Opening a stove shop
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Fsappo
Minister of Fire
Frakk that. Folks all like to protest, but tell them they will be able to heat their home with a very clean fuel that doesnt have a chance of running out like propane or oil, for less money than propane or oil, about the same money as pellets...those same protesters will jump off their soapboxes, slaughter a baby seal and vote republican to get nat gas in their homes
Watch your aquifer. Folks that aren't able to drink the water or use it are quite concerned. Frakking is causing some nasty, irreversible issues in PA and WY.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/...-found-in-well-water-close-to-drilling-sites/
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/...-found-in-well-water-close-to-drilling-sites/
BeGreen said:
Also being debated near me in NY, but the real "issues" may or may not be what you read in the newspaper or online. This one needs time to sort out who's really telling the truth, like most things.
My Hunting club has 200 Acres in Roscoe NY, which is right on the tip of this big gas deposit, and it has been a big debate on who is right and who is wrong,
When it first came out there were gas trucks all over the the place, the DEC has put a stop until it can figure the pro's and cons. The landowners that jump immediately
made out, getting $2500.00 per acre just for the future rights for drilling, there is a song Called Catskill Jack, goes to the melody of the Beverly Hillbillies
When it first came out there were gas trucks all over the the place, the DEC has put a stop until it can figure the pro's and cons. The landowners that jump immediately
made out, getting $2500.00 per acre just for the future rights for drilling, there is a song Called Catskill Jack, goes to the melody of the Beverly Hillbillies
Pellet-King
Minister of Fire
Oil's cheap, not a good time to open a business, the pellet craze is over, once people realize all the maintainance involved they wish they never bought there stove's, only the diehard's like us here tolerate it..
Wanna sell pellets? sell for under $200 and get rid of them inferno's to start with...
You'll only fool the newbies with those.
Pellets are like the housing market on a down swing now....hopefully for year's to come!
I see your tri-state signs up the road from me, everytime i laugh when i see INFERNO!
Wanna sell pellets? sell for under $200 and get rid of them inferno's to start with...
You'll only fool the newbies with those.
Pellets are like the housing market on a down swing now....hopefully for year's to come!
I see your tri-state signs up the road from me, everytime i laugh when i see INFERNO!
MSmith66
Feeling the Heat
krooser said:
VERY TRUE
Know the product inside and out- upside down and all around and it helps to know it in your sleep.
There is nothing worse than getting a call from a person that was never shown how to use thier stove from the dealer. I'm sure you'll do fine. Good luck .
summit
Minister of Fire
Franks said:
+1... while any shop worth its chops should handle a variety of fuel sources, the really good $ come in when you are selling quality gas fireplaces, stoves and inserts. They run much more trouble free than solid fuel units, have great markups, and will get you the all important contractor biz during the summer offseason when new home/home renovation construction projects are going on. You'll also get a much larger share of the senior market for the older folks who don't wanna haul bags of pellets, or armloads of wood. While having a good pellet/wood line is key, having a good lineup of gas units will help big time
smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
BLIMP said:
the Europa was just too difficult for the average user to handle. That's why Regency dropped it. The GF-55 is an Enviro Meridian. There is is no new technology, just a new lable on an older stove. Though the GF series does have adjustable feed and combustion rates on the control board...but so doesn't the Meridian and the Vista Flame VS 100
smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
If it were my shop, I'd look into Vista Flame. They have a good line up. The Enviro Meridian and M55 are avaialble through Vista Flame.
Contact Englander and sell their line and offer service....then you can offer the same stove with service as the BB stores. Englander does make a good stove, especially the multi-fuel.
You may even be able to get Enviro. Call Angela Russo at Russo Products, She may be able to set you up with Enviro, Lennox and Napoleon.
Regency with sell to you no problem, you want to contact Dan Gagnon.
You may also be able to get Quadrafire. I doubt you'll get Harman anywhere in New England unless you are in Danforth, ME.
Check out Hudson River (owner of BAC sales) which also distributes all of St. Croix for New England. BAC sucks to deal with. St. Croix has the dubious distriction of being me number one service call...though you might think it would be Englander, it isn't.
