Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquattro
I guess, to qualify my statements, none of my LFS's really try to gouge on prices. Many/most prices are in line with J&L plus shipping with the convenience of shopping in person.
I agree that if my LFS was charging 40% more for salt, I wouldn't be shopping there either 
I don't own a fish store, but the assumption that they make there money on livestock, I think, is wrong. You have shipping costs of water, it's heavy. You need salt in the water, equipment to manage the water, tanks to put the water in. you have to feed and light the livestock, so food, bulbs, etc come into play. Things die, that has to be absorbed by the remaining stock. It takes more staff time to take care of the livestock vs. dusting the drygoods.
At the end of the year, I don't think it's a huge profit margin. |
Not suggesting they make a huge profit margin. I have a world of respect for those who run their own business and I do NOT begrudge them a profit or a living. I am positive though, that the bulk of their mark-up comes from livestock as opposed to drygoods.
I am in complete agreement that it takes a lot of time and money to maintain livestock... but if you look at the floor plan of any LFS it's 90% livestock and 10% drygoods (and of that 10% the majority is every-day stuff like filter socks, fish food, lightbulbs, etc.) This tells me that they see livestock as most the most profitable item as a function of $/sqft of retail space so they make sure livestock gets the room it needs to maximize profit. Just like best-buy is almost half big-screen tv's... that's where they make their money.