starting a tackle shop

[carpwife]

Hi, I am a newbie on here, if I am in wrong place, feel free to move me

I am considering starting a business, in the world of a tackle shop. In ipswich we only have 2 tackle shops that cover all things. My line of business is to open just a tackle shop that specialises in Carp.

Problem is I know nothing about opening a business. Any ideas in helping costing this out would be great. I have worked out the letting side of it, just wanted to put together a plan for stock. Stocking the branded names, how much it would all cost etc.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

many thanks in advance

 

[crazyshady]

Are there any wholesalers that deal with it? Maybe you could search online?

 

[carpwife]

yep I thought of that but not sure what to search as, if you search for wholesalers for fishing shops, they give you a price list, as a customer, I really need to see if they would do for trade,

 

[crazyshady]

If your buying from a wholesaler as a business customer dont you have to contact them and actually collect the stuff in person (if their in the UK)? I could be wrong though.

 

[dave1928]

[FONT=verdana,geneva,lucida,arial]carpwife[/FONT] I run a fishing tackle shop....PM me and i will help where i can

 

[dave_n]

i think you'll probably have to get accounts with the dealers

high end - century, conoflex, shimano

low end - shakespeare, daiwa etc

same goes for bait, rigs, bivvies and kit etc etc etc

it seems a very competitive world...what sets you aside form the other shops?

do u have an in-depth knowledge of the local area, baits that are producing etc etc

A lot of people go in a tackle shop for a chat and to get some local knowledge...if they like you and you give them sound info they usually buy kit.

 

[dave1928]

dave_n - Daiwa being low end tackle?? no way, they are on par which shimano, and for a start up tackle shop i wouldnt even look at the more specialised brands like century or conoflex.

Yes, the tackle trade is highly competitive and all your capital items (ie rods, reels chairs etc ) will be in competition with mail order and internet and not as such your nearest shop.

There usually room for a tackle shop in most areas as long as your not to close to another one, otherwise you wont get the better accounts.

Having a carp shop is not a bad idea but still stock the normal coarse tackle though.

You can deal with wholesale firms or van sales or direct. You dont collect any orders unless you happen to live next door to your supplier.

Tell me more about what you wanna do etc and i will give you my opionin

Ive been in trade for over 10 yrs

 

[dave_n]

ok...i'll take the daiwa back!

my personal opinion - build a good rapport with your punters and give the regulars discounts.

I go to my local dealer everytime - even when the rods may be cheaper on the web.
I get a discount and he's local if there are any probs.

One thing our tackle shop seems to do very well with are tackle kits - rod, reel, line and bits for a discounted bundle price

 

[dave1928]

Most anglers will not pay a penny more even if there a regular customer and they can buy a rod for £5 cheaper of the net they will. Yes, i have some customers who will rather deal local and will pay a little more for that.

Your right in looking after your reg customers by giving discount but not to much as your just then giving money away when not required. When i first started, if bill game to £10.60 i used to do it for £10 but add that 60p discount over the week / year and its a lot of money. He might be best doing that to start with to get customers in the first year but then start doing it less and less. Most other shops will want the 1p if it was £10.01 so anglers dont expect it off either.

Good service is essential, and try and price all stock at mail order / internet price.

How big and how far away are the other 2 shops???

If there pretty close and big then you will struggle to get accounts of any value.

How much money do you have to start with as you gotta get all shop fittings and fridge and freezers and maggot machine etc.

 

[carpwife]

Thanks for all your input,

it's certainly giving me something to think about. My husband is the keen angler that fishes regularly so its something that he really wants to take off. He has fished various lakes and knows the highs and lows. He has a lot of the branded name gear, but obviously price comes into a lot.

We only really have 2 tackle shops around in our area, one is a little retail shop pretty much like we would like to open, and then there is a bigger one called 'Birds' on the outskirts of town. This is the one that would be in competition with. Was kind of thinking that running just as mainly carp would set us aside from others.

