best scenario for a new business.

Have you checked into necessary permits and insurance?

IMO - Marketing, Website, Signage and Business Liability Insurance will chew a lot of your 20K investment off the hop. As mentioned above, ensure you contact the city to see if they will grant you a permit for the type of retail store you want to open before you sign anything.

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As far as stocking the shelves...

Contact so distributors and see what their order requirements are first ie ZooMed, ExoTerra etc...

For Retail the staples are:
Tanks / Enclosures
Hides
Water Dishes
Tank Decoration
Substrate / Bedding
Feeders
Lighting Supplies
Thermostats
Thermometers
Hydrometers
Flexwatt, Connectors and Insulators
Heat Pads
Vitamins (Calcium w and w/o D3 etc) and other supplements

And the list goes on, you want to ensure that you have all the basics to keep customers in the store and coming back. First impressions are HUGE!

Have you considered a small business loan, instead of just going off of the set 20K you have currently? Gives you some more leeway... and security. You said in a mall.. is this an inside-mall, or one where your door leads straight outside? Might change your options or customer preferences, slightly (like what they're willing to carry around while shopping, or to their car)

What to carry:

- CRICKETS. After working at petco for many years, it is shocking how much money is made JUST on crickets.
- Frozen feeders.
- Dog Food. Don't know if you plan on being ONLY reptile, but dog food is where lots of money is to be made. Keeping in mind that if you're in the mall, the medium-sized bags or smaller, will be easiest for customers to carry out to their car
- Dog & Cat toys, collars/leashes.
- Consider having some impulse buy animal related items, that aren't necessarily specifically for animals.

As you start making profit, you can adjust your product and shift more towards reptiles, but I'd play it safe to start.

Lots of good advice.

There are places at the Jersey shore that feed off of impulse buys with hermit crabs. Get a pet and everything you need with one stop.

You should consider low cost live animals and have kits set up for housing them. Quick and easy - in and out. Offer a replacement program for the animals that don't make it.

Food is a big deal, too. Good luck!

I know you said you didn't want live animals because BP morphs are too much, but you might consider having normal BPs as stock, along with a kit or something. You could do the same with corn snakes, kings, and other colubrids that are considerably cheaper and have more variety color wise while still being affordable (my co-worker nearly popped his eyes out when I showed him a corn morph list after he got his son a normal from petco for a ridiculous price). It would be extremely difficult to do dry goods only for snakes in particular without some way of exposing people positively.

Sell feeders at reasonable prices. In my area, I'm always so desperate trying to find anoles for my Asian Vines, since the ones outside are riddled with parasites. Also, you could have stuff for Garter Snakes, such as worms and fish. Live mice have always been an issue in my area. If you order from a private dealer you can just keep the mice on hand for display and then deal with any people who need them as the middleman.

As for supplies, you should have (to make you unique):
Rack Supplies
Rack Kits?
Tubs
PAM
Medical Supplies
Books
Tons of substrate in bulk amounts
Custom Reptile Cages You Can Make?
Reptile Bowls
Hides (for all species, including the big ones)
A Line of Regular Brand Cages
Tons of Natural Decor


Animals:
I think that having some animals available will really be cool and help get you started, because people will go in the store to look at the animals. Also, I think the all-in-one packages that people can just buy and take home the animal is a great idea.

Tarantulas are an easy animal to keep in a store, as well as some common pet colubrids, such as corn snakes. Get some fun colors, and the kids will be begging their parents.

Hope this helps :)

If you decide to keep any live animals (there are pros and cons), as others have stated, keep the ones that require minimal effort, and also aren't going to die easily when you send them home with the average Joe. Minimize your risks.

You don't want to lose profit caring for animals in your store, and you also don't want to discourage customers because of smelly or poorly taken care of habitats, that may result if you are short on money, or time. Having animals in the store will draw in potential customers, and even if they don't buy anything right away, they will talk about their experience. Marketing through word of mouth. On the other side, sending animals that are too sensitive home with any schmuck will result in them 1) returning the animal to you (lost profit) 2) Harm your reputation (lost profit). Even if you did everything right to tell the person how to properly take care of the animal, many people will not meet your expectations. I overexaggerate needs of animals, so that when the person only meets me half-way, they are still providing adequate care. This is different from BP.net or fauna... you can't defend yourself the same way... which leads me to another point..

Don't be afraid to refuse a sale, but make a point of explaining clearly why an animal is not suited for a particular family, without being condesending. Suggest suitable alternatives! You'll end up with customers that appreciate your honesty, and if you have other animals (or know a local breeder who has a better option), suggest them, and you'll end up with a loyal customer who still come to you for 'dry goods' and equipment.

Keep a couple sterilite/rubbermaid/whatever tubs in stock ... solder CLEAN holes in the side, keeping them professional looking. Whether you keep the animals in the store or not, people will pay for convenience. The average person doesn't understand the point of going to Walmart or Big Lots just to buy a tub, and then go to Home Depot to pick up a soldering iron that they will use only once, for their tub. They'd rather buy what they need right then and there in one location. Have these options available, but only if you your product still looks nice.

