Tackle Shop Question

[WRB]

Live bait isn't an option in CA unless you are selling night crawlers or located on a lake or river where te customers do not transport live bait. Services reels and making custom rods or simple rod repairs is a good side line for a tackle store. Big part of small tackle stores is selling rod and reel with bulk line sales so you need a good line machine. As stated earlier, check out your successfull locale tackle stores.

Tom

[slonezp]

I know that most buy online, but in a lot of areas I feel like that could be because big 5, WalMart etc, don't carry specifics that some people look for.

what would draw you guys into a local shop?

A good minnow count. The only reason I hit the local shop is for bait. For emergency situations  , I have a Cabelas 10 minutes away. Otherwise I make all my purchases online. My online purchases are made because of pricing, not specifics. If you were located on the water and had a ramp, offered bait, ice, and fuel, and free coffee then I would be more inclined to stop.

[slonezp]

Interesting responses.  I think many are missing the point though.  There is no reason he cannot start a brick and mortar business and have an internet presence.  I woudl argue it is not just a want but a requirement and personally, I would focus heavily on internet presence due to the reasons all have already mentioned.

 

.

I think this is key

[Throw Back]

Live bait isn't an option in CA unless you are selling night crawlers or located on a lake or river where te customers do not transport live bait. Services reels and making custom rods or simple rod repairs is a good side line for a tackle store. Big part of small tackle stores is selling rod and reel with bulk line sales so you need a good line machine. As stated earlier, keek out you successfull locale tackle stores.

Tom

I talked t dfg. No live finfish. Crickets, worms, meals, and crawdads are all a go. And nowhere around sells more than worms

[slonezp]

_{As a former employee at a couple of difference small tackle shops, I believe that the concept of  a friendly, knowledgeable human behind the counter goes a long way.  Having an idea of what the current techniques, baits and places to go can be one thing that brings people in.  And if the advice proves successful, may just keep them coming back.  Word of month regarding an establishments reputation both good and bad is something that will affect your success.  Reasonable prices and "local Specials" have their place.    Additionally, there is a fine line between spot burning and friendly advice.  This is something you have to feel out and it might be different in different areas of the country.  Another area that should be handled carefully is being a Salesman".  Recommending gear, and baits, depending on your approach can be received as welcome advice or "a push to sell your products".}

_{Something that I've seen in many local shops that seems to be a very positive and well received idea is to hang photo's of fish that your patrons bring in.  I'd recommend making plenty of room in the shop in a place where your customers can get a good look at them, up close and personal.   And hang ANYTHING & Everything they bring in, but try to keep it current. Shots of young anglers are particularly good.  Photo's that are yellowed and faded from age may not have the same effect as shots of anglers with fish recently caught in places that any angler might go and hope to have the same results. You might consider removing and returning the pictures to the owners at the end of each season.  Just have them available to pick through when a customer comes in.   People like to see themselves and their fish up on the wall.  I often would use these pictures in my "sales Pitch" to anglers when recommending, baits and tackle and even mentioning where, when and how the fish were caught.}  

_{Shots of you and your friends with fish you've landed from local places the people will recognize may be a good way to get the program started.}

 

_{Hope this helps.}

 

_A-Jay

I think this is sound advice. The only other thing I could add is don't take advantage of your customers lack of knowledge for your monetary gain. Be honest. I've traveled quite a lot to fish around the southeast.at different "premier" bass lakes. I have gotten honest advice from shops and advice I know was BS to try and push stuff.

 

We had a local bait shop that was around for many many years. The owner had lost his legs from diabetes and was fishing vicariously thru his customers. Made everyone feel like they were his best fishing buddy. He gave honest advice and had real good minnow counts. He really catered to the ice fishermen, and guys would hang out and bs when hard water fishing was slow. His shop burned down and with some unsolicited assistance from his customers he was able to rebuild. Unfortunately he passed away last year from the diabetes. I don't know whether or not, his shop was profitable. I do know that all the seasoned fishermen in the area knew him.

[WRB]

I talked t dfg. No live finfish. Crickets, worms, meals, and crawdads are all a go. And nowhere around sells more than worms

We can’t fish with crawdads in SoCal, due to the Quagga mussel issue, those sales are gone.

