In the sixth part of our year-long pet store make-over, we see how--after months of planning and construction--Critters' new fish room comes to life.

By Karen Long MacLeod

Good things really do come to those who wait.

After spending months discussing project plans, comparing the costs of myriad options, and enduring the chaos of construction, Mark and Caroline Janczak are the proud owners of a brand-new fish room. The sleek, contemporary fish room provides a dramatic focal point for their store, Critters Pet Shop in St. Charles, Ill.

Over the past several months, Mark and Caroline have taken steps to upgrade their store--with the help of two
well-known industry consultants, one prominent distributor/wholesaler, 20 leading pet supply manufacturers (and their sales representatives), and the staff of PET AGE magazine. They had a total budget of $60,500, including their own minimum $10,000 contribution, and expected to receive products valued at more than $25,000.

(Although this series will continue until July 2000, the Janczaks will complete the actual renovation and remerchandising of their store in less time.)

In this segment of our year-long series about Critters' redesign, we'll follow along as Mark and Caroline consider how to equip their fish room, and we'll see what is involved in installing the systems they chose.

Decisions, Decisions

The fish department (livestock and aquarium supplies) is Critters' biggest category, but its sales had stagnated over the last couple of years.

"We need to increase the awareness of livestock with better locations in the store and better displays," Mark said, early in the process. "And if the aquarium department were easier to maintain, it would allow us more time for sales."

After touring the store last spring, project consultants Simon Handelsman of Out of Hand Inc. (Newburyport, Mass.) and Mike McCahill of Retail Store Planning (Roseville, Calif.) agreed it was time to re-energize the fish department by installing more attractive, low-maintenance stock tanks and by dramatically remerchandising the aquatic supply section.

Based on numerous discussions, Mike designed a functional and attractive fish room with 11 front-access aquarium display units, two reptile display units, three long flats to accommodate fully decorated display tanks and a space-saving packing station. He and Simon also recommended new strategies for displaying fish supplies.

Although Mike provided the basic plan, Mark and Caroline had to decide exactly how to equip the fish room. In short order, they decided they wanted a system that fills and cleans itself automatically, with central filtration, to ensure stable water quality. They wanted concealed lights for aesthetic reasons. They wanted swinging panels for service access. They wanted an aquatic plant display and a large display tank. And they didn't want it to look homemade.

They had a hard time, however, deciding how to get what they wanted. Should they buy a ready-made aquarium system, or should they build their own system? The question nagged at them, literally, for four months.

Critters' old fish department, complete with wood paneling, was a throwback to the 1970s and suffered by comparison with nearby superstores.

During that time, the Janczaks did a lot of research. They visited aquarium specialty stores throughout metropolitan Chicago and nearby Wisconsin, to see how their fish rooms looked and worked. They solicited bids for ready-made systems from Marineland Aquarium Products (Moorpark, Calif.) and from Dutch Aquarium Systems (Waxahachie, Texas). They talked with their contractor about framing a custom system. They talked with represen  tatives of All-Glass Aquarium Aquarium Co. (Franklin, Wis.), one of the PET AGE Pet Store Make-over project sponsors, who were willing to provide tanks for a custom system as part of their contribution, if the Janczaks elected to go that route.

Although he was more than willing to design around it, Mike McCahill cautioned the Janczaks about the pitfalls of building a custom aquarium system. "Building your own aquarium system might cost half as much [as a designed system], but it takes a lot of time to build, and may take a lot longer to complete," he said. "We also might need to build a separate room to handle the central filtration system."

In the end, the Janczaks decided against building a custom aquarium system. They were not confident that they could figure out all the mechanics involved in balancing a large system.

"Companies like Marineland and Dutch have spent years figuring that out," Caroline said. "We could make expensive mistakes."

"No matter how we looked at it, we would've ended up with wood fronts for the aquarium frames," Mark said. "That's a real maintenance problem. You either get chipping laminate or peeling paint."

So the Janczaks focused on bids for ready-made systems consisting of at least 11 units and 99 tanks. With a special discount, Marineland's Retailer System (MaRS) was $36,000, including freight, tax and installation. The Dutch Aquarium Systems Fish Shop Units were $24,153.

Determined to get the most bang for their buck, the Janczaks decided in late September to lease aquarium display units from Dutch Aquarium Systems. They accepted Marineland's offer of a free feeder-fish tank. However, they decided against buying a plant display, as they did not want to devote that much floor space to plant sales.

