Thank you. That is a possibility, though they won't be in the cages! Well, maybe one or two. hehe. I have had more than one person suggest the same thing. Paige wants to open a Mask store, and just have a wall of scorpions on display. This is a great idea, and financially, probably the best one. However, it runs counter to my future plans for the masks! I can't keep up with demand now, and thats just in my circle of friends. Once I get international dealer contacts, I'm not going to be able to keep any in stock! I plan on having dealers in London, Berlin, Tokyo, and Shanghai. And eventually, I want to open stand alone stores in Venice, Rio, and New Orleans. For any masks I do have on stock, they take very little room. My current plan is to have them behind the counter. They only need 4"-6" depth and their dimensions on the wall. So they don't need a lot of space. Seeing as how they are made, this isn't a volume business. I can only make 4-10 masks a week, depending on size, etc. Most of them will ship overseas when done.. On top of that, there are already mask stores in New Orleans which would happily carry my stock, allowing me to focus on what I want to do!
Thanks! That is a good idea as well. Once I settle in, I am hoping to start apprenticeships for people with few options due to family finances etc. There are a ton of good kids running around Nola getting in trouble because they got a junk education, or have a hard family life. I want to help others. And I figure, what better way than giving someone a skill/job that they have no way to do themselves? It's in the cards. But I need to play them right to get to that point. And anyway, they couldn't replace me or my masks, but maybe fill a lower cost option for those that can't afford mine. They can still make a living, and improve over time. But I will be the Master Mask Maker. I will not stop making them even with apprentices. But maybe just focus on the biggest and wildest ones!
Thanks! Well, if I open a Belfast branch, I won't be able to run it unless I get one of the old concords for my commute, so maybe you can have your dream job! Seriously though, I don't know if I would do Belfast, just a wee bit tiny. I think Houston is 5x the population of all of N.I.! But If things get rolling, I guess my London mask store could turn into my Euro zone scorpion store that could have some masks too. Could I get you to visit London or Berlin for an awesome scorpion store?That would also be a dream job for me. Don't think I would be able to do it though!
Good luck to you. Hope it becomes reality.
If you ever open a branch in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the UK, give me a shout!
have you really started researching importing? i am pretty sure there really are only three ports you can have your animals shipped to. you either need to get them at the port of have them reshipped to you.There are many more ports than that. Unless it changed in the last 2 weeks!
New Orleans is a port of entry for animal imports! It's perfect really.
there's a lot more than 2. And yes, I was on their website 2 weeks ago, I just woke, but I can get a link later. Nola is a port. I read it with my own eyes, just two weeks ago. There are also exception permits which sound easy to get, but NOLA IS A PORT for wild animal importation. I didn't look into customs info yet, because when I first started looking, I wasn't thinking too much about being a store.. But animals, NOLA, YES!