I’ve been a member here for a short period of time, and haven’t had much time to become familiar with the entire site. My girlfriend and I are considering the possibility of owning a flyshop. I would be interested in learning more about where I may be able to locate listings perhaps of people who might be postering themselves to sell their shop. Any advice would be appreciated.
What state? Missouri? If you find one, make sure you know/understand WHY it is for sale.
Also you may end up spending lots of time running the business leaving you with less time to be on the stream. Ever consider running an online shop? Lots of us do the eBay thing too.
Hi Grant,
I think that Nighthawk’s suggestion is an excellent one. Try selling some fishing stuff on the Internet to get a feel for the business. See how you like it. I’ve always been leery of jobs that involve my hobby and passion hence I’ve never been tempted by jobs like professional fly tying, fly shop proprietor, or fly fishing guide. I feel these jobs would substantially degree the pleasure of my own private fly fishing. What would I do to relax? Also, the last five years haven’t been kind to brick and mortar fly shops. We just lost our local shop this April. With the sharp down-turn in the economy, others will certainly be closing their doors. Please be very careful before you make this move. Best wishes, 8T 
Hey our local fly shop just closed here in April and we need a new one bad so come here. an hour to NC and four hours to the beach. I NEED SOMEWHERE TO DRINK COFFEE AND TELL LIES!
lol
Thight Lines
Jason
As the old saying goes: What’s the fastest way to make a million with a fly shop?
Start w/two million. good luck.
HCR you hit the nail on the head… There is a joke down here that goes “How do you start a small business in New Zealand? Buy a big one and wait.” This thread made me think of that.
Anyway grantnisadora I am sorry to digress, I wish you well.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/alcampbell/ac111201.php
Read this but remember that if after all of the negatives we have laid on you here you still feel like you have a real passion to own a fly shop it is possible to succeed. The more experience you have in fly fishing, fly tying, guiding, and of course retail marketing the better your chances will be.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
THAT is so true it almost isn’t funny!!
You REALLY want to do your homework before thinking about owning a fly shop. Most fly shops have a lifespan similar to a mayfly adult!!! A good research project would be talking to the owners of the well know shops that have been around for a long time to learn how they stay in business. (see LODGE attached!) Second is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. …and the good spots won’t be cheap…even in these bad times.
If you’re truly interested, then I think that some sort of small business broker might be your best bet. They must have networks where they can search around. There was a shop for sale here up until July and I was curious about the price and it only took me a few minutes to google it and find the listing with a local broker, but I knew enough to search pretty specifically.
I have friend in Madison that doesn’t like his sporting goods store and is very jealous of our fly shop here - you could start one there and make him very happy!
Thanks to all who responded to this thread. We’re at that stage where our ideas outweigh our actions. It is refreshing to know that this question has drawn a high degree of interest, and caution. Our jobs at this time are gainful, and to some extent rewarding, but the idea continues to loom. My primary goal was to identify a source that might focus on listings specific to the fly fishing industry. Thanks again for your input.
grantnisadora-
It sounds appealing, but start doing the math, and take a look at the rise in the big box stores that are eating up all the little guys. It?ll be very hard to compete on price because of their volume discounts and range of items and ease of purchasing. Shops around here and most other places have taken a real beating and many have gone under. Even premium rod companies that used to deal only with the local shops sell their stuff through the big boys now. The economy also makes it harder to get startup loans, bridge loans to cover operating costs. And consumers are tightening their belts in general.
IF you decide to pursue this, you should really give some thought to easing into it ?virtually?. A bricks and mortar store has a huge overhead both in terms of rent and both the amount (dollars) and range (all kinds of different items) of inventory you?ll need to carry on hand. It?ll also require a lot of time to staff and manage, property casualty insurance etc etc. And you?ll either have to quit your present gig or pay someone to staff it to sell stuff to customers if they come in.
And of course usually you?ll have a limited time during the year to make sales in a destination area based on walk-in traffic, and if you?re looking for a place with potential traffic year round (like a city) you?ll have high rent to cover.
Most likely you?ll want a web presence anyway, so setting up a presence there first either through an auction site (cheapest) or your own ?storefront? would be the easiest way to go.
You could also limit your upfront investment by just dealing with whatever items and dollar amounts of inventory you wanted to sell instead of stocking a bazillion different items. At some point, if you wanted to, you could migrate the business as a compliment to a fixed dedicated brick and mortar business anywhere you want. You could limit your investment and potential downside losses that way instead of taking a flyer on a huge investment.
But look into the economics, and look do the google on ?starting an ebay store? and ?starting an on-line business? for a lot of useful info, and model some stuff out on Excel.
Good luck. Looking forward to seeing you as an FAOL sponsor…
peregrines