High Tide Aquatics

Who wants to go in on buying 360 Coralz?

does he accept bitcoin? i need to funnel all my drug money into something legit.
I first need to make some drug money... tell me how ;)

The owner wants 200k to buy the buissness.

I do not know what the debts are. I’m walking away from the deal.
If I had $200k laying around, last thing I would do is buying a failing fish store... and it is failing big time. Every time I was there on weekends it was either closed or a ghost town and only few sick fish in the tanks. At the same time there was a line around the block to get into Aquatic Collection. Now, that's a store I would invest in...
 
I can’t speak on his behalf. You will have to reach out on your own. I do not discuss private buissness on public facing mediums sorry.
 
Was chatting with the owner... he moved out of state with his family and has been going back and forth to manage store... hence, motivation for sale. just some context for anyone considering the buy :)
 
To be clear - biz has a value of 2-3x revenue, also depending on debts, etc. Without numbers it's hard to say whether $200K is good or not. I suppose if he's selling it though, it's probably not just a business, but a 'job' also. So there's that...
 
First, I know nothing about 360Coralz. Nothing about their location, revenue, lease, reputation, etc, but I have bought and sold more than a couple of businesses along the way, and franchised my own. That figure of a business valuation based on revenues alone is pretty rudimentary and in this case not applicable because of the type of business. You also need to look at inventory, value of assets, liabilities, and P/E among other factors, and then toss most of that out the window because the success of a business of this type is nearly 100% dependent on the ownership. We've seen good shops, and bad shops, and knowing that most play in the the same ballpark of vendors, MAP pricing, etc there is one key difference and that's the owner. How smart are they, how business savvy, and how good are they at retail.

I can't imagine buying an existing shop over some minimal percentage of value they have in inventory and assets. The clientele (except in a few cases like Neptune's) isn't a particularly loyal clientele. LFS's are destination oriented businesses, and their clientele aren't particularly loyal and will most often shop wherever is convenient with the best deals. Building clientele is the easiest part of this business if the owner is solid. I am certain I can always negotiate a bettrr lease than most others that are already set, and most LFS's have fairly poorly planned locations anyway simply because owners are usually underfinanced when they begin.

As noted the playing field is level in this industry which is actually a huge issue to me. MAP pricing and no exclusivity means all shops have equal opportunities, but those are mostly really, really bad opportunities. Profit margins in this business are ridiculously low, and cost of inventory is ridiculously high and soft goods are fraught with delivery issues and availability.


This damn well better be a labor of love alone for an owner, because I'm pretty sure I've never met a rich LFS shop owner. A very few make a living and do all right (most don't even do that) , but it's a long, tough road, and I can think of dozens of businesses with better investment opportunities.
 
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This damn well better be a labor of love alone for an owner, because I'm pretty sure I've never met a rich LFS shop owner. A very few make a living and do all right (most don't even do that) , but it's a long, tough road, and I can think of dozens of businesses with better investment opportunities.
I'm sure Karson and Joe make a living with Aquatic Collection - their store is easily the best saltwater store in the Bay Area and there are always plenty of customers around.
But the real and only steady money in this business is in full-service tank maintenance. If you buy a store without getting their service contracts or buy a store that doesn't have service, you're pretty much doomed unless you bring your own or can get quickly enough service contracts to pay the bills.
 
I’m open to going in on this. Of course we’d need to meet with the owners to learn more about what we’re dealing with here.
 
I'm sure. He runs an incredible business. My point was though it better be a labor of love, because unless you're the very best it's probably not an equivalent living to some other options. It's a very tough business.
depends on where you are at. I know some extremely successful LFS owners... mostly back east though.
 
Run away not walk from the coralz 360 deal. Not worth it. Don't be the sucker that gets caught with the loss.
You’ve already made your point and yes anyone considering purchase should be cautious. But without knowing more (I.e confirming debts, total overheads, revenue potential, etc), we are just providing educated speculation at best. I do agree 175k might be too steep a price, but do we know if the owner is open to negotiation? I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad deal, just a steep price. And further speculation without more direct knowledge is rather pointless.
 
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No I am trying to keep YOU from loosing money. If you want to buy it by all means I don't care.
That’s great but that’s the thing.... no one is saying a definite yes or no without knowing more. This is the exploratory process. Your speculation is welcome, but repeating it without further insight is rather pointless.
 
Let’s have a constructive discussion. Does anyone know why 360 has failed while other LFS have succeeded? Bad location? Steep prices? Lack of marketing strategy? Stiff competition amongst established competitors?
 
speculating here.... 360 is roughly 1.5 miles from Neptune Aquatics. Given that these businesses are specialized (aquarium industry), is there a particular reason that we (fish and coral afflicted populace) would choose one over the other? Inventory and live stock selection being equal, it would come down to reputational and loyalty, I would think. Is this a case that Neptune has built such a solid reputation that another business a few blocks away is just doomed? Open to thoughts, but it does seem that town is too small for two shops.
 
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