Opening a Bait & Tackle/Hunting Supply Business

Anyone here on Tman have any experience with starting a store front business of this type? Advice?

One of my sons is in the process a buying a property with main highway frontage in the small community here. He wants Dad to open and run the business in a few months after I retire.

There is not another business of this type within 25 miles. Plans are to put in a deer cooler too as there is not one for 100 miles or more....and this is deer and bear hound-hunting country. May setup mail order trapping supplies too...

good luck!

Seems like a deer cooler would be very important in south GA temps. Will you process them too or only hang for a fee?

No processing plans for now. Will take up too much time. Would do skin and gut and quarter for a fee, un addition to daily hanging fee.

There is a large need for this service in this area. Lots of out of state hunters here that don't t have a clue.

I know from experience your outdoor time will disappear.

I'd think long and hard about trying to sell trapping supplies in this market...

That concerns me...

Michelle will cover for you while you’re in a tree or chasing gobblers!

Have you spoken with any trapping supply dealers since Covid started? I know for a fact that busines has been thru the roof. One well known dealer had to stop advertising sales on Amazon amd Ebay because he and his several employees could not keep up with the daily orders and shipment packaging. He had to go with only filling website orders.

That's part of the plan...lol

All the ducks should be lined up first before this starts.
Bait collectors in your area ? to supply you
Back up power to run if power goes out = dead fish bait and coolers thawing etc

and Vegas Jim drove home a good point.

I retire in about 16 months. We have a while to plan exactly what we intend to do. There wont be any overhead for the building as it will be paid for....so were ahead of the game there.

Im gonna start researching bait dealers. Good info about fail safes such as generator power!

It is a tough time to get into this type of business, it is very difficult to get merchandise to sell right now. Things that normally are shipped next day are backordered for months. Now by the time you get around to opening the situation may have improved. As of right now most distributors are not taking on new customers because they can't get enough inventory to supply their long term customers. Not trying to be a downer but just wanted to bring it up. It is not just guns and ammo either but fishing tackle, archery equipment and general outdoor gear. Who knows how long it will take the supply chain to catch up with the backorders?

Didnt consider this^^^
We have some time. The building needs some work. Maybe, if we decide to jump into this, things will be somewhat normalized by the time we need inventory.

Yep EVERYTHING is made in China so trying to stock shelves would be interesting. Like ANY type store your basically married to it, my mom ran a small store for about 2 years and finally had enough and sold it, it starts to grind day after day plus dealing with the public, well you already know how much fun that is, lol.

Im not sure that our local bait shop got any trucks in last year, if so they were very limited. I interviewed the owner years ago for a business class and one of his biggest issues was that because he was just one small store, he wasnt big enough to order enough supplies to get wholesale rates for inventory. He had to join a pooling group so they could get the wholesale rate. Thats on the fishing side. Im not sure what its like on the trapping side. Talked to his daughter who is running things more or less now a while back as she wanted to add trapping supplies at a bigger level and she was shocked at the prices I could get at NTA conventions on Duke traps vs what they could get through the pooling group.

For sure. Ive thought a lot the past few days if I really want to do this. As we inch forward with this and learn more about what we may getting into I may back up...

My son can flip this property and make a few grand. I tried to buy in half and he wouldnt let me...lol

Hmmm...im gonna need to do some research. Thanks for the info.

Better Sell dry ice to the out of States

I Sold Sporting Goods for 19 yrs. Tough environment now in the USA storefront wise.

Most people who hang deer for other people, require the animal to be skinned and gutted. Not sure if there is a sanitation requirement or not. I have seen both.

Make certain your cooler has plenty of air movement and put a pan under each animal.

Require animals to be removed within 21 days or less.

Make certain your cooler drains to the doorway for easy cleaning.

Those generators should be big-katush size, like diesel welder types with 72 hour fuel supply. Double of what you need in power all the equipment. So the running load does not be effected. Have the electrician put in a "at source" plug in at your connecting point.
Processing plant need government rubber stamped approval ? 12 month lee-way....
Biggest problem up here is drop offs, paid then never show up and leave the area....hey buddy want 300 processed geese !

Buddy who ran a tackle shop approached some of the dealer salesmen and was able to get old re-jects lures last years models from them at 10% on the dollar. A good saleman always sell two or three of the same, cause if or when you loose that one they are biting on, you have a back-up. One for 4.50 two for 8 or three for 10$.
Have a wall for "the trophy" works great for kids because they come back with their friends for bragging rights for that fish. Make sure that special lure is displayed in the picture.
After a year his sales went up 1000% and the big boys were saying he had the kids on drugs to get sales like that. Finely they blocked those sales to him.

