Four Muddy Paws, in St. Louis, hosted a benefit dog wash for Partners 4 Pets, washing 99 dogs and raising over $1,500 for the rescue.
Volunteers from Partners 4 Pets washed and dried dogs for $15, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the rescue, which also had pets up for adoption at the event.
Refreshments were provided by local businesses, including Wang Gang, Honeydip Cupcakes and Teaspoons Café.
Nestle Purina PetCare Company signed a purchase agreement to buy Petfinder, the largest on-line pet adoption website, from Discovery Communications LLC.
This is Nestle’s first major acquisition of a digital property, and will allow it to broaden its support for pet welfare organizations and strengthen its role as a leading provider of on-line pet-related information, the company said in a press release.
The transaction was expected to be completed in July. Other details of the transaction, including the acquisition price, were not disclosed, the company citing confidentiality.
“Petfinder is the on-line leader in linking prospective adopters with adoptable pets, and a resource for pet owners’ life-long relationship with their pets,” Joe Sivewright, president, North American Pet Food, Nestle Purina PetCare Company, said. “We value Petfinder’s existing framework, which is fully aligned with our commitment to pet welfare organizations and our belief that pets and people are better together.
We plan to strengthen that solid framework with our extensive nutritional expertise and vast knowledge of pet welfare.”
Petfinder has been a leader in the animal welfare movement, culminating in more than 22 million adoptions since the site’s founding in 1996. Since that time, the company has expanded its services beyond connecting prospective adopters with adoptable pets, such as re-adoption research and pet care resources.
Summit Pet Product Distributors and Sunburst Pet Supply have both added Sojos to their new product list.
Summit, which was recently acquired by Animal Supply Company, will carry the Sojos line of shelf-stable raw pet food and gourmet treats and expand the brand’s market share throughout the southeastern states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
“Animal Supply Company has been our top distributor for the past two years and we are excited about their acquisition of Summit,” Rob Mellem, Sojos national sales manager, said
Sunburst will carry the Sojos line of shelf-stable raw pet food and gourmet treats and will expand the brand’s market share throughout Arizona.
“Because of their representation in Arizona and commitment to representation of healthy pet foods, we look to take advantage of the huge potential for growth in that area,” Mellem said.
In addition, the company announced that Cole Meierstein, Eastern sales rep for Sojos, is moving his home base to Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cole has been living in Atlanta for the past year and will continue to support the Eastern region of the U.S. He works with stores east of the Mississippi, in Canada and in Puerto Rico.
“Living in the southeast for the past year enabled me to forge genuine relationships with a lot of retail stores,” Cole said. “This is also why I’m so excited to be living in N.Y. I can’t wait to hit the ground.”
Invisible Fence Brand is expanding its network of independent dealers in the United States and Canada.
The company offers low investment dealership opportunities and its dealers become part of a national brand with 40 years of experience and 80 percent market share, according to a release by the company.
Invisible Fence Brand said they have seen steady growth in overall sales and dealership locations in North America.
“We’ve seen sales increase thanks to new products that allow us to service a more diverse group of pet owners, and we now have something to offer everyone,” Rick Carthel, who owns the Invisible Fence of Arkansas, said. “We’re excited about even more future innovations coming out and how they will help to grow our business.”
Dealers also receive training and ongoing support in the form of marketing, operations, financing, customer service and sales support, among many other benefits.
For more information on dealership opportunities visit www.InvisibleFence.com/dealer.
Introduced last year, and expected to be even bigger this year, the Private Label Manufacturers Association will have a pet pavilion at their annual trade show in November.
The show, held Nov. 17-19 at the Rosemont Convention Center, will feature products being offered across every pet food and pet care category.
Among the more than 4,500 visitors who attend the event each year are the leading U.S. supermarkets, drug chains, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs, and convenience and specialty retailers, in addition to wholesalers, brokers, importers and others.
For information on attending or exhibiting at PLMA’s 2013 Private Label Trade Show, contact PLMA at (212) 972-3131, or email [email protected].