Under Construction

Construction work in the fish room itself was pretty straightforward: Contractors erected one wall, installed a new doorway and installed some electrical outlets. The plumbing work, on the other had, was extensive.

Working from detailed diagrams provided by Dutch Aquarium Systems, general contractor David English of Jade Custom Builders Inc. (St. Charles, Ill.) and Bob Dorr of Bob Dorr Plumbing (St. Charles, Ill.) laid the groundwork for the installation of the new aquarium systems.

To save time and labor, the plumber dug a deep pit in the corner of the fish room instead of cutting a long (in other words, expensive) trench through the reinforced concrete floor to a drain in the bathroom in the back of the store. He installed a heavy-duty ejector pump to move waste from the new central filtration system up through pipes in the ceiling, similar to setups used in basement bathrooms.

After city inspectors approved the electrical and plumbing work, the Janczaks stepped in to complete the décor work in the fish room. Over the course of a full week, Caroline applied multiple coats of Behr's Newcastle Blue paint to the walls, and black paint to the doors. She also painted the ceiling panels black. Mark spent a similar amount of time, usually after the store closed each day, laying sapphire-colored floor tile. He worked in sections, applying a lot of leveling compound before installing the tiles.

Finally, they were ready to bring in the aquarium systems. The installation process wasn't exactly a comedy of errors, but it wasn't a flawless performance, either.

When Jean-Paul Jones of Dutch Aquarium Systems arrived on Nov. 17 to install the systems, he and a handful of temporary laborers had trouble unloading the systems, which came on a truck without a liftgate. Then, he realized that some of the end panels and other small parts were missing. He also discovered that the water softener unit had not been shipped, so he had to track down a similar unit locally.

"He was on the phone a lot--literally hours--trying to track down parts," Caroline said.

Although he often worked late, Jean-Paul had not quite finished hooking up the system when he left on Nov. 21. Another DAS technician arrived on Nov. 23 and completed the job the next day.

Unfortunately, some of the décor work was damaged while they were installing the livestock displays. Caroline had to replace several ceiling panels, which got wet while stored in the back room. Mark had to replace a 3-foot-by-5-foot area of floor tile, which buckled after it got soaked.

(Since square tile is easy to remove and replace, they were glad they had decided to use square tile instead of sheet vinyl in the fish room!)

Remerchandising the freshwater fish tanks with new gravel (10 pounds to 15 pounds per tank) and a limited number of ornaments took one employee about 10 hours over the course of several days, Caroline said.

Diaz Rock & Pet Supplies Inc. (Lombard, Ill.), one of the Janczaks' regular suppliers, donated $500 worth of aquarium gravel to decorate the new tanks at no charge. Diaz also offered to provide laminated labels listing the colors and types of rock used in each tank.

The Janczaks started putting hardy fish into the new tanks on Nov. 26. However, they didn't expect to fully stock the tanks for another month, until the tanks had cycled properly.

Awesome Results

Almost four months after unrolling the blueprints for their redesigned store, Mark and Caroline Janczak stood in their new fish room and thought: "This is awesome!" Customers seemed to agree. "We heard them say, 'This looks like [Chicago's] Shedd Aquarium!'" Mark said. "You see the fish rather than stained fixtures."

Combining sophisticated, easy-to-maintain animal display units with a strong color scheme and lighting effects, the new fish room is beautiful, as well as functional.

The room now features nine display units for freshwater fish and one double-wide display unit for saltwater fish--all with sleek black ABS framing and deep blue backgrounds. The room also houses one unit for feeder fish and one display unit for reptiles, both in black.

Each freshwater fish unit measures 52 inches wide by 20 inches deep by 92 inches high, and holds three 75-gallon tanks. Some tanks are divided into two 37.5-gallon compartments, but most are divided into three 25-gallon compartments. One "huge" air pump powers separate air-driven sponge filters in each row of tanks (whether one, two or three compartments), Mark said.

The double-wide saltwater aquarium unit features five 75-gallon tanks and a central filtration unit.

A sliding panel in the space-saving packing station conceals the programmable controllers that manage water fills and changes for the freshwater systems. When we visited the store in early December, Mark was operating the system manually while learning how to program the controllers.

The Tri-Channel Feeder Display, which the Janczaks got from Marineland at no charge, has three compartments to separate feeder fish of different sizes.

