# owning a reptile shop.



## monkeymandude (Nov 21, 2007)

Those who sit on this everyday just dreaming to open up a rep shop please PM me kos im thinking the same thing all i ever want to do it get a reptile shop and start a new life living and working in there. I'm also thinking that i can not do it alone if there is anyone on this site who is thinking of doin the same thing why dont we join up and work together to make our dream a living thing.


----------



## lizard lover (Feb 23, 2008)

*reptile shop*

Hiya mate

I had that dream since i was 10 years old. I have now just celebrated my 2nd year anniversary of my business.

I gained knowledge from working at a local garden centre in the aquatics department. If you cant get a job, try offering to work there voluntarily. If you prove yourself, you more than likely will be taken on.

Few tips for you.

1. You will need a minimum of £10,000 to start off

2. Approach your council for details of pet shop licenses and other conditions

3. Find a premises that has parking available

4. Be determined

Dont pretend you know it all. In my experience customers, and employees prefer honest workers who will ask for answers if they dont know them or seek information to get answers. Also this line of business works best for the people who genuinely care for the animals rather than just making money. 

Good luck mate. Just remember its not impossible. I did it !!!!


----------



## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

I've moved this to general herp chat from classifieds as you're not really selling anything 

Good luck with your venture.


----------



## monkeymandude (Nov 21, 2007)

lizard lover said:


> Hiya mate
> 
> I had that dream since i was 10 years old. I have now just celebrated my 2nd year anniversary of my business.
> 
> ...


 
: victory: thanks for telling me all that I want to do it for the the joy of keeping reps if i dont make money then thats fine by me : victory: 

thank again for the info.


----------



## monkeymandude (Nov 21, 2007)

Athravan said:


> I've moved this to general herp chat from classifieds as you're not really selling anything
> 
> Good luck with your venture.


 
thanks for making the move it was just after i posted it i thought oh :censor: i did not know how to move it thank again dude


----------



## wournous (May 5, 2008)

*work togeather*

hey monkeyman I'm with you on that whole join up thing


----------



## Mason (Jan 21, 2008)

Join up?

How much money do you think you'll make?

I doubt many reptile shops make enough to support more than 1 or two people. I think you need to sit down and workout what kind of turnover you would need for the business to support 2-5 (or whatever) people.


----------



## Reptilover (Jan 15, 2007)

Well realy iv wanted to own one since i was 10 but know im 13 and still many years to come before i even have the chance *sighs* 

I think you would have to bond a relationship with your work partner and come to a discission on how your going to fund it ect. Such as business plans.


----------



## Young_Gun (Jan 6, 2007)

I know next to no shop keepers who have been trading less than 3 years who have made an actual 'profit'.

Just make sure you know what your taking on mate and don't expect to make a quick return on your cash.


----------



## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

Young_Gun said:


> I know next to no shop keepers who have been trading less than 3 years who have made an actual 'profit'.
> 
> Just make sure you know what your taking on mate and don't expect to make a quick return on your cash.


Profit?! I thought that was a myth... :whistling2:


----------



## Young_Gun (Jan 6, 2007)

Athravan said:


> Profit?! I thought that was a myth... :whistling2:


Coming from a pet shop owner, proves my point :no1:


----------



## monkeymandude (Nov 21, 2007)

Never in my life did i say its not goin to be easy. 
I'm only 17 and im aimming to own one when im bout 30 ish give or take a few years.

The way im going to start off is start keeping more rep E.G snakes and then start breeding them while having a part time job.