Sorry for rambling a bit. Much of that may not apply at all, but just weighing in my experiences. Surviving pet retail for 5 years, where "metrics" and numbers were constantly pounded into my brain, fighting a company ideal to push animals on to people, and still ending up with well taken care of animals and loyal customers.. I felt there are just a few things that needed to be said :)

Thermostats
PAM
Undertank heat mats
Digital thermometers
Mercury vapor lights and fixtures
Supplements
Insect gut-load
Repashy crested gecko diet
ZooMed and ExoTerra vivariums
Solid-top reptile cages (you pretty much never see these in stores).
Waterland turtle tubs
Filters, lamp stands, etc.
Books
Dishes, Hides, Branches, Vines, Plants

Live insects
Live rodents
Frozen rodents

Recommendation for livestock--solicit local breeders for leopard geckos, corn snakes, normal ball pythons, and bearded dragons. If you're just not going with it at all, then you need to also offer specialty dog foods and cat foods, and difficult to find brands, at that. I can't see anyone making a go of specializing in exotics only, and not selling any animals.

Perhaps more important than what you carry is what you don't. No stick-on dial thermometers, heat rocks, 'turtle shell condititioner', 'iguana food', or other nonsense. I believe pet stores can make a difference by taking a stand against bad products.

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Here's an idea--if you can't sell animals, keep some in-store pets as example of the various reptile types, and then keep a list of breeders on hand. Set customers up with proper equipment, and give them a breeder list for the species they're interested in. They can then contact the breeder for the animal they want.

I agree with several of the above posters. People go into pet stores to browse and look at animals, perhaps ending up with one and then the necessary supplies. People go to supply only stores with a mission in mind to purchase a specific item, which requires the best price possible or they'll just go somewhere else (what's the point if there's no animals to look at). I can't see many mall shoppers popping in to look at lights and empty tanks. You're really going to need a warehouse type set up to be successful as a supply only store.

As a store in a downtown mall, you have an optimal location to draw in browsers looking for a pet for themselves or their child. If you really want to be supply only, I would recommend getting away from expensive downtown property and renting out a warehouse sized store (or as close to it as your budget allows) and compete on price and selection.

I agree with Anatopism with out this type of honesty with my family and explineing what is needed now but also for the future we where able to make a good right chose we got bot the pos and cons of out new pet. I would never thought this would happen from a BOX Store, but it also is from the people who work in the stores. Get to know the person you a talking with, feel them out do you trust them, do you feel they have the amimal back and yours and then the Companys. To offen people are push into a pet just to see it die, and not taken care of or given away because they never understood the CONs of it. Go home and talk about it , just don't jump into something that will be with you for 10 to 20 years. Have a Plan and is it something most of everyone would like to have. Start slow. READ< READ< READ and learn as much as you can for you can take care of your new family member the very best you can. Always remember thier lives are in your hands now.

And enjoy the love and learning you will get from eveyone of your animals.

:)

Wow, so much amazing advice, I don't know who to reply to.
I've been planning this for a few years, and I'm thinking of hiring an accountant and I have a family friend who is a lawyer, maybe I should give her a call so she can work out all of the permit/licensing thing.

My main problem with selling live animals, every time I go into a pet store, I see them selling pets to irresponsible people who don't know how to take care of them. I remember someone was discussing with an employee on how their three year old son squashed the beardie the bought less than a week before and were asking if fish would be more appropriate for his age.
I just wouldn't want to do that, and I don't think you can deny sales to customers. So I'd rather not have live stock. I like the feeder idea though.

I wasn't planning on just focusing on snake or reptile things, if I have room I was going to add some bird/rodent/amphibian things. But like I said, I don't know if I'll have the room.

My family says what some of you had said is having inexpensive pets and then have everything they need in the shop for people to buy. But as I had mentioned before, I don't like the idea of selling to people who would abuse or neglect the pet.

That's why I love selling morphs, because the only people who buy them are collectors and breeders, so I don't have to worry about selling to someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

I'm going to go to the bank about the loan soon. I don't plan on opening the doors for a few months.

You might look into joining a local herp society, they could become a good source of customers as well as breeders for possible live stock.

Develop relationships with local exotic vets, trade referrals.

Another thing you need to look into is your competition, if your setting up shop in a mall, make sure your the only one. If there's a Petco or similar near by, your not going to be able to move the same types of product at a rate that will be profitable.

Put some eye candy in there, the average can't afford it, but it might bring them into the store. How many people can go into a pet store and not check out the animals? You can also use the animals to show off some cool products and setups.

Feeders will be your backbone:)


Jason Rossi
www.rossireptiles.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rossi-...app_2309869772

ill suggest you not to get a shop. just sell it out of your garage. online website store. no one is going to a MALL for reptile supplies lmao