Having a keen fisherman as a husband, he knows a lot of people that are into fishing and thinks that a trade would take off, obviously there are risks, its just trying to get feedback and opinions at this stage, and putting together a visable business plan (any help with this :|)

 

[dave1928]

Carpwife...
ANything your thinking about just ask and i will try and help.

You can still create a carp shop but i would still recommened your stock the basic for general coarse fishing like grounbait pole floats maggots etc. There are a lot of anglers who do both and a lot of areas where bait is used for both typres of fishing.

Your right to start small to test the water as you need to build a customer base up first.

Werever your thinking of havin the shop i would say one major factor to bear in mind is parking. Anglers dont wanna be paying for parking and walkin ghalf way across town just for some hooks and bait before going fishing.

If you are serious in opening one up then i can give you pretty much all contact numbers that you will need.

If mainly carp you doing then some of main accounts you will be wantin to stock will be (just to name some) -
Korda, wychwood, kryston, daiwa, dynamite baits, mainline, nash, fox.
All these accounts i would imagine you would get, maybe fox might be a bit harder.
It all depends on how close the 'birds' shop is to you. An account like shimano and ESP will be one of hardest accounts to get. Ive still yet to get a ESP account due to a smaller shop in town having it!!!

Bear in mind that you will need a few thousands pounds to stock shop to a reasonable level. Just to get a small range of korda hooks you will be looking at £200 plus. Most firms have to be pain with 30 days.

ANything else just ask

 

[Ashley_Price]

Firstly welcome to UKBF!

Secondly, I need some replacement wedding tackle, can you help?

 

[Pap_sak]

I own a sports and fishing shop in South Africa and would be happy to help if I can. Another brand that works out here more for guys on a budget is Okuma which might be worth trying out. One of the most important questions to ask is what margin would you get? You do not want to get in a price war with two other guys in town (how big is this town?) and cut your margins too low. Getting initial wholesale pricelist's are a pain but just start at the front of a carp magazine and work your way through.

 

[dave_n]

I own a sports and fishing shop in South Africa and would be happy to help if I can. Another brand that works out here more for guys on a budget is Okuma which might be worth trying out. One of the most important questions to ask is what margin would you get? You do not want to get in a price war with two other guys in town (how big is this town?) and cut your margins too low. Getting initial wholesale pricelist's are a pain but just start at the front of a carp magazine and work your way through.

do u still stock the okuma latitude's ?

 

[dave1928]

Margin is important for all your bits and pieces as you never haveto discount them, but its not important when deciding what brands to stock for capital items as mail order and internet shops always drive margine right down anyway who ever they buy off. So best to stock what sells.
Okuma is a pretty good firm to deal with for lower end of tackle.

 

[carpwife]

Would you be able to get a trade list from the suppliers quite easily by asking, so you can get an idea of your mark-up obviously its not good waiting until you've opened your shop if you don't have any idea what the prices are beforehand.

 

[trendy kid]

Hiya,
Get in touch with Preston Innovations they are the cheapest for wholesale. And the carriage is free.

 

[dave1928]

Trendy Kid.....thats a load of rubbish....preston are not a wholesale company as its only there own brand they sell (preston and korum) plus they do not do free delivery unless spending over £200 at trade ex vat. But, they are a good company as a lot of there stuff is good quality for the money with normal margins.

Carpwife....once you get accounts it should be straight forward to get trade price list and see the rep fairly quickly.

 

[Pap_sak]

Dave - no, although I have only had the shop for just over 2 years and that model is not familiar - mainly do epix and interceptor baitrunners. Fishing is a small but steady part of the shop but I do far more sports clothing and equipment.

I feel markup is very important and I am thinking of dropping a certain brand because of it, and do not stock the best selling rugby ball because of it. If I can only get 10-40% I will not stock it 70- 100% is what I look for, but on hooks which I prepack myself I will often get 200%

Carp fishing though seems a lot more specialized over there - would be impossible to have just a carp shop over here.

