Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store
- Thread starter Corndog
- Start date
Had a big post written but my phone ate it. Just moved in to the new house and internet isnt setup till tomorrow. So ill retype it then.
Jysin
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
- 6,273
- 4,017
I agree 100% with this. By all means Corndog, you know what works and what doesn't in your area.. but yea.. if most customers have jobs, how the hell are they supposed to come in to your store when the open hours are the same hours 99% of the workforce is.. working!?
So my shop is near Seattle. The big companies run different hours. Big employer are Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing. All of those don't run 9 to 5 jobs. Because traffic is so bad here, most get off around 2-3pm. And run staggered shifts etc. Also run different days off. Not uncommon for people to be working sun or sat to get a week day off so they don't have to fight the traffic.
All I can say is I opened the store with noon till 8pm. To give time for people to get to my store after work. After 2 years, sales numbers show 80% of my sales happen before 4pm each day. I'm actually curious to how many people actually have a 9-5 job? Of all the jobs I've ever had, only one was 8-5. Anyone in retail, food service etc isn't. Most construction people aren't. And the office jobs here have changed their hours to deal with traffic.
All I can say is I opened the store with noon till 8pm. To give time for people to get to my store after work. After 2 years, sales numbers show 80% of my sales happen before 4pm each day. I'm actually curious to how many people actually have a 9-5 job? Of all the jobs I've ever had, only one was 8-5. Anyone in retail, food service etc isn't. Most construction people aren't. And the office jobs here have changed their hours to deal with traffic.
I should mention. On top of that. 50% of my overall revenue comes from Saturday and Sunday sales. And even then, it's between noon and 4pm. With Sunday staying busy till 6pm. I often hear we are the last stop for people cause we were staying open the latest. That's convenient for them. But not for a small business. Now the people who were stopping in late just come in early.
Most transactions start as, I'm here to get X. X being food or chemicals for their aquarium. Then they see fish they like and it expands from there. Most people who have jobs don't need a lot of time because they do their research at work lol.. It's the soccer moms who need the hand holding in general.
Palum
what Suineg set it to
- 23,366
- 33,436
Have you considered offering some more high brow services that are basically putting a name to what you do now? Like personal shopping appointments, 1 on 1 clinics? If you are going to end up doing it for those people anyway, turn it into a value add.
Here are my two closest competitors hours:
MON - TUE
CLOSED
WED - FRI
1PM - 7PM
SAT - SUN
NOON - 6PM
He will also be closed from July 3rd till the 18th for a family vacation..
Other guy:
Sunday - 11am-8pm
Monday - CLOSED
Tuesday - CLOSED
Wednesday - 1pm-9pm
Thursday - 1pm-9pm
Friday - 1pm-9pm
Saturday - 11am-8pm
He keeps the lights off on the aquariums until someone walks through the doors because hes so slow...
MON - TUE
CLOSED
WED - FRI
1PM - 7PM
SAT - SUN
NOON - 6PM
He will also be closed from July 3rd till the 18th for a family vacation..
Other guy:
Sunday - 11am-8pm
Monday - CLOSED
Tuesday - CLOSED
Wednesday - 1pm-9pm
Thursday - 1pm-9pm
Friday - 1pm-9pm
Saturday - 11am-8pm
He keeps the lights off on the aquariums until someone walks through the doors because hes so slow...
opiate82
Bronze Squire
- 3,078
- 5
There is a break-even sales number for every labor hour, and that number is probably surprisingly high to a lot of people. I don't know Corndog's specifics, but for my pizza restaurant for every hour of labor I use I need to bring in $71 in sales to cover the cost of that labor hour. So when I'm trying to decide whether to stay open until 11:00pm or close at 10:00pm during the summer, I have to look at my sales and figure out if I keep 3 employees (my minimum staffing) on until 11:00pm will I bring in $213 in sales to cover their labor.For reference, that would be about 10 orders.
Now obviously there is a point where you need to match your competition and if you aren't hitting your needed sales numbers you need to figure out how to get more people through the door during those periods. But, especially during those fringe hours for opening or closing, you can often cost yourself more money than you make if you don't stay on top of the data and stay open when you shouldn't.
For reference Corndog's hours are very similar to my local homebrew store in my area and they seem to do just fine. Especially considering their main competition is open 24/7.
Now obviously there is a point where you need to match your competition and if you aren't hitting your needed sales numbers you need to figure out how to get more people through the door during those periods. But, especially during those fringe hours for opening or closing, you can often cost yourself more money than you make if you don't stay on top of the data and stay open when you shouldn't.
For reference Corndog's hours are very similar to my local homebrew store in my area and they seem to do just fine. Especially considering their main competition is open 24/7.
I wonder how many people discussing the hours keep fish currently.
I have had a reef aquarium in the past and every fish store in San Diego had odd hours just like what Corndog is working with.
Corndog I don't see it but are you thinking about doing Mon/Tues since all your competitors are not?
Are you working with local forums to do group buys and specials also? I was onSan Diego Reef Forumsand there is a LFS section where they discuss deals and stuff there.