It seems only right that natural and organic products would be a growing category for the small pet market.
After all, people who have rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils and hamsters recognize that these animals, while they’re pets, are a little more on the wild side than our domesticated cats and dogs.
For many people, that translates to making their habitat within their cage mimic their natural habitat as much as possible. For retailers, that means an opportunity to market natural products, from accessories to bedding to food and snacks, to the 17 million households with small pets, according to CareFRESH Naturals.
Facts on Food
Many people often equate organic with food, and when it comes to small pets there are a number of organic and all-natural food products to offer consumers.
Oxbow Animal Health has offered its BeneTerra line of USDA Certified Organic food, hay and treats since 2008.
“More pet owners are committed to having their pet’s nutrition program mirror their own, so with that in mind we introduced the BeneTerra line to offer pet owners the ability to provide complete nutrition for their pets, while leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible,” Melissa Ross, marketing operations manager, said. “The BeneTerra line includes fortified food for guinea pigs and rabbits, as well as hay and barley biscuits.”
Vitakraft Sunseed has also launched a new line of all-natural treats that take advantage of people’s instinct to humanize their pets.
Using all natural ingredients, they have come up with a line of fun treats that include one that looks like gourmet or vegetable pizza, and a trail mix that comes in several different varieties.
There’s also a Sun Treat salad that offers a variety of ingredients, from rose hips to apple slices.
“Consumers like to be able to buy their pets something similar to what we eat, which makes these products fun,” Lisa Kniceley, inside sales representative, Vitakraft Sunseed, said.
Benefits in Bedding
The material put into cages of small pets is important for many reasons. It gives them a place to burrow to sleep, it provides a place to play and hide food and of course, it absorbs the waste the pet produces.
Because of the last reason, this bedding is changed very often, and customers will go through it bag after bag. Many of them are looking for options that are not only great for the pet, but are also environmentally friendly.
Vitakraft Sunseed has a relatively new line of Eco Bedding that covers all of the above, plus some. The product is made out of 100 percent recycled paper right in the company’s home state of Ohio.
The paper is a clean product because it goes through a process that neutralizes the ink that might be in the paper, as well as being vacuumed, making it free of dust and good for pet owners who might suffer from allergies.
The Eco Bedding comes in three colors, brown, blue and purple. It is innovative in the fact that it is made in an interlocking style that makes the product bouncy, making it more fun for the pets and somewhat interactive.
Vitakraft also has other offerings that appeal to the customer who is looking for all-natural options.
Their most popular product is the Fresh World bedding, which recycles paper from the Paper Gator project, a program that collects recycled paper from non-profits such as schools and churches and gives the organizations money in return, based on the weight of the paper.
“This product is a triple win,” Kniceley said. “The customer wins because they have a great product, the non-profits win with money for their organization and the environment wins from the recycling.”
Another option is the CareFRESH line of Natural Pet Bedding. Made from reclaimed, biodegradable wood pulp, it is safe for pets because it has no pine or cedar oils and it is super absorbent.
Customers will appreciate the fact that not only is the company not using up natural resources to make their product; they’re using what other companies can’t.
Pushing the Sales
The marketability of these products goes beyond the ability to get the animal as close to its natural habitat as possible.
When thinking about how to move these products, keep in mind the three Ps: Creating a healthier pet, planet and people.
Many of the manufacturers of all-natural or organic products for small pets are also very concerned about the environment and make sure their processes impact the environment as little as possible by using recycled materials when possible.
Make buying these products easier by not only having them all located next to each other, but also by having pre-made kits.
Vitakraft put together a kit, in partnership with Ware Manufacturing, that is a good way to get new small pet owners started with all-natural products. The cage is packed with a bag of Vitakraft’s food, a bag of Eco Bedding and a water bottle.
Retailers can also make up their own kits like this to introduce people to all natural product lines for small pets.
“Committing to an organic set is another way to stand out from the crown, as well as to show a commitment to providing options for small pets,” Ross said.