PS; it's the DFW (wildlife) now, they dropped the dirty word "game", not politically correct.

I don't know how far you are from the delta, you may have the foothill lakes, rivers and streams along hwy 49.

Good luck!

Tom

[ccummins]

From personal experience I know that it is a very rough time for small businesses.  We are not fishing related and our numbers are down almost 80% from 2008.  We have had to cut overhead as much as possible and work harder and smarter to keep the doors open.  Wishing you all the luck in the world.

 

[Throw Back]

We can’t fish with crawdads in SoCal, due to the Quagga mussel issue, those sales are gone.

PS; it's the DFW (wildlife) now, they dropped the dirty word "game", not politically correct.

I don't know how far you are from the delta, you may have the foothill lakes, rivers and streams along hwy 49.

Good luck!

Tom

I'm an hour or so from the delta off of 49. And I know about the switch, I'm a hunter ed instructor and we covered it thoroughly at our conference, I just didn't wanna confuse anyone. But in the northern regions crawdads still ok

[Throw Back]

Still open to ideas from customers. What's important or a perk for you? Is price most important? Even if it means Chinese knock offs. Do you want to see more made in America products? major companies or local? What kind of service other than fishing reports? Rod repair and reel cleaning? Chips and beer handy? Boat storage? Maybe a kids day every month?

[SirSnookalot]

This is basic real estate 101, location......location ......location, meaning there has to be a lot of fishermen in the area and the location is easy to find.  

From a business standpoint I can't think 1 reason to open a small scale tackle shop, except having passion over ride common sense.  Between the start up capital investment, the on going business expenses and personal living expenses is a ton of stress.  Every business has it's ups and downs, but the thought of waiting 3 years to become profitable kills that idea from the git go for me.  The internet is great tool but for a small tackle shop I'd say don't count on too much on line ordering, a web site to point out location and directions is fine.

 

I'll forego my own business resume except to say in 40 years I've always owned one and it wasn't easy.  From a personal standpoint I much prefer a business where I can solicit as opposed to waiting for people to walk thru my door.

 

Interesting side bar that I was not aware of.  Watching the History channel yesterday Modern Marvels was focusing on the mobile food catering business.  I always knew about the blue collar lunch trucks at job sites, but didn't know about the gourmet and specialty foods, these trucks cost a lot of money to set up.  What I found interesting were the hot dog vendors with a cart that was fairly inexpensive and making upwards of a 100k a year.  I see them in Florida and it appears they are working their own hours and I always see people stopping to buy a dog.

[A-Jay]

This is basic real estate 101, location......location ......location, meaning there has to be a lot of fishermen in the area and the location is easy to find.  

From a business standpoint I can't think 1 reason to open a small scale tackle shop, except having passion over ride common sense.  Between the start up capital investment, the on going business expenses and personal living expenses is a ton of stress.  Every business has it's ups and downs, but the thought of waiting 3 years to become profitable kills that idea from the git go for me.  The internet is great tool but for a small tackle shop I'd say don't count on too much on line ordering, a web site to point out location and directions is fine.

 

I'll forego my own business resume except to say in 40 years I've always owned one and it wasn't easy.  From a personal standpoint I much prefer a business where I can solicit as opposed to waiting for people to walk thru my door.

 

Interesting side bar that I was not aware of.  Watching the History channel yesterday Modern Marvels was focusing on the mobile food catering business.  I always knew about the blue collar lunch trucks at job sites, but didn't know about the gourmet and specialty foods, these trucks cost a lot of money to set up.  What I found interesting were the hot dog vendors with a cart that was fairly inexpensive and making upwards of a 100k a year.  I see them in Florida and it appears they are working their own hours and I always see people stopping to buy a dog. 

 

So opening a small tackle shop lacks common sense but selling wieners on the street is a solid investment.

 

Interesting.  Perhaps one could combine the two. 

 

Locate at the local lakes for lunch selling an assortment of finger foods and soft plastics.

 

He could call it Dogs & Hawgs.

 

A-Jay

[SirSnookalot]

So opening a small tackle shop lacks common sense but selling wieners on the street is a solid investment.