... start you up a meth lab Swamp... it’d be more profitable and you could idle it during hunting and trapping season lol

So you would be one of those grumpy ol men who hangs around a bait shop or fur buyers shop?

When I was young I learned Stop of a lot from those gumpy ol men

Make sure you have a room in back where the good old boys can get together to bs and have a few cold ones.
That way you'll have plenty of help.

Does your boy realize you're a game warden and everyone who hunts, traps, or fishes hates you?

Had an archery shop for awhile back in the 90's

You'll need racks , shelving, glass display cases , counters , signage ,cabinets , decor , security system , credit card equipment , computer.... bla bla bla $$$$$

Anything less than 100 grand in inventory will make you look like a broke joke

You'll need a physical store front with a sign or an operating www store before most suppliers will consider you real


Maybe just go fishing

Long hours and everyone will be fishing but you maybe I’d give it some thought it a big commitment.

Don't forget a small deli counter stocked with hoop cheese, souse, crackers, sardines, moon pies, rc, rag bologna. That lunch crowd gets hungry.

knew a woman that ran a bait shop and sold supplies to the rest in the area. She would do a monthly run to Canada to bring back worms to resell. Be ready to be up by and have the shop open by 5 AM EVERY day. No days off in the bait business like farming livestock or milking cows. Most likely will take several years to build up a customer base.

There is a baitshop a few miles from us on a state highway beside Lake Enid. It has changed hands at least 3 times in the last 6 years. Hard to compete with all the gas stations around selling bait and tackle. Insurance for the hanging meat might be pretty pricey as well.

Seek out suppliers that manage their own inventory vs you purchasing all of it and managing it yourself.

I had fly fishing stores for twenty years and a fly fishing/hunting shop for 8.

I agree with most above thoughts. Sizeable investment for fixtures and inventory, lots of hours, employees are not cheap and often steal.

We were lucky in our business because the best brands did not allow discounting and margins were much higher than general tackle or hunting stuff. Almost everything in our stores was at a 50% margin. You'll never see that in conventional tackle or hunting. Once the internet and Amazon came along it was pretty much finished unless you had a guide service. For young people, service and knowledge didn't matter much... only price... and nobody can match the width of selection they find on the internet.

You might talk to a rep from one of the big distributors in your area. I bought alot from Acusport, but remember Zander's in Illinois and some big ones in your part of the country. Most good reps will be honest about supply and realities of the business.

I wish you luck, but your hunting and fishing time will change.

Pete

I am aware.

are you aware that people are going back to work?

People only hate me on Tman. Down here the word "respect" is used more.

We have several unattended 24hr bait shops and stations in Wisconsin, there's an obvious risk based on your demographic but every owner I talked to says that people are appreciative and honest. I just fished with the owner of one and he said most people round up and he hasn't had any issues after 10 years or operation, I always throw in a couple extra bucks for the people that are aggressive minnow scoopers. Not sure what type of bait your selling but this could help augment your hours on having a self-serve strategy in addition to your full-service. Pretty easy to have a dorm fridge and bait wells accessible from outside the building, usually there 's a steel plate with a slot, money drops into the building, a security camera (probably a prop) and a price list clearly posted.

I sure wouldn’t be skinning for them.I’ve owned a few game processing business over the years one when I was fresh out of the army in Shreveport ,la. Nothing like having them drop half gutted deer at 5 pm and looking at a pile of 20 to skin and hose down after the drop off rush.I was processing here in wa for about 5 years after I bought my house ,the best way to get most deer picked up is require a 100.00 deposit and subtract the daily charges.No matter what tell them if they don’t pick up you’ll have no choice but to call the game warden and turn them in for wasting wildlife .I made all my storage customers sign a declaration that all deer could only be stored 10 days,If you go longer than that you will run into some deer that will be starting to taint as they were probably shot early and were in the heat all day.Oh and hunting and trapping will be done for you ,when you got game hanging even a day off requires checking those coolers every 4 hours and it’s not if the refrigeration is going to break down it’s when and it most certainly will .

Id order from ya ifit was ata good price

Set it up in an old RV and you can cook right through the seasons. Maybe film a Netflix series at the same time.

The best side gigs in retirement is to be able to work when you want and for who you want. Who you want is especially important if you're retiring from law enforcement after spending a career not having a choice in who you deal with many not appreciating your service. Good luck if you go for it Swampy but I wouldn't want the commitment. Every morning I ask myself, "should I work or should I play today". It's nice to have the option especially if you've set yourself up so that there's not much difference between the two. That's my retirement philosophy anyway, for what it's worth.