Small pets like gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, ferrets, rats, mice, chinchillas and rabbits are fun playmates. Their silly antics and dastardly deeds are fun to watch and they thrive on interaction with their human companions. Toss a couple of well-designed toys into the mix and the fun never ends.
But, those that lack appropriate enrichment may turn to tearing up their habitat, chewing their cage bars or “barbering,” the practice of gnawing at their own fur. Changing up their habitat, treats and toys helps keep small pets psychologically healthy. 
Toys can divert small pets from unwanted behaviors like furniture chewing, too. Give a rabbit something healthy to chew and maybe he’ll leave the La-Z-Boy alone.
Timali Pet Rabbit Toys has a complete line of toys, including several styles of activity zones. The wooden tables allow rabbits to climb up, scurry under and play with many colorful rope toys dangling below.
Timali also sells innovative configurations of ropes and wooden shapes in abstract forms and clever designs like a colorful carrot, or seasonal Christmas tree. Their DIY Rabbit Toys Kit challenges rabbit owners to build their own creative playthings from blocks, sticks and ropes in many colors.
Keep Them Busy
Ferrets should spend at least four hours per day outside their cage, and if they don’t have stimulating toys, they turn to shiny objects like car keys and Grandma’s diamond earrings. An investment in quality toys is a worthwhile one.
At the 2013 Global Pet Expo, Marshall Pet Products launched the Cruising Critter Raceway with live, in-booth ferret racing. The spectacle drew the crowds and the ferrets thrived, as the racing tubes satisfy their natural tunneling instinct.
The Cruising Critter Raceway includes two racing tubes and an easy-to-clean floor mat with a checkered-flag finish line. It also provides stimulating play for hamsters, rats and guinea pigs.
The Pop-N-Play Ball Pit, also from Marshall, thrills ferrets, who like to burrow and explore. Drop a couple of smaller toys or treats in there and watch them root out the goodies. It has a Velcro tab that affixes it to furniture to prevent tipping, and the fabric easily wipes clean.
Marshall also offers a Bed Bug Play Center that includes a soft play mat and cross bars that dangle toys overhead.
The Super Pet Comfort Wheel is ideal for gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs. It comes with a wire stand and a clip to affix it to the cage.
Super Pet also manufactures the classic Small Animal Run-About Ball, which allows gerbils and hamsters to explore the house.
– Kristen Ryan
During routine testing of their products, the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets discovered that a sample of their Dogswell Happy Hips Chicken Breast Jerky contained trace amounts of an antibiotic residue that has not been approved for use in the United States, the company said on their website.
There is no evidence that products containing trace amounts of this antibiotic pose a health risk for pets or humans. The antibiotic is accepted for use in other countries, including the European Union.
“Since we were notified by the NYSDAM the week of July 22nd, we have made the decision to voluntarily withdraw Chicken Breast and Duck Breast jerky under the Breathies, Happy Heart, Happy Hips, Mellow Mut, Shape Up, Veggie Life, Vitality, and Vitakitty brands that are labeled with a “Best Before” date of January 28th, 2015, or any earlier date,” the company said.
The vast majority of these products were distributed before March 1.
“Since January, we have been using state-of-the-art testing procedures to ensure that our chicken and duck products do not contain these or other unapproved antibiotics” the company said on their website. “All chicken and duck breast jerky products with a “Best Before” date of January 29, 2015 and later have been fully tested for and do not contain these antibiotics.”
No other products are affected.
“We are doing everything we can to resolve this situation quickly and ensure that our consumers like you can feel confident feeding Dogswell and Catswell products to their companions, as we do here,” the company said.
It’s time to take a bite out of a largely preventable professional industry problem.
“I recently attended a trade show where an owner of a grooming school suffered a dog bite to her face that required 52 stitches,” Chuck Simons, inventor of Groomers Helper, the world’s most used pet safety and positioning system, said. “Accident? Yes. Unpredictable? Yes. Preventable? Absolutely.” 
Simons and his wife, Beth, own and operate The Pet Salon in Margate, N.J., and he has been studying groomer safety for over 30 years. He has extensive knowledge about the challenges that working with moving animals and sharp instruments entails.