(although we are the current world champions )

 

[dave1928]

Margins is important but there are certain products that have low margins that a customer wants to buy and if you dont stock they will buy that product else were. Its a bit different with a rugby ball as i would imagine there not a great deal different with different brands.
Lets use your intercepter as an example....i used to sell that for £30 and make a good margin, but i also stock daiwa regal which sells for £30 with a lower margin. But because daiwa is a better brand there are people who want daiwa regal wether they buy from you or not.
I would obviously prefer t sell the intercepters, but due to demand i sell more daiwa regals.
If he wants a succesfull all round shop then you need to stock the brand leaders, but at same time stock the other brands were margin is better as some customers arent bothered about brand.

Due to fishing trade being very brand orientated, im finding it hard to get a good website beacuse of all the different good brands anglers want.
This is one reason im having a go at a online pet store becasue most people just want good pet accessories and dont have a particular brand in mind. A dog owner wants a dog collar, most dont care what make it is, where as a angler wants a rod, most want a certain brand in a lot o cases.



By the way, packing your own hooks??? not over here!!!

 

[Pap_sak]

yup, I do see where you are coming from, you cannot just have the smaller, better margin brands - the big guys are where the volumes are. Back to the rugby balls, ball A cost 90 but sell for 100, ball B costs 50 and also sells for 100. If I stock ball A and B, 99% of customers will take ball A. By only stocking ball B I do lose some sales without a doubt - but 70% of guys looking for ball A will walk out with ball B.

Packing hooks are a great thing for margins - by boxes of 1000 and pack into packets of 10.

 

[dave1928]

Stocking the cheaper cost rugby ball is obviously the best option for your business especially with trade price differ so much. If ball B sells so well at 100 why not also stock ball A but charge a little more...then you get best of both worlds unless of coarse you start selling loads of ball A lol.

In the fishing game here i just think to have any good shop status you need to be sellin brands but where yu can (as with your rugby balls) sell others with better margins.

We have tried baggin our own but again, anglers like certain branded hooks like mustad etc. Even when you buy actuall mustad hooks they still dont like it.. Its almost as if they think im coning them lol.. Dont bother anymore. Used to do beads and swivels and bait.

I always like to sell a branded option and a cheaper option and most the time i make more money on the cheaper option.

One other major factor thats applies to all trades...is packaging sells...we all throw it away but at same time it gets us buying products. I notice this on most products and especially bait....clear bag of pellets with a small label on never sells well...when have same product in nice printed bag and more money alwasy sells!!!

 

[MaverickJGR]

Could anyone tell me how many people go to france carp fishing every year from the UK. I am not a 'big' fisherman although I go occasionally but I have thought that a 'category killer' type tackle shop just of the motorway in kent before the tunnels and the ferries could be a good business, get everyone to stop off on the way. I guess fishermen might like to get used to new tackle beforehand though rather than taking new equipment.

 

[dave1928]

Nice idea but i wouldnt expect much business out out it really. Most anglers will want to know they got the stuff they need rather than risk buying it on the way. Not sure how many go over to france but would imagine you would end up with only a few customers as you would only get a small percentage using you.

You would be best opening up a normal good tackle shop somehwere nearby and benefit a little for anglers going over. Maybe get in touch with some fisheries / holiday companies over there to see if you could advertsie or do a deal to supply bait for there customers??

 

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[Pap_sak]

Could anyone tell me how many people go to france carp fishing every year from the UK. I am not a 'big' fisherman although I go occasionally but I have thought that a 'category killer' type tackle shop just of the motorway in kent before the tunnels and the ferries could be a good business, get everyone to stop off on the way. I guess fishermen might like to get used to new tackle beforehand though rather than taking new equipment.

Yup, do not see it working. Most speciman carp anglers buy there terminal tackle months before hand. Think trainspotter types, no last minute purchases. Decent idea though.

 

[Zeal]

bah...

I started reading this thread as I'm into fishing

Got to the spam post above ^^^ then I saw the date! Over a year old. lol.