Bigs als in Calgary Decemebr 1st

[digital-audiophile]

http://www.bigalscanada.com/storeloc...algarymain.htm

They are hiring too, hmm maybe I need a part time job in the evenings to pay for my hobby

[Delphinus]

There was a time the south location was all shiney and new .. the scary thing is I remember it.

And the scariest part of all was .. Nate was there then too. All young and stuff. Wait, what am I saying. The guy is still entirely too frickin' young. Apparently I'm old.

[Nate]

thanks tony....I am startin to get old too! the ripe old age of 24...

As for the staff, I doubt any will end up there...I keep in touch with some of them, but, like I said, most have moved on since then. I thinkit is only two of us that have remained in the industry. Kelly and myself, but you never know...perhaps they are paying a decent salary and some would go back under the new ownership.

As for the shark tank, I believe you have to have one in every store.

Anyways, competition is good for any industry, I just hope they can keep up with the pricing in Calgary, it is a lot different than other cities. You guys really have no idea how cheap you guys are getting some of these things.

[digital-audiophile]

Maybe a bit off topic, but this might be something you could answer Nate, Glenda and I were talking the other day and wondering what the salt water market in Calgary is really like.. how many Calgarians actually keep SW tanks. 1,000..5,000...10,000? it seems like there are a number of people from Calgary on this site and I am sure it only represents a small portion of the reef keepers in cowtown.

[Nate]

I actually have something like that for information...for my final class in the small business program at Mount Royal we have to do this super crazy business plan, mine was like 80 pages on aquarium maintenance which is what I am doing now.

I used stats from Pijac Canada which were a little bit old, combined with the fact that in the 8 years that Big al's Calgary was there, they had over 100000 customers for FW and SW. I believe I used a 10 % rate of consumers leaving the hobby and a 15 % rate of them entering based on yearly growth. I will check my business plan, and maybe email you the part on it...

[Phanman]

Thats a good location for me, Im always around their.
Hopefully the pricing will be competitive.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Originally Posted by digital-audiophile

http://www.bigalscanada.com/storeloc...algarymain.htm

They are hiring too, hmm maybe I need a part time job in the evenings to pay for my hobby

Haha...my thoughts exactly.

[scuglass]

GREAT another store to hit on the day long excursion to the north. The old location was so convienient.

[digital-audiophile]

Thanks Nate, I would be intersted to see the figures.

I would imagine there must be a decent customer base, considering the amount of stores in Calgary that do salt water, especially since two of them are salt water only.

But then again when you consider the cost of equipment for reef tanks and the cost of livestock alone, you would need to sell a lot less to make make the same amount of reveune as compared to selling guppies and goldfish bowls.

[Nate]

guppies and goldfish bowls are however where the money is at...

like I said, you would not believe how low the markup has gotten particularly in the Calgary marketplace.

and greg, my numbers do not differentate between fresh and salt customers...I used revenues/average selling price of fish to determine a % of customers that may be saltwater, and may be freshwater.

Overall, the entire thing, as a business plan usually is, was just a big manipulation of numbers.

Nate