“I believe that safety in the grooming shop starts with the proper handling of client’s pets,” he said. “How many experienced groomers have been bitten by dogs that they thought were not biters? Dogs that had been groomed in their shops since puppies, pets that they felt were not capable of aggressive behavior, animals that they felt they had created a bond with?
“Therein lies the first rule of grooming safely. The pet should always be hooked up to a pet safety and positioning system. This was the impetus behind inventing the Groomers Helper, the pet safety belt of the grooming industry.”
The Groomers Helper is a tool that inspires groomers to tell Simons, “I cannot groom without it.”
So How Does It Work?
“To maximize the safest grooming experience, every dog should be restricted to their smallest footprint,” he explained. “By using a pet safety and positioning system, you prevent getting bitten by the dog you least expect to bite you when you least expect it to happen. Just like auto accidents, most of them you just don’t see coming.”
Securing the Pet
Keeping pets safely restrained not only prevents bites to groomers, but keeps the pet secure while they are on the grooming table by minimizing falling accidents as well as restricting unpredictable movements, which can cause pets to be injured by grooming tools.
The tool does more than keep animals and humans safe; it allows groomers to increase their productivity.
“The Groomers Helper is not just for bad dogs,” Simons said. “Groomers can groom two to three more good dogs per day just by using this system.”
The time saved when pets are prevented from sitting, spinning, wiggling and dropping their heads really adds up.
“I find the tool can be absolutely invaluable,” Mary Oquendo, one of 11 certified master Pet Tech instructors worldwide, said. “There are dogs I cannot groom without it.”
Simons has strong feelings about protecting pet stylists from injury. He travels to grooming industry trade shows across the world, and has befriended thousands of groomers in his work as an industry educator.
He wants to keep those friends safe as they go about their daily work.
“A recent study showed that an average cost of a dog bite-related hospital stay was $18,200, approximately 50 percent higher than the average injury-related hospital stay,” he said. “And to make matters worse, a bite can cause a groomer to miss weeks of work or even prevent them from continuing in their profession.”
Bob Thompson, principal, Governor Insurance Agency, Inc. is an expert when it comes to insuring pet related businesses. He shares Simons’ concern for groomers.
“Every claim of injury to a groomer or pet that has come across my desk could have been prevented by using a Groomers Helper,” Thompson said.
According to Simons, 35,000 Groomers Helpers have been sold, and both Petco and PetSmart have installed the system on every grooming table in every salon across the country.
“Over 100 million grooms have been performed without a report of injury to pet or groomer using my system,” he said.
Simons believes that using the Groomers Helper allows even novice stylists to feel more confident.
When grooming most dogs and cats, a good bath is a must.
Water, shampoo and conditioner work together to remove dirt and debris from the animal’s skin and coat, and leave their hair clean, shiny and ready for styling. As beneficial as a good scrub in the tub is, adding water to pet hair has its drawbacks.
Hair can absorb approximately 30 percent of its own weight of water, and damaged hair may soak up even more. Then it is the groomer’s job to move all that water out of the coat, a job that many groomers dread.
“Because of the noise and the time it takes to dry dogs, this can be the most tedious part of our job,” Cheryl Russell-Miller, master pet stylist and owner of the Grooming Gallery, Mooresville, Ind., said. “For those same reasons, it is often the pets’ least favorite part of grooming, too.”
New and innovative products and techniques are constantly being developed to make drying pets a faster and more efficient process.
“I would say that groomers need to keep an open mind for new or different approaches to drying,” Barbara Bird, a grooming educator in Arizona, said. “Too often we get set in stone with one method that we consider to be ‘the only right way.’ This prevents us from evolving as the equipment and techniques grow and evolve.”
Liquid Tools
Adding conditioner to the coat during the bathing process helps attract extra moisture to each hair shaft. This is good for many types of pet hair, but it adds to drying time.
The heavier and more effective the conditioning treatment, more the time groomers will spend at the drying table.