Then when im older thinking bout making it bigger


----------



## Cheeky-x (Feb 2, 2009)

monkeymandude said:


> Never in my life did i say its not goin to be easy.
> I'm only 17 and im aimming to own one when im bout 30 ish give or take a few years.
> 
> The way im going to start off is start keeping more rep E.G snakes and then start breeding them while having a part time job.
> ...


let me know how it pans out im in the same boat as you, not enough money and big buisiness plans for the future : victory:


----------



## DaveAnscombe (Apr 20, 2009)

Ive had this dream for years and years since i was 10 years oldish.....i still dream to this day...I want to One day make it a reality 

I will try my hardest to achive this goal in life


----------



## -matty-b- (Dec 13, 2007)

monkeymandude said:


> Never in my life did i say its not goin to be easy.
> I'm only 17 and im aimming to own one when im bout 30 ish give or take a few years.
> 
> The way im going to start off is start keeping more rep E.G snakes and then start breeding them while having a part time job.
> ...


dont forget about going to college and getting an animal management degree/similar as i think its manditory to have one or possibly someone working in the shop needs one, thats either another wage or two years min. out of your time

thats what my council told me when i looked into it and its just not practical atm


----------



## zoe6660 (Jun 3, 2007)

im looking to start reptile shop but i wanted to pair up with someone coz i know my mam and dad wouldnt help much to run it and i think it needs atleast 2 people to start it up.


----------



## xxstaggyxx (Oct 22, 2008)

i dont have a shop but i have started a online one and i can vouch the profit you make on equipment is shocking on some items i will only be making like 20 to 30 pence only reason i have started online is becuase its cost less to start up but my aim is to have my own shop i do have a full plan drawn up thats gets updated all the time 

but profit out of equipment is shocking


----------



## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

-matty-b- said:


> dont forget about going to college and getting an animal management degree/similar as i think its manditory to have one or possibly someone working in the shop needs one, thats either another wage or two years min. out of your time
> 
> thats what my council told me when i looked into it and its just not practical atm


*

Its funny, I am due to start an animal management degree in september, Then I was going to start a rep shop with my partner. As he is training to be a vet we figured a 2 in one would be a good plan.

Thing is I really think the FD in animal management is not very good and instead I am thinking more on the lines of Zoology. I figured il spend the next year gaining Zoo work experience, there are 2 online reptile and snakes courses I wish to do as well as an AS in biology. Hopefully after all that Bristol uni will find me worthy and take me on lol. I know that I will also need management skills but of course there is always time for that after uni, maybe a 1 yr course in it or something 

If you have a dream then there is no reason why it is not possible to reach it, with sheer will and perseverence you can achieve anything!

Go for it!*


----------



## Vicki&Karl (Nov 22, 2009)

lizard lover said:


> Hiya mate
> 
> I had that dream since i was 10 years old. I have now just celebrated my 2nd year anniversary of my business.
> 
> ...


 
Did it take you a long time to get everything together to open your own shop? Where do you start with the planning. I really would love to but don't really know how to go about it. :hmm:


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

monkeymandude said:


> : victory: thanks for telling me all that I want to do it for the the joy of keeping reps if i dont make money then thats fine by me : victory:
> 
> thank again for the info.


That would be called "Having a hobby".

Running a reptile shop - if you want not to go bankrupt - needs to be done as "Running a business".

I have it on good authority that owning a reptile shop is a pretty good way to never have a chance to have a leisurely chat with your reptiles again. 

You're busy doing accounting, dealing with suppliers, working the tills... it's like having a corner shop, except you've also got to find time to clean the poop out of the cola fridge, make sure the Cadbury's Creme Eggs are producing Cadbury's Minis this year because you'd like to reduce how many you have to buy in and make sure that the merchandise doesn't (literally) go walking out the door.

We thought about buying a local shop when it went up for sale... but then realised "You know, we like having a reptile HOBBY. We don't want to have to rely on it for a LIVING."


----------



## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

I agree with Ssthisto, I have been lucky enough to know a few shop owners as friends over the years. the thought of owning a reptile shop seems like a great idea, you can have all the snakes and lizards you want etc. but to servive you need to run it as a business and take away the emotional attachment you need to turn over X amount per week just to pay the over heads like rent, rates, electricity, wages, food for stock, water rates etc.
Most of the shops i know sell other animals and feed/equipment as the reptiles would not be able to keep them going. Also you will find a few have other businesses.
and if you think that having a shop means you can have all the snakes and lizards *YOU* want think again your bread and butter stock will be corns, beardeds etc and if you dont make a good living you wont be able to buy the morphs and rareer Sp you will proberbly want.


