New fish and aquarium store in Fort McMurray

[chris88]

true but with a population of 120,000 and growing fast there should be atleast 3 pet stores. Its the third biggest city in alberta and on route to reach 200,000 in less then 5 years and it will have one dingy poorly run pet store.

[scuba ken]

Originally Posted by chris88

true but with a population of 120,000 and growing fast there should be atleast 3 pet stores. Its the third biggest city in alberta and on route to reach 200,000 in less then 5 years and it will have one dingy poorly run pet store.

And the majority of transient people there live in camps, there is a huge permenemt base of people there, me for 1, I have lived in FMM for almost 8 years, toyed Witt he idea of setting up a coral world in a garage for the longest of times.

NorthStar pets is bloody disgusting, it's filthy the manager is most certainly the rudest person I have ever spoken to, and the level of knowledge is only 2nd to the Feeder fish who just seem to be there to die .........................

The display tanks are nasty, the prices are crazy and everything you buy comes with its own little disaster waiting to happen.

I bought a sea lone skimmer (emergency) 100 from there for $315.00, they retail for between 85-110$
Rip off ! ! !

[intarsiabox]

According to the Chamber of Commerce the city itself has about 77,000 people which is plenty for a large well stocked pet store. I lived there myself years ago and at the time Northstar was pretty good and the owner was always friendly. Now would a dedicated saltwater store work, I'm not sure. I can already get all of my dry goods cheaper online than locally and shipped directly to my door, salt would be the only exception, so the same already stands for residents of FMM. Livestock would be great to have locally and lack there of is probably why there isn't many reefers there, but I would be concerned about the shipping mortality rates for the winter. Have you found a wholesaler willing to ship there with a guaranteed survival rate of any sort? Prices would also have to be high due to labour and building lease rates but people would probably be OK with that if they didn't want to make the trip to Edmonton with a cooler and heat packs. A large full serviced pet store would probably be a sure money maker but start up cost would be astronomical. You could always test the waters by starting out in your home with livestock and a small selection of dry goods to see if there is an appetite for it and make the jump from there. Good luck!

[scuba ken]

I (and a mate) already import fish direct from international suppliers, we don't do many, but have put several orders through, we were amazed at the prices, the shipping seemed to run at about $1000.00 and that didn't seem to move much regardless of the fish ordered.

Clowns $4
Bi color angels $6
Tangs $4-12 a piece
Clown trigger 2". $9
Blue face angel 2" $14
Juvenile Emporer Angel $10


Corals similar prices

We have sold and ordered fish for friends and work mates, they were fine, the biggest problem we could see was "how do u man a store a d keep working in the oil sands?" there is a way, we are still working those details through.

[Myka]

The wholesale cost of the fish itself isn't the point. You need to factor in that $1000 shipping, plus the permits, then add your markup to that (usually double or triple). That's how the LFS do it. How many fish were in that box? Once you divvy up the shipping cost and permits the landed cost of those fish will be significantly higher than those wholesale prices. The wholesale prices don't matter as much as shipping cost.

Keep in mind the cost of commercial rental in FMM will be through the roof so prices will always be high there - that's just the reality of living in FMM. Considering the average income in FMM, a saltwater store could do quite well there...

[intarsiabox]

Originally Posted by scuba ken

I (and a mate) already import fish direct from international suppliers, we don't do many, but have put several orders through, we were amazed at the prices, the shipping seemed to run at about $1000.00 and that didn't seem to move much regardless of the fish ordered.

Clowns $4
Bi color angels $6
Tangs $4-12 a piece
Clown trigger 2". $9
Blue face angel 2" $14
Juvenile Emporer Angel $10


Corals similar prices

We have sold and ordered fish for friends and work mates, they were fine, the biggest problem we could see was "how do u man a store a d keep working in the oil sands?" there is a way, we are still working those details through.

That's good, I wasn't sure if international live orders could be flown in directly to Fort Mac now. That makes having a well stocked live goods store more feasible for our northern residents.

[scuba ken]

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

That's good, I wasn't sure if international live orders could be flown in directly to Fort Mac now. That makes having a well stocked live goods store more feasible for our northern residents.

Ethe fish come into Vancouver, Then into fort mac, we pick up at the airport, we the lay over in Vancouver is somewhat problematic, the 1st shipment we made, was left outside waiting for the next flight, we lost quite a few fish on this shipment, we did recover the costs from the supplier, but then lost out on revenue to offset the shipping costs.

This idea still isn't out of the question, but will take some more planning, the biggest problem we encountered was "how many people in fort mac, are salt water tankers ?". Obviously our main stay couldn't be just Marine fish, we also looked at I porting tanks/set ups and doing the whole service, from set up, maintaining and take down. The real money can be made through offering the whole package, and supplying the fish, rocks, sand, equipment, chemicals, corals and most of all, sou d advice and support.

Even thought of dabbling into the tropical and cold water set ups, a fish emporium for fort mac, would be much easier and cost efficient to operate for 2 hours each evening from a double garage attached to a house, this way display tanks can be "shop props" and also be tax write offs and also be advistments for the business, also have the tax cuts on the garage and utilities being used to support the business, almost be free to support our hobbies ?

Anyway that's as far as we got, the idea is sleeping, not written off yet.

[Myka]

Check out bylaws to see if you can run a retail business out of your garage. The last thing you want is someone coming and shutting down your business after you put a bunch of hard work and money into it.