Chris Christen products offer a non-moisturizing rinse that may be used in place of a conditioner. After U Bathe may be used in place of a conditioner when you want to add manageability without altering the coat texture. While it is not designed to detangle matted coats, this product can be very beneficial on coats that are in good condition.
Show Season Animal Products offers both a shampoo and after bath spray that are designed to assist in getting from wet to dry fast. Speed Dry Shampoo and Speed Dry Spray both contain a proprietary ingredient that drastically cuts drying time. It works by reducing the surface tension of the water on the hair shaft, allowing water to sheet off the hair cuticles more effectively.
The products may be used together or separately, according to Sandy Gyorgyi, owner of Show Seasons. Speed Dry shampoo may also be used as an additive to other brands of shampoo to help reduce drying time.
Many groomers will not be without their Davis Quick Dry spray.
“I have groomers call me near tears because they were out of the product and couldn’t get more fast enough,” Sheila Louie said.
Quick Dry spray works by altering the water tension so that the mechanical process of drying with air and/or heat more rapidly slides it off the hair shaft. Just spray the product on a damp dog, wait a few moments and then begin to dry. Many groomers say that this product cuts their drying time in half.
MDC Romani offers an alternative to terry cloth towels. Moisture Magnets work like a sponge to pull moisture from pets’ coats. Stop to wring water out of the towel and then reuse over and over.
Even large, double coated dogs can be towel dried with just one Moisture Magnet. These towel alternatives can be machine washed and dried on low heat. They not only save time in the tub, but reduce laundry costs.
A new and unusual drying product has been on the market since early in 2011.
The Soggy Doggy Doormat was created by Joanna Rein when she became frustrated about muddy paw prints left by her dog, Buddy. The “noodley” microfiber rug is not only highly absorbent and odor resistant, but also super soft.
Creative groomers have found the mats make an unsurpassed crate rug, absorbing vast quantities of water from even the hairiest pets. The added bonus is that pets also have a comfortable place to rest.
The product was so successful that Rein created Super Shammy towels and other products to absorb pet-induced wetness.
Groomer Rachel Conner uses the Super Shammy as she grooms door to door.
“I love how wonderfully absorbent the Shammy is; it truly reduces my drying time, and the Shammy itself dries fast between customer visits,” Conner, owner of Grooming Goddess House Call Pet Grooming in Massachusetts, said.
If you find the drying process to be a tedious part of your work, these products may help.
There’s no doubt about it, bird cages can get messy. And, it can happen pretty quickly, causing customers who own a bird to look for quick and easy cleaning solutions.
“I am not one that likes to clean my house but I like a clean house,” Mary Ellen Kaminski, merchandising manager for Drs. Foster and Smith, said. “So I find products that make my job easier so I can get it done quickly and efficiently … and done regularly. This same thing can be said about cleaning your bird’s cage.” 
To stay ahead of the mess, they need to start with the basics.
Recommend that customers purchase a cage that features a removable bottom tray and that can be taken apart to clean each piece individually.
Prevue Pet, a leader in cage production, offers many varieties which make cleaning and disinfecting a breeze.
“Our bird homes are designed with the ease of cleaning in mind, and depending on the cage model, can come with many different features that aid in both mess control and ease of cleaning,” Jason Savitt, president of Prevue Pet Products, said.
Line the Bottom
In addition to an easily cleanable cage, cage liners are a simple way to keep the bird’s cage clean and fresh on a day to day basis. After disinfecting the removable cage tray, liners may be stacked one on top of the other for easy removal during daily cleaning.
“Prevue sells several products to aid in the cleaning process, including Prevue’s #109 Cage Cleaning Pad (will not harm the cage’s finish), or our T3 Cage Liner Paper” he said.
The T3 Cage Liners are suited for birds and cages of all sizes, and features an anti-microbial layer which makes cleaning simple and sanitary.
Drs. Foster and Smith carry different pre-cut sizes to fit any cage, which for a retailer can save shelf space.
