Fly Shop inventory
- This topic has 32 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated Dec 3, 2009 at 2:41 am by
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How many trips do you make over a period of a few weeks looking for an item that the shop is out of, before you order it online ? I like to give my boys the business but I have a breaking point.
yes, and been in the shop a few times since, always ask, always get the same answer, it should already been here. Can get on ebay and have it overnight if I want to pay the postage.
Carrying inventory is expensive and takes a lot of working capital, particularly for specialty stores like fly shops.
what zach said. i was looking for rubber tails (even posted here about it) and rich at urban angler ordered the colors and sizes i wanted.
Totally agree with Bob. If you guys really knew how much money goes into inventory at a shop, well a good shop, you guys would flip. For example we carry most styles and sizes of Tiemco hooks, I did a reorder, granted we still had a good selection and the order was right around a $1000, keep in mind that is wholesale. Now combine that with special orders for people, restocking other inventory, paying employees, bills, and etc. Thats a lot of money at a time.
But I have to agree with you David I would be getting a little upset about the situation. Our business is a service based industry. If the customer is not happy they will seek there products else where like the internet or near by shops. One thing that you might suggest to the guys is to make a special order once or a month for customers. We do this at our shop. We let everyone know that we will be making an order on a certain date and if they want anything let us know and it will get ordered. Most places like Wapsi and Hareline require a minimum order of less then $100 so its not hard to get a couple of guys together to make this possible.
By the way what are you trying to get ordered?
-Mike
Haha! An 11’3″ 2wt? I hope that was a random grab-bag example and there isn’t some kind of story behind that one. That would be a pain in EVERYONE’S ass.
But yeah, I certainly agree with supporting the local guys, but there are some things/times/situations where it’s probably best to just get something elsewhere. That line will likely be different for everyone, much like pretty much everything else in life.
Now it comes in, and your shop’s stuck holding an 11’3″ 2 weight or whatever that they can never sell to anyone else…)
I’ll take it !
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Quick question: How many (mom & pop) fly shops do you have within a 50 mile radius of your location? I’m 30 miles outside Dallas (where Tailwaters is located), and the next closest I know of … 200 miles away. Shannon
I was thinking about Shannon’s question. The nearest fly shop for me is about a four-hour drive, so I have to shop electronically. I do have a favorite, and, as I would with a local shop, I give them my business first. They have free shipping for orders over $25, always send me a personal email (not an automated one) as soon as the order ships, and the orders typically ship the morning after I place the order. When I place an order on Monday night, it is typically in my home on Wednesday. Of course I’m not constrained by geography, so it is easy to remain loyal in this situation because I was able to do some ‘shopping’ before deciding which store I would adopt as my local store.
In thinking about my distance from a fly shop, I remembered a map I had seen that was used to determine the place in the continental US that is farthest from a McDonalds:
Evidently, somewhere in South Dakota is the ‘McFarthest Spot’. Good or bad depending on your point-of-view.
I wonder where in the continental US is the place that is farthest from a ‘full-service’ fly shop?
I think your proximity to a good fly shop is going to be related to your proximity to good fishing, and, unfortunately, Texas is not known for its fly fishing (maybe unfairly).
Ha, you guys have it easy.
There’s no dedicated fly only shop in Sydney anymore.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Fly shops sell to fly fishermen, so most shops are near the fishermen. This often coincides with proximity to good fishing, but not always. Fullerton, California has an excellent full-service fly shop; Marquette, Michigan does not. If you think Fullerton is a better place to fish from than Marquette, I won’t try to convince you otherwise. “No fish here,” as they say. 😉
This brings up another thought that is probably better for a new topic thread. I’ve often wondered how an individual assesses good fishing. There are many factors that contribute to this, but two of them are the number of fish in the river and the number of fishermen in the river. Some people will accept a large number of fishermen for an increase in the number of fish; some people will accept a small number of fish for a decrease in the number of fishermen. For most people, though, I suspect it is something in between. Everyone is different, of course, so there are no right or wrong answers.
Cheers,
TimI think that is accurate, but therein lies the rub. Number one, two and three rules of retail; location, location and location. So, should we have fly shops by a scattered number of fishermen, by a prominent fishing location, or on a busy highway where everyone can see it, and maybe pique their interest by stopping to see what’s inside? Granted the Dallas-Fort Worth area is not a fly fishing hot spot, but has anyone noticed the overall demographics in that area? Huge.
ShannonTo add another dimension to Shannon’s comment about location if your shop is not located near a great destination than the next best thing is to be located near a population that has the means to travel. My area of Ohio has reasonable fishing opportunities for Steelhead , Smallmouth, etc but many of my customers are the type that take the trips to places like the Keys or the rivers in the west.
Tim also hit on a point that keeps many of us smaller guys in business. I have a growing number of customers from all over the county and in other countries and who express more appreciation for my helping them than many of the guys in my backyard.
MS
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