I have had a reef aquarium in the past and every fish store in San Diego had odd hours just like what Corndog is working with.
Corndog I don't see it but are you thinking about doing Mon/Tues since all your competitors are not?
Are you working with local forums to do group buys and specials also? I was onSan Diego Reef Forumsand there is a LFS section where they discuss deals and stuff there.
I'm open 7 days a week because I don't feel closing down a week day is better than being open less hours per day. Often times I end up stealing my competitors customers because they are closed and we are open that day.
As for forums etc. I own the local forum
I'm active on the local facebook groups, local fish club etc. This has all been very worth it.
As for my labor costs. Assuming I'm not working the store myself. I have to turn $40 in product to break even. For the past couple of years I have been open the extra hours. And it always at least broke even. What it also does is break down the employees though. Staying till 8pm, closing up the shop at 8:20 to 8:30pm and then the drive home. I myself wasn't getting home till after 9pm. This was stressing myself and the employees. With the reduced hours it's like we're on vacation. Mood is better, employees are selling better etc.
What I can accomplish in 1.5 hours without standing in front of the public astounds me. Plus just because the retail store is only open limited hours. I answer emails 24/7. Also I'm at the airport etc a lot.
This week I went to the airport on Monday. About a 2 hour round trip. So I leave at 9am to be at the shop to start opening at 11am. I'm also going to the airport tonight. Midnight run. So Leave at 11pm, get the fish, go to the shop, put fish away for about 40 minutes. Then drive home. In bed at about 2am. I'll do this same run Sunday night as well.
Unfortunately with my business of live goods. It is demanding on time as everything is time sensitive. People say so is ice cream... Except you can put that in a refrigerated truck. I can't put fish in a heated truck. they'll eventually run out of oxygen. So it's always time sensitive.
As for forums etc. I own the local forum
As for my labor costs. Assuming I'm not working the store myself. I have to turn $40 in product to break even. For the past couple of years I have been open the extra hours. And it always at least broke even. What it also does is break down the employees though. Staying till 8pm, closing up the shop at 8:20 to 8:30pm and then the drive home. I myself wasn't getting home till after 9pm. This was stressing myself and the employees. With the reduced hours it's like we're on vacation. Mood is better, employees are selling better etc.
What I can accomplish in 1.5 hours without standing in front of the public astounds me. Plus just because the retail store is only open limited hours. I answer emails 24/7. Also I'm at the airport etc a lot.
This week I went to the airport on Monday. About a 2 hour round trip. So I leave at 9am to be at the shop to start opening at 11am. I'm also going to the airport tonight. Midnight run. So Leave at 11pm, get the fish, go to the shop, put fish away for about 40 minutes. Then drive home. In bed at about 2am. I'll do this same run Sunday night as well.
Unfortunately with my business of live goods. It is demanding on time as everything is time sensitive. People say so is ice cream... Except you can put that in a refrigerated truck. I can't put fish in a heated truck. they'll eventually run out of oxygen. So it's always time sensitive.
Yeah I can imagine all that. I love fish and want an aquarium again but I doubt I could run a LFS.
Yeah forums and Facebook are great for a hobby like this.
Yeah forums and Facebook are great for a hobby like this.
Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
- 44,599
- 93,127
Not as much. I'm more into fish breeding. Don't get me wrong I'm a certified Master Aquatic Horticulturalist as well. But in general I don't enjoy constant pruning required to maintain aquascapes like you'd traditionally see. I prefer to scape with slow growing plants like anubias, crypts, bucephilandra etc.
I had a higher tech scape going at the shop. It was never ending questions about how to pull it off. Then when the answer was it takes time, effort, and equipment, they'd bail on the idea. The fact is most people are lucky to even keep their plants alive, as opposed to getting the correct reds or purples out of plants.
But yeah we stock seiryu stone, manzanita wood, malaysian wood, co2 equipment etc. Everything you could need to do a high end scape. We have ten 40 breeders filled with plants and co2 injection. We are definitely a plant focused store.
I had a higher tech scape going at the shop. It was never ending questions about how to pull it off. Then when the answer was it takes time, effort, and equipment, they'd bail on the idea. The fact is most people are lucky to even keep their plants alive, as opposed to getting the correct reds or purples out of plants.
But yeah we stock seiryu stone, manzanita wood, malaysian wood, co2 equipment etc. Everything you could need to do a high end scape. We have ten 40 breeders filled with plants and co2 injection. We are definitely a plant focused store.
Out of the box thinking.
Do you do reef/saltwater? If so have you thought about putting a webcam on your tank? Do you take pics of your fish and offer to ship them via your website/forum/facebook?
Do you do reef/saltwater? If so have you thought about putting a webcam on your tank? Do you take pics of your fish and offer to ship them via your website/forum/facebook?
I have a cam on the 360 gallon custom tank. We are freshwater specialty only. As far as shipping. I used too but inventory management on live goods became near impossible. I'm now setting up a different facility to accomplish this.