Another popular product is their waxed paper liners. These liners are hypoallergenic and will not cause a problem if accidentally swallowed during foraging.
Cage liners are good for daily upkeep since they are easier to change than a litter tray, and do not create dust.
Breathing Clean Air
During weekly cleanings, it is recommended to remove all accessories from the cage to soak, as well as removing the cage bars from the base to disinfect as well, but extreme care must be taken when cleaning with solutions.
“The respiratory system of a bird is much more efficient and therefore sensitive than a mammal, and a scent that will not harm you or your other pets can kill a bird,” Donna Garrou, owner of Bird Stuff in Orange, Calif. said.
Since birds are extremely sensitive to the toxins found in household cleaning solutions, using specific avian cleaning products will keep a bird safe during routine cleaning – a point that should be stressed to customers.
Erik Christopher, president of Mango Pet Products, Inc., offers Pet Focus Avian and Cage Disinfectant in his Rhode Island store.
“Pet Focus Avian and Cage Disinfectant is considered by avian vets, birds stores and households to be the most complete avian and pet care disinfectant available,” he said. “It differs from other products in that number one, it is a disinfectant, but in addition, it has cleaner and deodorant properties.”
Pet Focus is available in a ready-to-use or concentrated formula and is effective in killing over 50 pathogens.
“It prevents against cross-contamination with a stabilized system cleaning curve,” Christopher said. “It can be used on any surface and once it has air dried, is non-toxic, so rinsing is not necessary. Once they try Pet Focus, whether it is for its disinfectant qualities, cleaner or deodorant properties, pet shops are expected to have repeat customers for this product. It is a great tag-on item in pet shops or at the veterinary retail center.”
Another popular cleaning product is F10SC.
This is a veterinary/hospital grade disinfectant used in clinics, zoos and breeding facilities. F10SC can be used on all accessories within the cage, such as water bowls, toys, and perches.
Toys can be soaked in the disinfectant, or the product can be poured into a spray bottle and misted throughout the room to kill airborne microbes and prevent cross contamination. This product is effective in cleaning the bird’s living quarters without risking harm to humans or birds. F10SC can be sprayed directly onto surfaces without having to rinse off afterward, leaving no harmful residue.
“Again, the number one factor in cleaning a pet bird’s mess is controlling it,” Savitt said.
Controlling the mess by housing a bird in an easy to clean cage, as well as using liners and avian disinfectants, will insure that the bird’s living space is a healthy environment for them to live.
– Erin Salley
The first store a small business pet retailer has opened is running well. It’s successful and they are finally living out their dream. The thought of opening a second location becomes a possibility, but should it be done?
The first option is to expand or make renovations to the current store. If the store is the appropriate size and all the merchandise can fit in, then the store may just need a new look. Other times, the current store space has been outgrown and it’s time to move to a larger location.
The second option is to open a second store, and effectively doubling the amount of work the retailer has to do.
“The right time is going to be really specific to each person, each individual and the circumstances,” Michael Levy, founder and president of Pet Food Express, said. “There are so many factors that go into expansion. First, you need to really want to expand. It’s not a given that everyone wants to expand.
“For people that are considering expansion, it doesn’t have to be to open more stores, just improve what you have. Sometimes it’s just a relocation that you need, but it all will take planning. First you need the vision for it, then to start planning it.”
Levy started as a dog trainer in college and opened a physical location in 1976. In 1980 he opened his second physical location. Since then, he will have 50 stores by the end of the year.
“Adding the first couple of stores is critical,” Levy said. “When you think in terms of adding the second store, you are doubling your business. Further along you get, the less the impact is. We opened store 48 and want everything to run smoothly but if it fails, I have 47 other stores to absorb that. The same can be said if you’re doing a major remodeling job.
“The greatest asset that any independent retailer has is their ability for customer service. They can outperform any national chain, and most regional chains. They can’t lose focus on that, they should not lose focus on that.”
Madalyn Moorman, the founder and owner of Mad 4 My Dog, is a dog trainer who started her business in 2004.