 

From a ROI standpoint, length of time to become profitable, not locked in to lease contract, cash business, less overhead, no employees, hours and available for both the morning and evening bite.............YES !

 

Not suggesting the OP do this, but down here in FLA a good looking babe in a bikini has them lined down the street to buy her dogs, and that's fact.

[J Francho]

So opening a small tackle shop lacks common sense but selling wieners on the street is a solid investment.

 

LOL, my grandfather is a self made millionaire.  Started out with a hot dog cart. Has four successful restaurants now.  He'll tell you he was just "lucky" though.

[Throw Back]

I was thinking it would have to be a convenience store as well. While people are on their way out they can grab chips, beer, and a sandwich. A scoop of ice cream on the hot days and cocoa and coffee on the cold

[Throw Back]

Another thought I had is there can be some real benefits being off the water. In town I could potentially bring more customers in for Christmas specials and winter sales. Times when they won't be out on the lake, but still might wanna stock up

[curtis9]

Price is certainly important.  You need to have good prices on good gear.  I've been in local shops that sell standard brands (Abu, Shimano, Loomis, Croix, etc) but they want more for it than the box stores on online stores.  I like to support the local shops, but I'm not going to pay lot more to buy from the local shop.

 

One neat thing from a local shop.  He sponsored the local tournaments and setup a trailer during registration selling the hot baits for that body of water.  Almost everyone in the tournament bought tackle from him before blast off. 

 

Still open to ideas from customers. What's important or a perk for you? Is price most important? Even if it means Chinese knock offs. Do you want to see more made in America products? major companies or local? What kind of service other than fishing reports? Rod repair and reel cleaning? Chips and beer handy? Boat storage? Maybe a kids day every month?

[camovan]

Dawgs and Hawgs has the potential to be 20x more profitable than the brick and mortar. I would set aside some serious time to think that concept or similar bait truck idea out if I were you. Lower start up, higher margin and you go to the customer instead of waiting for them. Plus you could do it on the weekends and not quit the 9-5 until you were ready.

[Throw Back]

Price is certainly important.  You need to have good prices on good gear.  I've been in local shops that sell standard brands (Abu, Shimano, Loomis, Croix, etc) but they want more for it than the box stores on online stores.  I like to support the local shops, but I'm not going to pay lot more to buy from the local shop.

 

One neat thing from a local shop.  He sponsored the local tournaments and setup a trailer during registration selling the hot baits for that body of water.  Almost everyone in the tournament bought tackle from him before blast off.

Price is certainly important.  You need to have good prices on good gear.  I've been in local shops that sell standard brands (Abu, Shimano, Loomis, Croix, etc) but they want more for it than the box stores on online stores.  I like to support the local shops, but I'm not going to pay lot more to buy from the local shop.

 

One neat thing from a local shop.  He sponsored the local tournaments and setup a trailer during registration selling the hot baits for that body of water.  Almost everyone in the tournament bought tackle from him before blast off.

I like the trailer idea. Definatley will look into it

[WRB]

Most lakes in CA are operated by private concessionaire that have the rights to all retails sales at that lake.

If the lake is operated by the US Forest Service, they collect fees for entry and parking and may also have a concessionaire lease.

Food service is another regulated business, plus a license to sell alcohol beverages. Not saying this isn't a good plan, however the tackle business becomes secondary to operating a food services.

At Lake Castaic there is a family owned market/gasoline service station that sells tackle, makes lunches, hot and cold sandwiches, soft drinks and beer or wine. This works because the location has room to park tow vehicle with boat trailers and is located just off interstate 5. It also takes 5 employees during peak hours!

You need to decide what business to focus on unless you have the resources to be multifaceted. Catering to a small core of local anglers is common with small tackle stores, however this doesn't pay the bills. To attract new clientele that purchase enough tackle from you to make a profit takes a lot of work, local advertising, special seminars to earn community support. I wish you good luck.

Tom

[Throw Back]

Most lakes in CA are operated by private concessionaire that have the rights to all retails sales at that lake.

If the lake is operated by the US Forest Service, they collect fees for entry and parking and may also have a concessionaire lease.

