Setting Up Shop (Possibly)

[macpegg]

After years of hobbying.. I'm seriously considering setting up shop! Turning passion into business though keeping the passion there is in my mind at the foremost importance - which some lfs seem to lack.

However my question is.. Does anybody know of any lfs going bust that are selling their equipment?

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Good luck, I'd love to do this too one day

 

[Didge007]

Also would love to do this one day...maybe when I'm old and grey Good luck!

 

[HappyGeorge]

Overheard someone in my LFS in Kent saying that there was one in Essex that had just shut up shop. I will try and get some more detail and let you know. My LFS is a small unit, one man outfit, friendly and very knowledgeable he has been working by night as a printer and then running the shop by day to build the business. Good Luck, get some sleep now while you can.
What area were you considering?

 

[macpegg]

Location is an issue... I have looked around Kent - Dartford/Orpington etc.. Maidenhead have a nice one in one of the garden centres.. But I can see were they need refining.. Obviously im sure cash is an issue here though..

I currently live in Central London (Southwark) although i aint seen anything around.. And would love to setup shop here, but as London sleeps weekends, plus congestion charges etc - would deem silly for me to even consider it.. Unless I catered for businesses.. Which im sure would require after care... which wouldn't really be a problem but again.. I'll be a one man show, living and breathing sleeping in the tanks! ha

So.. I'm guessing West London would be a good start, still... I love Kent, although competion is too great without being established..

 

[woody88]

Good luck mate! Lfs lack passion for the hobby IMO so it would be nice to know there will be at least one shop in the UK where the owner actually enjoys fishkeeping!

Too far for me tho!

 

[HappyGeorge]

Location is an issue... I have looked around Kent - Dartford/Orpington etc.. Maidenhead have a nice one in one of the garden centres.. But I can see were they need refining.. Obviously im sure cash is an issue here though..

I currently live in Central London (Southwark) although i aint seen anything around.. And would love to setup shop here, but as London sleeps weekends, plus congestion charges etc - would deem silly for me to even consider it.. Unless I catered for businesses.. Which im sure would require after care... which wouldn't really be a problem but again.. I'll be a one man show, living and breathing sleeping in the tanks! ha

So.. I'm guessing West London would be a good start, still... I love Kent, although competion is too great without being established..

I drive a 40 mile round trip occassionaly to Dartford/Gravesend although everything I need is in Sittingbourne. People travel stupid distances to get to my LFS - Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Somerset, but he has specialized and no-one does what he does, he also runs a pop in for a coffee and a chat type style, which I think is the only way to go as a start. The trouble you would have to get your share of the business in Kent would be as you say the current competition, SE corner of Kent doesn't have much but thats a long way from London . The non specialist, let's go and buy a fish tank today trade is catered for by Swallows at Gravesend, the place at Dartford is pretty well thought of.

 

[seffieuk]

There is no really great marine shop in Essex that I am aware of, one that has someone you can get to know, have a chat etc.

Swallows in Rayleigh is not my cup of tea, the marine stock is awful and the staff - I usually have to travel out of Essex to Kent or Enfield --- but the Crews hill shops have really gone done hill recently.

I will look out for anything of interest and let you know

Seffie x

ps back - you surely didnt think you could sneak back without me noticing

 

[HappyGeorge]

Well, well looky here, must be a sign.
All the gear

 

[woody88]

Well, well looky here, must be a sign.
All the gear

I wonder if he would sell just one 6ft tank on it's own?.............and a sump!

 

[dayzofspeed]

Well, well looky here, must be a sign.
All the gear

I wonder if he would sell just one 6ft tank on it's own?.............and a sump!

just out of curiosity woody whatever happened to that freebie tank you acquired recently, did you bin it after all

 

[ben1987]

theres hardly any money in it now im afraid. Huge running costs and the internet just make it harder and harder. More shops go out of business than suceed
some reports of a lot of price fixing
huge competition from established shops and suppliers giving the best stuff to their mates. My LFS often finds stuff out of stock when they ask, then the exact item pops up in another shop that uses the same supplier.

hard business to crack! but good luck

 

[Funkoid]

I heard the Living Reef up oldham way is being sold as one of the owners has developed nasty lung cancer

May be worth giving them a call for a chat if nothing else?