#1 St. Croix, #2 Englander, #3 Harman
I bet you can get Ecoteck. That's a top of the line stove.
Avalon and Lopi (Travis) will laugh at you for even thinking you can talk with them.
Personally, I'd focus on one stove and see how many you can move. Regency or Englander would be a perfect first year stove.
Stay away from Breckwell, US Stove.
Contact Englander and sell their line and offer service....then you can offer the same stove with service as the BB stores. Englander does make a good stove, especially the multi-fuel.
You may even be able to get Enviro. Call Angela Russo at Russo Products, She may be able to set you up with Enviro, Lennox and Napoleon.
Regency with sell to you no problem, you want to contact Dan Gagnon.
You may also be able to get Quadrafire. I doubt you'll get Harman anywhere in New England unless you are in Danforth, ME.
Check out Hudson River (owner of BAC sales) which also distributes all of St. Croix for New England. BAC sucks to deal with. St. Croix has the dubious distriction of being me number one service call...though you might think it would be Englander, it isn't.
#1 St. Croix, #2 Englander, #3 Harman
I bet you can get Ecoteck. That's a top of the line stove.
Avalon and Lopi (Travis) will laugh at you for even thinking you can talk with them.
Personally, I'd focus on one stove and see how many you can move. Regency or Englander would be a perfect first year stove.
Stay away from Breckwell, US Stove.
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
I would think if you covered wood, pellet, gas and propane for stoves would be a plus. Coal maybe, But not that big a crowd here in New Enland. Wood, Pellet, and Gas for sure!
Like the others mentioned a mixed lineup of entry level to upper level. Start with the entry level units and work your way to the mid in time. Once you get rolling then add the upper level units. But you might loose a few sales as most want to see what they are buying actually burning in the display section. I walked out of 2 Enviro dealers that didn't have the Omega in action. The third dealer did and I almost dropped my dimes there. Hard not seeing them burning and spending your cash. Let the costumers have hands on experience with there new toy.
Hudson River isn't much better than a Breckwell. Becareful with those. Issue's is all I will say. Englander is a solid stove with great support. Good feedback here on them!
Like the others mentioned a mixed lineup of entry level to upper level. Start with the entry level units and work your way to the mid in time. Once you get rolling then add the upper level units. But you might loose a few sales as most want to see what they are buying actually burning in the display section. I walked out of 2 Enviro dealers that didn't have the Omega in action. The third dealer did and I almost dropped my dimes there. Hard not seeing them burning and spending your cash. Let the costumers have hands on experience with there new toy.
Hudson River isn't much better than a Breckwell. Becareful with those. Issue's is all I will say. Englander is a solid stove with great support. Good feedback here on them!
Fsappo
Minister of Fire
smwilliamson said:
BAC owns Hudson River, not the other way around. Jack Cohen, arranged for a firm in China to build a stove for BAC to distribute and private label. From what I hear, the first few loads were full of stoves that had to be sent back. In regards to St Croix, they are no longer being distributed by BAC. They are now being sold dealer direct thru the importer, EvenTemp. BAC still has some inventory they are looking to dump real cheap. We have had zero service calls on the ST Criox line that werent caused by user neglect or lousy pellets.
I agree that focusing on one stove manufacturer to start makes sense. If you want to maintain your margins, look for a manufacturer who doesnt pop a dealer on every corner, like Regency does in NY. You need to establish your sales territory, and then market your brand.
Also, look for a manufacturer who has a good internet policy. No use spending time on a sales presentation for some geek to slither home to Zoobler to save $200 and simply use you in the future to help solve his problems.
I also agree that staying away from Breckwell for the time being is a smart move.
Thanks for everyone's input, very useful! Right now I have a Timberridge stove going in on display. Still waiting on St. Croix. And we're now selling Okangan pellets so I'm pretty happy about that.
