Wholesale Distributors "Coral,Fish,Inverts"

[chrisjet]

Hey everyone. My name is Chris and I am a member of Atlanta Reef Club. I am in the process of putting together a business plan to open up an LFS here in GA. I was wondering "since there are many" if you guys and gals can give me any info on distributors. I have heard there are alot in Southern Cali and by LAX. I am looking for Livestock fish,coral, iverts etc. Any help is greatly appreciated. Hopefully some of you will visit Atlanta since we are hosting Macna next Sept. Thank You all.

Chris

 

[Planet Reef]

Chris,

First things first....WELCOME TO REEF FRONTIERS!!!

I'm sure you will find it to be a wonderful place to post and ask questions.

Secondly,

I know what you are trying to do. Simply get pricing information BEFORE you spend a penny so that your business plan is accurate. Naaah....ain't gonna happen in this industry. Unfortunately, they've all been burned so many times by hobbiests that pretend to be a business that you are going to have to "bite the bullet", pay some up-front money, and do at a minimum;

A) Incorporate or become a LLC or LLP.
B) Obtain a business license for your jurisdiction.
C) Register with Georgia for Sales and Use Taxes
D) PROVE that you are actually in business via an independent source. I.e. Yellow Pages ad, ad in the paper, yada, yada, yada.

I'm not going to say much but I'm willing to give you a BIG HINT. If you obtain a wholesalers phone number and they are willing to send you pricing info without the above.......DON'T buy from them.

 

[chrisjet]

Thanks for the info. I am not trying to buy anything right now. I simply just wanna have a list of distributors so that when I do all the above i am ready to go.

 

[ecobalance]

good advice

Well said and good tip.