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

leecb0 said:


> if you think that having a shop means you can have all the snakes and lizards *YOU* want think again your bread and butter stock will be corns, beardeds etc and if you dont make a good living you wont be able to buy the morphs and rareer Sp you will proberbly want.


There's definitely that, too.

Get in interesting (and often expensive even at trade prices) species that you like, and then watch them sit in the shop for months eating your profits... and just as you get attached and figure you're going to have a shop pet or try to pair it up for breeding stock, someone decides to stump up the cash to buy it. Of course, at the rate it's been eating, you might actually be paying the buyer to take the reptile instead of actually making a profit... unless you can ALSO sell all the equipment for it and make a regular customer of the person who's buying it so they buy their food, replacement bulbs, etc there.

But for every person who's willing to spend a couple hundred (let alone a couple of grand) on a reptile, there's dozens more Little Billy Firstsnakes who want a cheap corn, a cheap leopard gecko, a cheap beardie... and a cheap setup and maybe not even the whole thing of that because another shop miles away says they can do the equipment cheaper, and if it's missing a few bits that you recommend, obviously those bits aren't needed. 

'Course not every first-time reptile buyer's like that - I've seen plenty of first-time buyers DETERMINED to do everything right.

And then you get the customers. 

Some of them are great. They come in, they buy their stuff, they don't need too much help or retraining on how to do something *Right*, they don't scare off the other customers. 

Some of them are not so great. Some of them buy half the stuff from you, then show up on forums telling everyone how horrible your shop is because you didn't do this or you haven't done that yet or they don't agree with how you keep your whatever - and in most cases they're not willing to explain to you, when you ask, what they'd suggest to fix it. Some of them hang around in your shop for hours on end, jabbering amongst themselves, interjecting their opinions when you're discussing something with a customer, and generally looking scary or weird*. 

But you can't run a successful shop without customers, because you've GOT to keep your eye on the pennies. When you're keeping reptiles at home, it's "running at an acceptable loss" most of the time, and you're almost certain to have a job that supports your bills and your hobby. You'd still have most of the same overheads in terms of utilities, rent/mortgage, etc, you'd still be keeping the animals as pets... so you accept that you'll never make a living at it. 

When you're running a shop, if you can't make enough money to: 

Pay the electric, gas and water bills
Pay for your shop licence renewals
Pay for your shop rent
Pay for your staff if you have any
Pay for the equipment you hope to sell
Pay for the dry goods you hope to sell
Pay for the livestock you hope to sell
Pay for housing for the livestock you hope to sell
Pay for equipping that housing
Pay for feeding the livestock
...

There are probably plenty of other expenses a shop has that I'm missing... 
And that's BEFORE you get to take home a wage (you know, home, where you used to keep your reptiles, where you probably STILL have rent, mortgage, etc to pay)....

Then your shop will not last. You might plug all your savings into it, but if you can't make it at least a self-sustaining business, you might as well wad up the money and flush it down the loo. 

* OK, OK, not all customers who "hang out" at a shop and do this are bad, as long as they're sensible, make it clear they're not standing in the queue, only interject when what they say should HELP the shop... I'd like to think I'm not a nuisance!


----------



## paraman (Oct 27, 2007)

Ssthisto said:


> There's definitely that, too.
> 
> Get in interesting (and often expensive even at trade prices) species that you like, and then watch them sit in the shop for months eating your profits... and just as you get attached and figure you're going to have a shop pet or try to pair it up for breeding stock, someone decides to stump up the cash to buy it. Of course, at the rate it's been eating, you might actually be paying the buyer to take the reptile instead of actually making a profit... unless you can ALSO sell all the equipment for it and make a regular customer of the person who's buying it so they buy their food, replacement bulbs, etc there.
> 
> ...