Funny that you guys are talking about gas stoves and ng too because i'm actually working with a close friend who is trying to get into the ng business so i'm thinking about getting some gas stoves and inserts going
Funny that you guys are talking about gas stoves and ng too because i'm actually working with a close friend who is trying to get into the ng business so i'm thinking about getting some gas stoves and inserts going
Pellet-King
Minister of Fire
smwilliamson said:
Englander has some good units, the only problem being that they are sold by the Big Boxes, who WILL undercut you to the point it isnt worth selling the units. Money CAN be made servicing those units though, since the Big Boxes offer no service. The thing you have to be careful with is though, thats you MUST service the stoves you sell BEFORE servicing the stoves of others.......
Send me a PM, I get our forklifts fixed in Bloomfield, will stop by sometime......we dont compete, I dont go that far.....
jtakeman
Minister of Fire
Lousyweather said:
Yep, Bigbox=no service or even any tech support for that matter(they refer them to Englander). You can compete during the season with them. But come spring they will drop the bottom out on them just to move them out of the store. Offering in home service should give you an edge over the bigbox store.
smwilliamson
The Stove Guy
There are four motivating factors in the execution of sales: Price, Schedule, Quality and Service; focus on the two later ones and you can compete with anyone. BB's only focus on the first two. There are charts which go along with this but you get the picture. :lol:
Hello tri-state,
Been looking at all these responses and being a stove dealer (in your same area of CT), I agree with most of what is posted. We are a smaller stove shop, we offer sales, installs and service. While it is important to offer good quality stoves, most of the good quality stoves are area protected, either by the MFR or the sales rep (if he is doing his part). The thing I have found for most dealers around us, is they do not always offer service after the sale, or in a customers' view, timely service. I am happy to help out other dealers' customers if we can, but you will find it somewhat frustrating, you have to win the customers' allegiance back if you can in the first place. I'm certain all of our customers aren't 100 percent satisfied, but other dealers I've worked at, I can easily say we outdo them. So, not being the biggest dealer, focus on customer service especially after the sale, even when that seems impossible with some folks. For us, Enviro is our main line, so I hope you shy away from them, ha. I've read a lot of bad lately about Breckwells, but we still like them, I wish their margin was better, but their stoves work well. I do believe logistics from the MFR is huge, if you plan on servicing the stoves down the road, so new stove lines like HRiver might be good to stay away from,,, It is hard to get some lines, Qfire, Jotul, Harman, etc. We have found PE, Enviro and Breckwell to be good lines. Napoleon a few years ago offered good value for the money, but they have gotten very expensive, but are easy to carry. Good luck, I say there's always room for more quality stove stores, but please adhere to sales area guidance.
Stovelark
Enviro EF3 FS Pellet
Enviro Empress FPI
Enviro Kodiak 1700 FS wood, can you tell I like Enviro?
Been looking at all these responses and being a stove dealer (in your same area of CT), I agree with most of what is posted. We are a smaller stove shop, we offer sales, installs and service. While it is important to offer good quality stoves, most of the good quality stoves are area protected, either by the MFR or the sales rep (if he is doing his part). The thing I have found for most dealers around us, is they do not always offer service after the sale, or in a customers' view, timely service. I am happy to help out other dealers' customers if we can, but you will find it somewhat frustrating, you have to win the customers' allegiance back if you can in the first place. I'm certain all of our customers aren't 100 percent satisfied, but other dealers I've worked at, I can easily say we outdo them. So, not being the biggest dealer, focus on customer service especially after the sale, even when that seems impossible with some folks. For us, Enviro is our main line, so I hope you shy away from them, ha. I've read a lot of bad lately about Breckwells, but we still like them, I wish their margin was better, but their stoves work well. I do believe logistics from the MFR is huge, if you plan on servicing the stoves down the road, so new stove lines like HRiver might be good to stay away from,,, It is hard to get some lines, Qfire, Jotul, Harman, etc. We have found PE, Enviro and Breckwell to be good lines. Napoleon a few years ago offered good value for the money, but they have gotten very expensive, but are easy to carry. Good luck, I say there's always room for more quality stove stores, but please adhere to sales area guidance.
Stovelark
Enviro EF3 FS Pellet
Enviro Empress FPI
Enviro Kodiak 1700 FS wood, can you tell I like Enviro?
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