Oh, now don't feel bad, I'm sure plenty of them down there hate you too. lol

Apply for a US FWS Customs officer and get a Canadian airport as your base, then you can hunt and trap in Canada, know several that do that.
But with nobody flying they are boarded looking down the ice holes and pulling up 32 inch walleye, waiting for the phone to ring.

Congrats.Good luck to him.

There are a few, but the feelings are mutual....and we both know it.

There are two occupations that I wouldn't do.
Be a game warden.
Run an outdoorsman store.

Both require you to be where you don't want to be during the season you want to be participating in.

I owned a bait and tackle business for a while. Well actually...it owned me! If you're gonna be successful in the bait and tackle business plan on being there at least 12 hours a day 7 days a week.

As a game warden, I go exactly where I want to go when I want go there.

If I decide to prop up this store I will call the shots at my own pace as it will be on my retirement time.....no body else's.

Not sure what your occupation is but I will guarantee you that I spent more days and nights outdoors than you did in the past 12 months.

Most likely spent more time in a treestand than most in 2020....

Peace out!

All great points have been made. I reckon similar things were said to Larry Potterfield, the Cabelas bros., Keith Winkler... Life speeds on the bold and favors the brave. Go down swinging

I like that^^^^

My parents owned an outfitting business in Minnesota years ago. The outfitting supplied the majority of the income, but they also had the store front. If you can get in good with any local outfitters/guides, that definitely helps. I know from my own work, focusing on "need it now" necessities over "might get it later" wants definitely helps businesses.

If I'm looking at a $150 electronic call, I'm going to shop around for the best price. If I am fishing and my ratchet strap breaks, I'll pay three times over market value. Conceal Carry courses may be worth looking in to. My LGS has one every Sunday, makes about $600 from one day of work, and floats off that for the rest of the week. Not bad for a one man shop. Consignment is always a good way to get product for cheap. Where I work now, we do FFL transfers for $25. I offered to consign some guns for 10% to the owner, was told no because they didn't want the extra work. It's the exact same amount of work doing a firearm transfer vs. consignment. Not sure if you were looking at getting an FFL, but there is always money to be made with it, the price isn't that bad, and it opens ya up to a ton of extra income. With that you can have a gunsmith doing his own work on a 1099 in your shop.

With Cabelas becoming a clothing shop, it's always nice seeing more local stores and I wish you the best!

Good luck with the new business!

At a time when we all could use a good sporting good store in our neighborhoods,and get away from internet business,nobody seems to have any thing good to say about opening one.

Let me know when you open.

I think that unfortunately, ADC has a semi valid point. There are probably a fair number of shady people, who don't like you. I think some other people would avoid buying hunting, fishing and trapping supplies from an ex, high ranking, game warden just because they fear that they will be scrutinized heavily, even though they don't plan on doing anything illegal. They may fear that they'll say something that could lead to an investigation or get them in trouble. Most people, even good ones, are uncomfortable around law enforcement and ex law enforcement.

Keith

Buck (Zandra).... the only reasons I gave to think twice about the venture came from personal experience. On hunting forums there are always the guys who talk about supporting the local guy. In fact they support the local guy when he has his annual duck calling contest with all of his stuff on sale and shells at about wholesale. In my experience, the guys who REALLY support small hunting/fishing business have never even been on a forum. They appreciate the human contact, experience and service. They know they didn't get the cheapest price but they don't care.

As for the Cabela brothers, they started incredibly small and turned the dirt every day, just like I did. When you start a small retail business, you go to work every day and you feel it. No 5 year plan or business forecasts, just a gut feel for demand and your customers.

Just my opinion. But I hate when guys talk about supporting the local guy then talk about the great price they got from somebody else on the internet.

A very successful homebuilder I knew would tell his customers that there were three things... great product, low price and good service..... then he would tell them that they could have two of the three.

Pete

I only see a tag on one of those deer!!!

Lol......if I had to depend on Tman members for my business I'd say about 80% of yall are more paranoid than a meth head when it comes to game wardens.

Shhh! Dont tell anyone or Ga may change the law and make us start tagging them again. That green tag was put on at a WMA check station by DNR game mgmt staff. That buck is a public land buck.

I was semi-joking but I agree. I'd be tight lipped, buy my bait and leave, nothing to see here.

All joking aside, SW, no matter what you hear, remember it's NOT in your best interest to go along with every fiber of your being and rat on them. Word travels very fast these days, if you are found to be a snitch, it'll hurt the business, maybe really bad. We had a fur buyer with a big mouth years ago, it took a couple years but people found out. We have another fur buyer who could likely get half his customers arrested. lol Kids shining a few coons, an occasional deer out of our huge herds for fresh venison meals, a couple over the limit on panfish... really ain't worth losing the business over.