A nice comprehensive answer and also the reason why animals from shops cost more than from joe the breeder round the corner with zero overheads.


----------



## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

Speaking from experience....a lot!

The electricity bills you will receive for a retail reptile shop with an average of 50-100 vivs will make the national debt of a small country look small...if you sell 25 reptiles a week..build into that the electricity bill for the other 75 that havent sold that week...then there are customers who through lack of care or whatever have there very expensive hatchling die..that will be your fault..by the way..not theirs..yours! and unless you give them a refund or similar they will post up in every forum how crap you are..despite the death being their lack of knowledge.

In the old days..when reptiles were majority imported..it was hard...and that was when the buying of reptiles was cheap and profits high..these days..you can realistically only sell captive bred stuff...or ridiculously priced morphs..the sales you will make will be based on quality and price to compete against the private breeders who have absolutely no overheads compared to yours.

GOOD LUCK!:whistling2:

Personally given the choice agan..i would rather buy a shedload of lottery tickets,


----------



## Reptacular Ltd (Nov 1, 2008)

I agree with most of the comments up to now.

Thought i would put my two peneth worth in.

We started our with a online reptile store in 2008, this was doing really well and we progressed onto opening a store in January 2009. This took off, until the bills started comming, and problems with suppliers, animals arriving poorly etc slowed it down. It then picked up again so we opened our second shop. The second shop is doing really well, and the other shop seemed not to be doing so well as we had to employ someone. 

The BIG problem with employing someone is that a you have to make more money, and b no matter who you get, the employee will never work as hard as yourself. At the end of the day its your business, so i personally am always cleaning tanks and glass, sorting shelves, cheacking, feeding watering animals, getting reps out for people to view and talk about. Never mind ordering, stock taking, accounting, problems, awkward customers, as well as learning more and more each day, especially on genetics. 

People think what a great job, owning a reptile shop, i love reptiles, had alot at home, got the money together and went for it. Boy was i in for a shock at the hard work that goes into them for lets face it, not loads and loads of money. 

I have two hours before i open the doors to clean tanks, feed, sort the shelves, stock take and get my orders ready. I then work at the shop, serving, talking, checking, feeding, watering, cleaning, etc. Then i come home have another couple of hours on emails and phonecalls. In between all of this i have to keep a register of animals, order my products, etc, etc.

So yes if you start a shop get rid of most of your pets, as shops, and personal pets do not work. There is not enough time. 

The other big factor is going away. Reptiles are living animals not tins of beans. They need attention everyday. We closed for 10 days over Xmas and New Year, i still had to drive over 100 miles each way every day to sort the animals out. 

At the end of the day i still love my job. I earn enough to pay the bills and live, love my reps and would not do anything else. But please look into everything before you decide, its not as rosy as some might think.

If its what you want and dont mind spending your life in questions, mice, locusts, dirty bedding, awkward customers, even more awkward suppliers then go for it. 

Please dont get me wrong i love my job and glad i made the move, but i got a shock about how much work it is. I am settled into routines now so its good, but dont think its everyones cup of tea.

Thanks.

Reptacular Ltd


----------



## Wills (Sep 10, 2009)

so far my little shop in maidenhead has has well over 100k of my own cash put into it lol

the main problem is small internet traders reducing margins, which means reduced margins for shops that match and have overheads, not the traders fault the suppliers for letting it happen lol

then the increase in rates doesnt help either lol
then dont forget you pay vat even if making a loss lol and you still have to pay taxes on staff if making a loss lol

the system makes it very diffcult to survive unless you have very deep pockets lol

but i wouldnt change it for a second


----------



## lukendaniel (Jan 10, 2007)

Wills said:


> so far my little shop in maidenhead has has well over 100k of my own cash put into it lol
> 
> the main problem is small internet traders reducing margins, which means reduced margins for shops that match and have overheads, not the traders fault the suppliers for letting it happen lol
> 
> ...