The reptile display unit, which the Janczaks bought from Companion Habitats Inc. (Colorado Springs, Colo.), is 52 inches wide by 26 inches deep by 87 inches tall. Although it came in beige, the Janczaks relaminated it in black to match the other units in the fish room. Dividers make it easy to reconfigure the compartments depending on the types of animals they have in stock.

Also in the fish room is a glass display case that used to be near the store's main entrance. The Janczaks are using it to display aquarium decorations.

Halogen lights are aimed to highlight the reptile display unit, a small slatwall display next to the saltwater tanks and the feeder fish tank. Halogens also will highlight the prominently located show tank, which the Janczaks expected to set up shortly.

So Far, So Good

When we visited Critters in early December, Mark and Caroline were concerned about uneven water levels in a few tanks, and had just discovered a leak in one unit. (However, a DAS technician came promptly to make repairs.) They also were waiting for end panels to conceal the pipes in the corners of the room.

Despite these minor bugs, they like everything about their new fish room. "I go 'Wow!' every time I come in here," Mark said.

Not only do they appreciate the room's appearance, they are pleased that it is so much easier to maintain. In the first two weeks, they saved a noticeable amount of labor on water changes on the freshwater systems alone. Savings in time and labor should be even more noticeable once all the tanks are fully stocked, Mark said.

They're also glad they installed the feeder fish unit. "We used to keep feeder fish in regular tanks, which were time-consuming to maintain," Caroline said. "The new unit is neater and cleaner. You can see the fish better. And the chiller helps keep the goldfish in better shape."

The new fish room setup has inspired Mark and Caroline to adopt new, more effective merchandise techniques. For example, they now are putting only one species in each aquarium compartment rather than mixing species as they used to do. Aside from making a striking presentation, this strategy should simplify fish identification for employees and customers alike--and prevent pricing errors.

But that's not all. "Eventually, we want to hire a fish room manager to maintain the fish room, help customers and take care of ordering," Caroline said.

Although it is too early to see much difference in sales, they have noticed a definite increase in customer interest, Mark said. "The challenge will be keeping that interest high by bringing in different fish--except the basics that we always carry--every two weeks or so."

Now that the fish room is ready for restocking, how will customers respond? Will sales of fish and fish supplies increase as much as the Janczaks--and our fearless consultants--hope? How will other focal areas devoted to livestock turn out? How do the Janczaks plan to promote their grand re-opening, scheduled to take place in the not-so-distant future?

Next month, we'll see how the Janczaks created a rain forest for birds in the middle of their store. In our March issue, we'll look at upgrades in Critters' remaining livestock areas--for puppies and small animals. PA

Karen Long MacLeod is editor in chief of PET AGE.

Look at Leasing

To equip their fish room with sophisticated aquarium systems, Mark and Caroline Janczak figured they would have to spend almost $30,000, or almost $20,000 more than the planned budget for the project.

Their solution was to lease aquarium systems valued at almost $30,000 over 48 months.

This came as no surprise to Mike McCahill and Simon Handelsman, project consultants, who had advocated an equipment lease all along.

Although they were reluctant to take on significant debt, Mark and Caroline realized they couldn't afford to do the project otherwise.

"Our lease payment for the tanks will be $779 a month, with a $1 buyout at the end of the 48-month lease term," Mark said.

"Leasing makes nice aquariums more affordable, but it does affect the bottom line," Mike said. "You have to think of it as a long-term investment."

Here are some reasons why equipment leases make good business sense:

* They help you maintain cash flow since little or no down payment is required.

* They help you accurately predict future equipment costs and cash needs since terms and payments are fixed.

* They allow you to use new equipment that outperforms older, breakdown-prone equipment you still may be using.

* They may offer tax benefits. With a properly structured lease, you may deduct the entire rental payment as a current operating expense for financial reporting and income tax purposes.

* They may be easier to obtain than equipment loans. Leasing companies often provide financing based on a simple application, whereas most banks and commercial lenders require several years' financial reports and tax returns on the business and the principals.

Because situations--and leases--vary, be sure to review the general terms of any lease with your accountant or other tax adviser.

For general information about equipment leasing or leasing companies in your area, contact the American Association of Equipment Lessors (Arlington, Va.) at (703) 527-8655.

For articles about leasing equipment, a dictionary of terms and resource listings, visit Equipment Leasing Association at www.elaonline.com.

--Karen Long MacLeod