Nice public land buck! Heck, a nice buck anywhere...

Business may not be good with the outlaws, because I refuse to put money ahead of ethics and sportsmanship. Not concerned about a kids shining/shooting a few coons, but a grown man ought to follow the rules. I do.

If I follow thru with this business.....the honest law-abiding folks are welcome. The poachers can shop elsewhere if theyre concerned about dealing with me & what I've spent my entire life promoting. The language filter on Tman wont let me say what I want to type right now...

I got lucky on that buck. Took 3 seasons to get selected to hunt that area....30 hunters on 2500 acres. 1st afternoon of 4 day hunt and he comes walking up river bottom at 4pm. 75 yd rifle shot.

what would Savell say? lol

A girl I went to high school with said her folks rural storefront business made most of the profits selling ice in the summer. That may have changed with better coolers now.

Not only your outdoor time but all your time will be tied up. 10hr days 6 days a week.

Its a cool job but you’ll need lots of money to open a good store that will survive and lots of time.

Those are some good looking SEGA deer.
And I’ll go on record and state I will order from you if you have a website and ship. Figure you’ll carry what’s worked for you in our State. If it works over there it just might work over here.

Ps ... how many bucks can you guys kill in a season?

Thanks WB. The trapping supply aspect is not a priority. The deer and bear cooler would be the big deal here Sept thru mid-January. B&T would do pretty good as no other close by and located between the Alapaha, the Suwannee, the Okefenokee Swamp, and the bass mecca of the north Florida phosphate lakes.

One of those bucks is Missouri archery kill.

The one with green tag is River Creek WMA closer to your neck of the woods....qouta check-in hunt.

Others are from here near FL line on Alapaha River.

Ga season buck limit is 2....one of which must have 4 points on one side.

If you are selected for a quota check-in hunt on select state WMAs then any deer taken is tagged by the state as bonus deer.

Its a tough racket

Haha! You spent some points for that deer!!
Had a buddy get rejected with 8 points for their turkey hunt. My son got drawn for a youth hunt one year and we had a bird on the ground by 0930. It was one of those, what bird do we got after, lol. Their youth duck and dove hunts are beyond great!

Would have to compete with Dollar General that is directly across the highway....lol. Could sell bulk ice by 5-gal bucket.

Useless to stock anything that the DG has...

Very True

Sell what others don't

Took 3 points. I had 4, so 2 more years and Ill go back there. Pretty place. Im up to 6 or 7 points for the turkey hunt..only 5 are picked annually. Seen a lot of turkey sign there back in December.

The youth duck ponds were planted in corn this past year and flooded. Ringnecks all over em back in December.

I believe he'd come in, sit down with a Pepsi, put roasted peanuts in the Pepsi, take a sip, chew up the peanuts, and tell me all those Tman members that dont like GWs are woosies.

Started putting CJ in for points the day we officially adopted him. By the time he’s ready and can shoot he’ll have the pick of what he wants. Some of my best public land hunt memories with my two oldest are on that place.

Swamp.... this one over here is shut down... you ought to open it up ... the beyond could be the high octane stuff lol

What happened? Not enuf thirsty migrants passing thru there?

... those types tend to stay near freeways and cities... how do y’all’s Cubans use travel corridors and hubs over there?

No Cubans here. Several thousand Hispanic migrant workers, though..

Produce farmers bring em here..

Meant no disrespect SwampWolf. I just always thought it best to be checked once in a while while hunting/fishing/trapping, then be the checker (working) and not be hunting/fishing/trapping.
And an old timer nearby runs a tackle shop, he hasn't been fishing in years (to be honest, not sure he did a lot of it anyway).

Me, I have two jobs. Wildlife Control full time and work every weekend for the CT/DDS. Wildlife slows way down during hunting season and I've avg'd 125 hours in a deer stand over the last 3 years, 160 in 2019.
No time to fish anymore, too busy with wildlife control. Stopped fur trapping about 5 seasons ago. Still like it (I come on this site daily), just not motivated anymore.
I have to figure out how to do one of those collages. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Wow!! Monster Bucks!!!!!!!!!

A little late to the party but here's my experience,
I provided bait to 6 shops for awhile. None of the owners ever fished or hunted again after opening.. paid employees were rare, mostly cause they stole, Family help was also rare, too many hours at too low of pay.
Customers would show up for live bait, but most bought their equipment from Walmart or the Internet, then brag about how much they saved..to you.
Most of the owners became grumpy old men, lol

The deer cooler idea sounds like it could pay, especially if you have set hours for drop off and pickup, with no processing.