“I was originally doing everything myself in a building on my property,” Moorman said. “Now, within the past year, I have an office manager, three other trainers and an intern. I decided to move to help gain visibility in the community.”
Moorman has spent a great deal of time in the community talking to different people, going to different groups to learn more about the big move she’s about to take.
“I have gone to a CEO roundtable at the local community college, gone to the Indiana small business development center for information, the city and county planning department and my friend who is a realtor,” Moorman said. “Any question I may have, I go out there and find the answer for it.
The biggest struggle that Moorman has faced so far is taking the leap of faith that the business will run and be successful.
“I can look at all the numbers all day long, the projections all day long, look at all of it all day long,” Moorman said. “But at the end of the day there is no way of knowing what will happen. Knowing that I have to take a leap of faith is difficult for me, probably the most difficult thing for me. But I am just trying to get prepared as much as I can and do everything I can to be successful and if I fail, that’s OK. As long as we did everything we could to make it successful. It would be worse if we didn’t do it and sat around wondering what could have been.”
Getting Started
Giovanni Senafe, co-owner of Bentley’s Corner Barkery has done it both.
“We started with our first location at Arlington Heights, Ill.,” Senafe said. “We knocked down a wall and grew that location. A year and a half ago we opened a second location in Schaumburg that’s double the size.”
Senafe decided to make the original space bigger after he simply ran out of space.
“The benefit of starting small was that our overhead was low and it was a safe play,” Senafe said. “Eventually we just couldn’t meet the demands of our customers, especially with food lines growing. Once we were saying no to more customers than saying yes, we knew we had to expand.”
Senafe said the expansion was easy and they knew they were answering a need that was provided from their customers.
“The new store was scary,” Senafe said. “Everything was a huge gamble from day one. Whatever success we had in the original store we needed more of since it was a bigger location. It was scarier than the first store because we didn’t know any better. We have people who support their families that work for us and when we were opening the first store it was just me and my wife that we were gambling on.”
His advice is to be open to what the customers are telling you and what the market bears.
“You have to have your beliefs of how the store should be,” Senafe said. “You have to have boundaries but be willing to carry certain things. That’s something we learned in the beginning. We thought raw food was all we were going to sell but we kept getting asked for all these other things, it’s not just your decision, it’s your customers.”
Even though a store owner may have everything planned for their store, the unexpected may creep up.
“We run and own our own distribution facilities,” Levy said. “We have had a warehouse for many years, starting from a basement to now a 147,500-square-foot warehouse. We have moved probably seven or eight times since the beginning, but 12 to 15 years ago we moved around the holidays. We moved to a larger, really nice facility at the time. When we moved and did all these changes, our computer system crashed and we could not use a computer to locate anything in the warehouse. So during the holidays we were running up and down the warehouse and locating the product by sight, then putting it into our SUVs so we could run it into our stores. This seemed to go on for weeks.”
Besides technical malfunctions, there is also the chance for human error.
“The store problem I remember the most is, I think it was store number seven,” Levy said. “We got a really good deal from a manufacturer for dog food and needed a lot of it in the store. It literally filled up the store and we had to put it back in the parking lot. We had a fork lift at the time, we don’t allow them in the store anymore. On Friday night, we were opening the store the next day; someone drove the fork lift through the doors. We had to chain it up and had to open the store with the doors chained up. We fixed it all up and then the next week at around the same time, the same thing happened; someone ran the forklift through the door again.”
Experts and Advice
Troy Hazard, international business consultant and entrepreneur, has opened outlets and branches for his business all over the country in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
First, he says, you must look for a gap or a market opportunity.
“Let’s just say you have an outlet in Austin, Texas, you have done as much with that market as you can,” Hazard said. “You have reached market saturation for that area. The next opportunity is to take on an additional area. The key to understanding if it’s a right time to know is if there is a market gap in the other place, like San Antonio for example. Before you open that second outlet in a place that seems right for your business, spend some time on the ground. Really go walk around out there. Put your feet on the pavement and really understand what the market is doing out there on a first person perspective.”
