Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store

C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Yeah my current "dress shoes" are steve maddens. Until now I've just been a casual slob. I mean common I work at a local fish store. The norm was some jeans, a tshirt, some shoes etc.

The problem is, these clothes/shoes will get wet daily. Fish poop etc will get on them. Investing in high end clothes isn't out of the question, but I'd like for it to be scale able so employees can match the look etc. Also I'm a fat guy, so the cheaper clothes do fit me better. I considered short sleeve dress shirts, but it just doesn't seem like it would look right in a fish store.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,441
2,223
No one gives a shit what brand of shirt their fish store guy is wearing.
 
Cutlery

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
<Gold Donor>
6,407
17,846
I personally won't buy fish from anyone not wearing a 3 piece suit. I mean, what...I'm supposed to believe that a guy wearing short sleeves knows how to take care of fish? I wasn't born yesterday.
 
C

Chaotic_sl

shitlord
25
0
I'm not saying people care or don't care what someone working / owner of a fish store is wearing. I'm replying directly to a question asked. Also, if you somehow think that something from any decent store is discernible only via a tag from something you bought at old navy.. I mean.. I don't know what to even say to that.

Corn, Steve Madden has very nice shoes (consequentially, if you wanted to get a gift for a lady, their womens shoes are quite nice)

I was also thinking in terms of stocking. I mentioned before the reasons I go to my LFS.. but also, they stock some incredibly rare things that i've never even seen or heard of before. I'll go there for dry goods and come home with some new kind of shrimp, or two examples are a nicaraguan cichlid and a geophagus (orange head?) both of which are things I never saw before, was intrigued about, and now own. I go down there sometimes just to see the rare stock, it get's me in the store. Obviously keep your neon tetras and bettas and guppies etc, but if you really want to make a name for yourself, give people a reason to step foot inside and look around. Set up a showroom that makes people ask questions.
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Chaotic_sl said:
I'm not saying people care or don't care what someone working / owner of a fish store is wearing. I'm replying directly to a question asked. Also, if you somehow think that something from any decent store is discernible only via a tag from something you bought at old navy.. I mean.. I don't know what to even say to that.

Corn, Steve Madden has very nice shoes (consequentially, if you wanted to get a gift for a lady, their womens shoes are quite nice)

I was also thinking in terms of stocking. I mentioned before the reasons I go to my LFS.. but also, they stock some incredibly rare things that i've never even seen or heard of before. I'll go there for dry goods and come home with some new kind of shrimp, or two examples are a nicaraguan cichlid and a geophagus (orange head?) both of which are things I never saw before, was intrigued about, and now own. I go down there sometimes just to see the rare stock, it get's me in the store. Obviously keep your neon tetras and bettas and guppies etc, but if you really want to make a name for yourself, give people a reason to step foot inside and look around. Set up a showroom that makes people ask questions.
Click to expand...
Yep Chaotic that is my lure. Rare fish. I've spawned both the nics and geos before. There will actually be a room in my place that is under lock and key where 100+ fish sit. There will be expensive fish on the main floor etc. But some fish are more sensitive and fish theft does happen. The more rare and cool stuff you have, the harder it is to price shop vs another store. If no one else has it, you can't say whether the price is good or bad. It just is. A fish that is $5 today but rare could be $40 the next time, and the time after that $20. It all depends on supply and demand.

As for the clothing goes. All I'm trying to accomplish is not have the customer leave going that place is kinda ghetto. If I don't impress with clothing that's fine. But I don't want to disappointing either. There are LFS around me where employees wear insane clown posse tshirts and crap. I'm just trying to standardize my store. If I hire an employee. I can say the dress code is business casual. I wear dress shoes, slacks, and a polo with our logo on it. The expectations are already set. I remember hiring a guy to work at the store I managed and the first day he showed up in a tshirt which was fine cause it was the dress code at that store. The second day he showed up in a wife beater with armpit and chest hair everywhere. I had to explain to him that it wasn't acceptable to be in the retail business and give off that image.
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
So I thought I'd give some insight to the store build out at this point. Trying to achieve a upper class image. All my trim and countertop is being made out of maple. It's been locally harvested from sustainable growth and hand milled etc. The countertop has a live edge on each side meaning you can see the tree bark etc. All to lend itself back to a nature theme. My company slogan is Enjoy Nature Daily. A hand carved sign out of maple is being made to go above the sales counter.

There will be an aquarium LED light fixture from ecoxotic lighting up the counter as all the overhead lights in the place will be out once we're open. Only aquarium lights will be on.

The dimensions of the place are 20x50. 20 wide, 50 long. On the left hand side entering from the door, there is a little open area in front of the windows. Then it goes into 3 office rooms. We deleted one interior wall there to make 1 big room. The 3rd room will eventually have a glass door installed and be under lock and key with very expensive fish in it. The goal is that it's a privileged to shop in that room and it's expected that if you're in that room with an employee you should be prepared to spend that kind of money in that room. I'm hoping its one of those situations where if they've made me let them in they feel obligated to buy something in there assuming I have stuff that interests them.

The long main wall on the right side will be roughly fifty 20 gallon aquariums. They will be stacked 3 high and all the way down the wall. Every tank is on automatic water change system and will run sponge filters. I'll just start putting up pics now as it shows everything better.

