Need some input from fellow Red Deer & Area reefer's

[Slick Fork]

Without a storefront I think you're really going to be looking at strictly frags and coral colonies. And at that you'd need enough of a unique/rotating inventory to keep local people stopping in. Even then you're competing with guys like Coral Master who has a pretty solid reputation, eating his lunch won't be easy.

Possibly inverts, ever since "A Marine Experience" quit there hasn't been anyone specialising in that area to the best of my knowledge. Plus you could generate enough interest there I think to ship province wide. I like the handle "Snail King"

I think fish would be more trouble than they're worth on such a small scale.

Forget about hardware, food, salt etc. You simply won't be able to sell enough volume from your house to compete price-wise and still make it worth your while. Unless you branch out into something nobody else has meaning people HAVE to go to you.

When doing your calculations, always remember to ask yourself why would people buy from me? Being local is nice but there is another place that carries some SW stuff in Red Deer (don't know if I can mention names but we all know who he is) and that's not enough for me to go see him. Are people going to come see you because of price? or Unique Inventory? Without a location right in Red Deer you lose convenience and drop in traffic

I'd really like to see something open up locally but it's a really tough market and I'd hate to see you dump a ton of cash and time into this and get burned. If you're not going to go with a storefront, I would suggest starting really small with the goal of subsidising your own tanks. Grow when and where you can but take really small steps to start.