When opening a second store, Hazard said you have to take a look at what’s close by.
“The challenge with stores that are far apart is that you can’t avoid not traveling to that location,” Hazard said. “You have to look at the geography of where you are. What makes it easy for you to expand your footprint without killing you? Until you can hire someone to help you, you will have 12 months of doing it yourself, at least. If you are in Austin still and want to open in San Diego, Calif., that’s not realistic since you will have to spend so much money and time on travel.”
When Hazard talks to businesses about expanding, he has the retailer take a hard look at their existing market to make sure they have reached every possible customer and gotten as much money from them as possible.
“A big problem is people want to expand more to have a bigger title, or sound more important or update their business card with all these locations on it,” Hazard said. “You need to park your ego at the door, make sure the expansion is strategic and not for your ego. Make sure you get every penny from all the customers you can. The next thing is to have a system, or processes or strategies that you used in the first outlet that you can duplicate to the second place.
“You don’t want the second outlet to feel like the red-headed step child. Outlet two, three, four and so on, they should all feel like they belong to the corporation, that they are a part of the family. The last step is you have to be comfortable enough to let your leaders lead. If you employed the right people to manage your places, you have to let them take control.”
Lastly, Hazard said is that each store must be treated as a separate business.
“Each store must be able to stand alone,” Hazard said. “Don’t make one child sick to save another. If opening a second location is to prop up the poor performance of the first location in the belief that ‘this one will be better’ then you are only going to drag both of them down.”
Where to Build
Levy’s advice is that site selection can make or break the success of the store.
“It is so critical and so many factors that come into that,” Levy said. “Picking the right location is so important, as is negotiating the right price. They are all pieces: finding the right place, negotiating, and the staff, and capital, money, to open your store and keep it running till it’s paying for itself. If you have one store and are opening the second, it’s easy to only focus on the second one. It’s important to let your employees know and your customers know that the first store is still important.
“Get a commercial real estate agent that you trust. You have to know where to look and you will need help with that, also with negotiating the lease. The lease I signed for the store in 1980 was the landlord handing me some papers, I looked at the pages and then signed the last page. That’s how I think people think it works and how people do it. You should go through it and make sure it’s fair for you and the landlord, we could take months to go through it.”
Senafe keeps an old business saying in mind to help him with choices.
“Paralysis by analysis,” Senafe said. “If you are looking for a perfect time to expand or open another location, you will never find it. You will always find a reason not to do something. You have to set a reasonable safety net and if you know there is a certain amount that goes wrong you can’t pass it and you will have to cut your losses.”
Financial Advice
While going to a bank is always an option, there are companies such as Newtek that provide financial services and business services to independent business owners.
Barry Sloane, the CEO of Newtek, a small business lender, eCommerce provider, website developer, 50 state licensed insurance agencies for property, casualty and health insurance, that process electronic payments for small businesses, store data and lends money to resellers and wholesalers.
“We are a nonbank lender and the biggest government guaranteed non-bank lender in the United States,” Sloane said. “The primary difference between Newtek and a bank is we do not take deposits and have less oversight and regulation as a lender. The primary difference to our borrows and clientele is that 100 percent of the company’s focus is in dealing with small to medium size independent businesses. We are much more customer friendly to our clients than the typical bank lending relationship.”
Sloane said in order to expand, a business should have a minimum three year plan going forward which should be extremely granular and estimates all costs of the expansion and the growing revenues at a minimum month by month.
“In order to expand, a business should have a minimal three year plan going forward which should be extremely granular and estimates all costs of the expansion and the growing revenues at a minimum month by month,” Sloane said. “In working with small business owners, we would strongly recommend having all their data in a military strength-proof facility warehoused and available in the cloud. We would strongly suggest businesses make sure they have state of the art electronic payment processing and eCommerce solutions. We would also suggest business owners rebid all their health insurance costs in front of Obamacare taking effect in 2014, as well as reevaluate all their property and casualty insurance. We endeavor to help businesses manage and reduce their expenses and have state of the art effective technology and systems.”
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