Food service is another regulated business, plus a license to sell alcohol beverages. Not saying this isn't a good plan, however the tackle business becomes secondary to operating a food services.

At Lake Castaic there is a family owned market/gasoline service station that sells tackle, makes lunches, hot and cold sandwiches, soft drinks and beer or wine. This works because the location has room to park tow vehicle with boat trailers and is located just off interstate 5. It also takes 5 employees during peak hours!

You need to decide what business to focus on unless you have the resources to be multifaceted. Catering to a small core of local anglers is common with small tackle stores, however this doesn't pay the bills. To attract new clientele that purchase enough tackle from you to make a profit takes a lot of work, local advertising, special seminars to earn community support. I wish you good luck.

Tom

 

 

I do know about the regs regarding food, as well as beer/wine.  I have work in the food industry for three years now, so I know it fairly well.

 

I know it begins to draw away from the tackle, but I dont see any other way.  An average lure will bring the store owner $5.  Thats a lot of lures just to reach store rent let alone for your house, and worms, if you do it yourself, are looking at 75 cents.  Again, a lot of worms.  I would imagine I would have to be a one stop shop,  grab your tackle, bait, a sandwich and a case of beer.  Beer and chips are going to bring people in, instead of just hitting the grocery store and dealing with the lesser tackle options for the sake of convienence. 

 

I figure a few snacks, beer, soda, sandwiches, maybe soup in the winter, icecream in the summer, hot coffee year round.  Maybe, if space allowed a bar or a few tables to sit and swap fish tales.

[Salamander12]

The Internet (TW) has made small tackle business difficult. Your area had Delta Tackle, now out of business and has The Hook Line And Sinker in Oakley, difinately go vist them.

Tom

Hook line and sinker is closing. They have a huge sale going on right now.

[Throw Back]

Hook line and sinker is closing. They have a huge sale going on right now.

 

 

Well that is a bummer for sure.

 

I do thank you guys for the input.  ANy other suggestions are welcom,  but I think I am developing a plan that will be banked for later.

[Salamander12]

Well that is a bummer for sure.

 

I do thank you guys for the input.  ANy other suggestions are welcom,  but I think I am developing a plan that will be banked for later.

They're not going out of business theyre just closing the store.

[jignfule]

This has made me think "why don't I do more business with my local tackle shop?" First of all,I gave the guy a chance. I would go out of my way to support the guy even though his prices were higher. I bought my first Chronach from him. I came to find out that I couldn't trust him or the people he hired. The guy is more interested in reducing unwanted inventory then he is in setting you up with the right gear. I've caught him in many lies just to try to make a sale of stuff he had on hand. He once told me that BPS didn't make a longer cranking rod(when it was obvious they did.) oddly enough he had a shorter one on his rack.

Bottom line I think we all want to do business with someone we like and can trust and even if his stuffs a little more we are willing to help him out, in exchange for honesty and customer service. If you decide to open a shop, keep that in mind.

[Big Fish Rice]

After working retail in a fishing department, knowledge and bait selection are both key in brick and mortar locations. Grabbing the "tournament" crowd makes a significant impact. Like others have said, there also has to be an internet push simply because it's just the way of the world these days. You can reach far more customers in-store and online together. Web, hosting, commerce applications, all these need to be budgeted for.

The margin on lures and equipment (knowing what these numbers are) means you can beat the big box stores if you're willing to reduce your overall revenue. Of course, these margins are severely dependent on your overhead costs. Everything from the rent/lease to electricity to traditional operating costs can start to eat away any potential revenue in the first three years.

A simple analysis can tell you whether or not the business has a long-term benefit. If you can grab a share of the spending power from anglers in your area, growing that network of customers (and the referrals they bring) can make all the difference in the world. Expect long hours - the key is being open when the shoppers need to shop. By this I mean the hours of 5pm-8pm on weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday.

Lastly, as my own piece of advice, I would make sure you have a very strong relationship with your distributors/vendors, especially when it comes to returning equipment. A dissatisfied customer brings gear back only to learn that you're not willing to help with a defective lure, reel or rod - and he/she is gone for life. Trust plays a large part in becoming a mainstay.