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

[Delphinus]

Two words: Red Coral Red Deer

(I never said I could count, BTW.)

On a more serious note, sorry to hear of partnership troubles. Good luck whatever you end up pursuing.

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Two words: Red Coral Red Deer

(I never said I could count, BTW.)

On a more serious note, sorry to hear of partnership troubles. Good luck whatever you end up pursuing.

Kevin and I have had a conversation about this at one point but I don't have the cash for the start up cost's at this point or I would jump on it.

[Delphinus]

Same and same. I hear ya!!!

[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.

[Llamarama]

Originally Posted by Slick Fork

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.

+1

[Seafan]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I have to agree with most of the comments on this thread so far. Many times the same idea has crossed my mind as I am a stay at home mom that has had it with household duties, and looking to get out of my rut so to speak. Anyways, I just haven't personally seen enough potential in the area without doing it all the way either (storefront and large array of product). With such a small group of reefers, and many of us probably use different product, you can't carry enough to please everyone and get them in your door to shop. I'm very much an impulse buyer, I always go to calgary for my salt, with the intention that this time I'm only getting salt, but always come away with quite a few other items that were not on my list. That's how the store's all make their money. I am probably the only one in the area that uses my brand of salt, unfortunately, so I will always have the need to go to the city meaning they will get the most of my reefing dollars. Not that I wouldn't support a local business, I would try when I could. Good luck and I hope things turnaround for you soon. It would be so nice if one of us could actually get a real storefront up and operating sometime in the near future.

[The Grizz]

Another thought I had was if one of the shop in the big city's would be interested in a distributor in this area. For special order livestock and coral, equipment and anything else one might need.

I don't know what would work but if there was a way to get the things we need / want and save some $$ on traveling cost, that would be a few extra $ to spend on our hobby. And who know it might lead to a full store something that is really needed here. I know for a fact that there are way more salties here in Red Deer area that are not on CanReef.

Just a thought