Looking in from the parking lot.
P1020562.jpg


Looking in from the front door.
622526_513247168715364_1299307031_o.jpg


Mid wall we took down, only took a pic after we removed sheet rock.
339386_513252255381522_706900717_o.jpg


wall removed
P1020526.jpg


start of the sales counter.
P1020524.jpg
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Progress of sales counter
P1020554.jpg

P1020553.jpg

P1020552.jpg


Door to another unit that gets covered up.
P1020525.jpg


3rd room with expensive fish and glass door eventually.
P1020551.jpg
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Water meter installed with lines running to both walls.
P1020555.jpg

P1020557.jpg


Indirect waste lines put in on each wall to code.
P1020558.jpg


This is what is behind the rooms on the left side at the back. This will be walled off from the public and a shipping fish station put in.
P1020518.jpg
 
NeverlosT

NeverlosT

Golden Knight of the Realm
136
210
So are you freshwater fish only or also saltwater, or even saltwater/reef? In my experience the freshwater fish crowd will not travel very far since they can feasibly get decent freshwater fish most anywhere, so it might be tougher to set yourself apart in that market. Saltwater fish are a bit more niche-friendly and if you get a good rep as a knowledgeable shop, people will travel for your services. Now, the ultimate niche is the saltwater-reef market, and as a reef aquarist, I can tell you that people like myself regularly travel 3+ hours to visit the best retail locations (vivid aquariums CA, world wide corals FL, Manhattan Reefs NY, Greenwich Aquaria CT as some examples).

It looks like you have a great start, a lot of great knowledge, and a busy location which is fantastic.

If you have any prior expertise in the reef side of things, I would urge you to dedicate even one small fish area to a display tank (where you can have all of your showpieces, things typically are not sold from this tank, it is a marketing investment), and several smaller tanks for coral or fish. The reason I am suggesting it is that having spent quite a bit of time in fish retail establishments, a big sale for freshwater fish is ~$100 in fish, but with saltwater, an average single fish may command that price and with coral, well, it just gets absurd how much things go for. Even the equipment is much more expensive. It just makes good business sense to carry some products which have super high profit margins.

Anyhow, I just wanted to write to say good luck and offer my humble opinions, I hope either way that you are successful and that your hard work is rewarded!

oh, last suggestion, I've been in a lot of fish stores. The typical owner/operator is a total shut-in very awkward, sarcastic, kind of like the comic book guy on the simpsons. If you are somewhat outgoing, polite, offer advise and info in a non-condescending way, and ensure that your employees do the same, you will immediately set yourself apart in this market. Godspeed!
 
Z

Zolek

72
0
Does fish theft really happen? I can't even imagine someone netting an expensive fish and making a break for it? Inside job sure....
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Zolek_sl said:
Does fish theft really happen? I can't even imagine someone netting an expensive fish and making a break for it? Inside job sure....
Click to expand...
It's way more common than you think. Only on the high dollar fish. Just have a bucket of water in your car. Then grab a fish and put it in your pocket and walk out. It's super easy to pull off because no one thinks it's possible. Employees and stores don't watch for it. They're more worried about losing the $3 bag of food instead of the $100 fish.
 
P

Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,333
5,322
Nice countertop. And plumbing. Front kinda looks like a hotel room.. don't know if that's bad or how to fix it. Id put a huge aquarium in front of that window with huge fish in it. I've never had a hotel room like that.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,441
2,223
As cool as a big aquarium in the front window would be, that is way too much light. The thing would be full of algae and it would be a full time job making it not look like shit.
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Picasso_sl said:
Nice countertop. And plumbing. Front kinda looks like a hotel room.. don't know if that's bad or how to fix it. Id put a huge aquarium in front of that window with huge fish in it. I've never had a hotel room like that.
Click to expand...
Then plan is to have fish signs in the window and about 6 ft back from the window have some 40 gallon aquariums and to the left hand wall have a large aquarium so you Can see it from the window but not in direct sunlight. But yes with the brown paper up it does look like a hotel.
 
Frenzied Wombat

Frenzied Wombat

Potato del Grande
14,730
31,802
Hey just a suggestion from a saltwater guy; I know you are going all freshwater, however most of the live food I would hunt for I would get at freshwater shops. You can attract a lot of the saltwater crowd if you have a nice supply of live ghost shrimp, guppies, and live blackworms. Blackworms in particular I would pay a fortune to fly in from California because my Copperband Butterfly went crazy for them. In fact all my fish would go absolutely nuts for them.. I know it's probably not a huge money maker, but it's extra foot traffic, and many times I would buy some dry items either simply because I was there, or I wanted to help that store as much as possible because finding a place that carried quality life foods was so hard to come by.
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Frenzied Wombat_sl said:
Hey just a suggestion from a saltwater guy; I know you are going all freshwater, however most of the live food I would hunt for I would get at freshwater shops. You can attract a lot of the saltwater crowd if you have a nice supply of live ghost shrimp, guppies, and live blackworms. Blackworms in particular I would pay a fortune to fly in from California because my Copperband Butterfly went crazy for them. In fact all my fish would go absolutely nuts for them.. I know it's probably not a huge money maker, but it's extra foot traffic, and many times I would buy some dry items either simply because I was there, or I wanted to help that store as much as possible because finding a place that carried quality life foods was so hard to come by.
Click to expand...
I plan to carry live blackworms, white clouds, guppies and live brine shrimp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.