“It all started with frogs,” Morris Sampson said. He is one of the owners of Happy Scales & Tales Exotics pet store, which opened in Skyline Plaza at the beginning of December.
Morris’ wife and store co-owner, Samantha Sampson, describes herself as a life-long animal lover. She said she was the child who would bring anything home as a pet.
“That kind of just developed into my adulthood,” she said.
After Morris and Samantha were together, they got a frog, which turned into many frogs. The hobby blossomed from there, Morris Sampson said, eventually becoming a dream of owning a pet store and exotic pet rescue.
In the context of their work, the couple explained, the term “exotic pets” refers to animals that are not cats or dogs. This encompasses a wide range of animals from fish and rodents to amphibians and reptiles.
Happy Scales & Tails Exotics also carries birds, but they are not kept at the Skyline store to avoid noise complaints. Morris Sampson said the plan is to have photos and information about them at the store that people can look at if they are interested in getting a bird.
The Sampsons noticed that a lot of people did not know how to care for more unusual types of animals. A lot of times, they explained, people buy a pet and bring it home only to realize they are not sure how to care for it. They decided to start a business that focused not only on selling animals and supplies, but also on educating pet owners.
In fact, Samantha Sampson said the goal of the business is to help teach people about animals rather than selling products.
“I’d rather them walk out empty handed than bring home an animal that was bought on an impulse,” she said.
Happy Scales & Tails Exotics officially started in July as an online-only business. Morris Sampson said they wanted to find a brick and mortar store for the face to face customer interaction.
He and Samantha Sampson began looking for a community where there was both a need and a viable place to start a new business.
They looked into Albert Lea and through market research learned that there were no exotic pet stores nearby and the choices that were available were mainly big box stores.
“A lot of people don’t want to support big box stores because they have a tendency to sell you the wrong product to get you to come back for more stuff, and that is not our intention,” Samantha Sampson said.
Morris Sampson added that nothing sold at Happy Scales & Tails Exotics will harm animals or is unethical. Everything they carry is something they have used for their own animals, he said.
One example of a product he said their store will never carry is reptile carpets. Big box pet stores carry them even though they promote bacterial growth and the animals can get their nails caught in it, leading to ripped nails and infections.
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