I'd sleep real hard on it before making a decision. YMMV Good luck with whatever you decide

[/quote]
Business may not be good with the outlaws, because I refuse to put money ahead of ethics and sportsmanship. Not concerned about a kids shining/shooting a few coons, but a grown man ought to follow the rules. I do.

If I follow thru with this business.....the honest law-abiding folks are welcome. The poachers can shop elsewhere if theyre concerned about dealing with me & what I've spent my entire life promoting. The language filter on Tman wont let me say what I want to type right now...[/quote]


SW, I like those principles and would buy from you. the store i see you opening is one i have driven miles to shop at in ND, SD, KS etc. Where personal service is the most common good on the shelf. But then again I am pretty much law n order driven, regardless of whether that is game and fish related or otherwise. The thing that would worry me is the relatively small margins on sporting equipment. Friends in the business tell me that's why the big stores eventually become clothing stores. Good luck to you, and congrats on what I assume has been a fine career.

Thankyou Ringneck1!
If you're ever passing thru the deep south...look me up.

You know it SW! One of these springs you will get a pm from me looking for some local fishing info.

Best regards

I know from your posts on here that you know hunt,fish,trap in and out.and honest..It would be a breath of fresh air in the outdoor sporting good business today.I wish you well Swampwolf in any of your endeavors..

Thank you marathonman!!!

This b&t/deer cooler/supply store idea is one of a few ideas that I could make happen after retirement in a year and a half.....thanks to 2 of my sons...one son is buying the building and another wants to provide 10 grand to stock it.

One other idea is to begin advertising my beaver/predator control business acoss south GA and north FL. I don't even advertise now and have times thruout the year when I cant get to all the jobs (esp. beaver work) while working full time in my real job.

I'll likely end up doing both...if my bride will help me.....

Sell beer, lottery tickets and cigarettes. With those three bringing in money you can dabble in the sporting goods. Set it up to be a convenient store/sporting goods. Sell quick buy food.

Get some strippers in too.
As a stimulus for buisness.

"Get some strippers in too."

Lol, I used to suggest one of my shops to hire a few good looking barmaids to handle the morning rush, You'd of had to get the cops there to handle the traffic...

There was a deer processing place here that had girls doing the skinning at one time. There was a line waiting to pull into that place, lol.

As a teen I worked my way through high school working at a hunting and fishing store in small town Ontario. We had bar stools at our gun/reel repair counter for the ol' timers to come in for coffee. The owner had a barber chair installed and invited a local young lady starting out as a hair cutter to get her start. It was a great idea and a win/win. Not as fun as strippers might have been but probably more practical.

Back in the late 80's then again 2-3 years ago I wanted to open what your talking about. First one was right on the Miss. river at the state line. Second one was in Southern Il. on a large lake with lots of camping and fishing. Either site should have been good to go. here is what I found.

It will take at least 250 grand to open. With the displays, stock, equipment, hired help and advertising. Now with that said I was going for a "one stop get all" type place. Fuel, food, tackle, camping supplies, hunting supplies, bait....etc etc etc.

Second was the time it will consume. Ya have to be there to watch over and run things from the start. IMO not a good retirement gig.

One of my ideas was to only stock American made equipment and advertise it hard. LOL You can stock on 1-2 shelves what you can buy American made. There is very little tackle made here anymore. That goes for camping equipment also.

I would love to have such a place, been a dream all my life, but no way now, not this ole boy. I have found other ways to keep myself busy, make a buck, and work at my own pace.

Fuel can be purchased about a block away. Dollar General is directly across the street. My idea for this is not a 1/4 of a million $$ operation. The building and land is in place and will be paid for. It is about 1500 sq ft on a 1/4 acre lot right on the main highway and is one block from my residence. Not going to be a large money making deal but I think it will do OK...once cooler is up and running in the fall.

Parking can also be an issue one seldom can foresee. Only takes one Dillweed to really toss a wrench in that.

I think the cooler thing might be a good idea for where you are at. As far as the bait and tackle part my family was in the wholesale bait business for 35 years and we supplied bait to several bait shops at one time but things have changed over the years. There are very few true bait and tackle shops up here anymore. Most are now convience stores selling bait and some tackle as a sideline.
What might be a option if you want to dabble in the bait part is to put up a self serve area in your shop. A few up here do it and said most are pretty honest . I don't know if you have a well at the location or are hooked up to city water. If it's city water you will need a filtration system to remove the chlorine from the water. My advice would be start small and work into it. Good luck!