 
just a tip. saw in another thread you use peregrine for livefood. that must be pricey!!!!!! try livefood warehouse



daniel www.lndexotics.co.uk


----------



## Wills (Sep 10, 2009)

lol the reptile section is only a small section of the shop and we were using them whilst building a customer base lol

i will give them a shout though cheers for that


----------



## Zak (Jan 7, 2008)

I think the trouble is and i mean this in the nicest possible way is that any joe blogs thinks they can run a reptile shop. You wouldn't open a restaurant if you couldn't cook, a garage if you couldn't fix cars so why open a shop if you know nothing about the retail sector? Ive seen countless people say they want to open a shop, find the money and then a year down the line had to close or sell up because they thought it would be a glorified reptile room where you sell stuff and earn some pennies when infact it becomes your life.

As Ssthisto said at the end of the day its a business, you are like any other highstreet shop except your stock is living, breathing and eats into your profits the longer it hangs around in your shop.

And on that note im going to have a crack at it in the next 5 years (hopefully). Maybe im mad, maybe im a masochistic idiot, we'll see.


----------



## lukendaniel (Jan 10, 2007)

Zak said:


> I think the trouble is and i mean this in the nicest possible way is that any joe blogs thinks they can run a reptile shop. You wouldn't open a restaurant if you couldn't cook, a garage if you couldn't fix cars so why open a shop if you know nothing about the retail sector? Ive seen countless people say they want to open a shop, find the money and then a year down the line had to close or sell up because they thought it would be a glorified reptile room where you sell stuff and earn some pennies when infact it becomes your life.
> 
> As Ssthisto said at the end of the day its a business, you are like any other highstreet shop except your stock is living, breathing and eats into your profits the longer it hangs around in your shop.
> 
> And on that note im going to have a crack at it in the next 5 years (hopefully). Maybe im mad, maybe im a masochistic idiot, we'll see.


 

looking babk on things i wuldnt change the fact we own our shop, but i thought if i had the money we started again i'd open a big furniture shop. thats were there is money to be made!!!!!!



daniel www.lndexotics.co.uk


----------



## nick gilchrist (Oct 16, 2008)

As an example of this..see this thread.......

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizards/442229-just-bought-contents-rep-shop.html

Im sure he`s happy..but i bet the owner of the Reptile Shop had dreams once too...as he sits there with his livelyhood gone watching it drive off down the road....wondering where it all went wrong:whistling2:


----------



## lukendaniel (Jan 10, 2007)

nick gilchrist said:


> As an example of this..see this thread.......
> 
> http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizards/442229-just-bought-contents-rep-shop.html
> 
> Im sure he`s happy..but i bet the owner of the Reptile Shop had dreams once too...as he sits there with his livelyhood gone watching it drive off down the road....wondering where it all went wrong:whistling2:


 

me and luke are quite in the fact we dont have a family or huge house to support for now.

were only 20 & 21 and can plow all our money back into the business to make us even better, hence why we have just doubled the amount of vivs with livestock in. 

i never really had a dream to open a shop, but the opportunity came and we took it.

the shop that sold up must be quite gutted



daniel www.lndexotics.co.uk


----------



## Wills (Sep 10, 2009)

lukendaniel said:


> looking babk on things i wuldnt change the fact we own our shop, but i thought if i had the money we started again i'd open a big furniture shop. thats were there is money to be made!!!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> daniel www.lndexotics.co.uk


i wouldnt either but i would have invested twice as much in very different ways lol but without a time machine it wont matter lol


----------



## lukendaniel (Jan 10, 2007)

Wills said:


> i wouldnt either but i would have invested twice as much in very different ways lol but without a time machine it wont matter lol


 
i think me and luke are heading in the right direction. coming up to our 1 year anniversary. takings up weekly. expanding our shop and have over 200 snakes that we breed from. cant wait till im 25!!!!!!!




daniel www.lndexotics.co.uk


----------

