Thinking About Buying A LFS

I would consider hiring an attorney to make sure you are covered in all those little areas that nice people don't usually think about... personal, fiscal liabilities and responsibilities, that kind of thing. Also, you should be able to look up records about this business. I wonder what impact the availability of online stores is having on LFS? Also, I would wonder if there is some way you could expand and take advantage of the internet? Could you take a week off your job and work at this LFS? I agree with Biff, your wife is awesome for volunteering to step up but if this is to be your business it is important that people meet you from the beginning. I'm an artist, I work for myself in my "hobby". It does change the way you think about what you do. It is important that you are willing to give up your hobby. It could become all the better because you do it all day but it will change. I totally get that it sucks to work for others. There is a lot of freedom for me because of my career choice. Fortunately, I'm not tied to a store. If you want to go on vacation, get sick, decide to change jobs or even just take a weekend off, you have to make arrangements for your store. I don't think I could do that. If I haven't managed to dissuade you, I would definitely go for it! If I have, think about something else. Whatever you do, have fun. Considering something like this is really, really cool.

Sounds like a piece of crap guy to deal with... oh well...

Didn't he tell you he wanted to retire? If you purchase the store, you should get the inventory in the warehouse too. This guy sounds like a butthead.

Catherine

sorry it doesn't seem like its going to work out for you. That guy is a real ass hat. He should just sell all the equipment during some huge sale and then you could have your store and everyone who just got tanks and equipment for cheap would need your fish and corals to buy.

I tried to get him to sell me the warehouse full of inventory, but he won't do it.

He's going to sell the existing store, take the name, logo, phone number and CUSTOMERS.......... build a new store for $10 thousand worth of equipment..... sell it for another $25 thousand and walk into the 3rd and final store with $50 thousand in working capital. Build it and sell it. Retire. It might take him 2 more years to build those other 2 stores, but he's going to carry the name and logo with him until hes finally done.

He's being upfront about building 2 more stores and selling them. He's just not being TOTALLY upfront about WHY he won't give up the name. He claims he owes suppliers money and "you don't want my suppliers hounding you over my debts" The NAME is EVERYTHING. It's THE name in this area for all things related to fish and the hobby in general. He knows that, but he's not revealing it to potential buyers.

If his suppliers REALLY have cut him off, then he wouldn't give 2 shits about the name. I could purchase the name and call it Joe Asshat Aquatics, doing business as Sherman Tank. That would protect me from his suppliers and he knows that. If his suppliers had REALLY cut him off, it wouldn't be worth taking his name with him to set up 2 more stores. He'd put the stores in somebody else's names and set up as a new store with a new name. Then he could work with those suppliers again with a clean slate and none of them would know who he was.

He's a shit head. I'm glad I thought this through. I was ready to jump up and run to my bank tomorrow to fill out papers for a small business loan.

i didnt read all of this thread so if im repeating whats been said, sorry!

i wouldnt make this investment during these times. Buying a hobby business can be extremely rewarding but just as much on the negative end if times are rough. People cant afford to to spend money on their hobbies at the moment (majority of people, not everyone of course) and if they do, it wont be enough to make you alot of profit. I think its a good idea but not now...just my

Sorry it didn't work out. At least you did't lose your ass first.

wow !! RC that was close !!!! I am glas you did more research s oyou didn't get SCREWED!!!!!

He's a man with a plan. That's for sure. I think it will be super hard for him to find someone to buy one store in the near future, let alone three.

RC this still wouldnt be a bad deal IF you set the store up as Saltwater Only, being in such a major metropolitan area you could still do a hell of a business. I could put you in contact with two WORLD CLASS shops that could help you set up connections in the livestock end of things. I personally would ditch the freshwater stuff totally. And with the gazillion 40 gallon breeders you could have a great livestock selection. Get yourself some large lookdown tanks for coral display and run with it. I wouldnt kill the idea yet just take a step back. A 50K investment really isnt that bad for a turnkey business, at least IMO. Just my two cents take if for what it is.