While big-name retailers and online shops may have an edge on pricing, local pet stores are staying in the black because of devoted customers whose shopping trips are more than just a chore.
Jen Schurrer, owner of Pet Supply Port in Saukville, said she is a “nutrition geek.” Customers can ask her advice on the best food and treats, as well as toys, for their pets, who she has gotten to know over the years.
“Everything is about nutrition for me,” she said. “I am just here for the pets, where a big box store is not.
“Every animal is different. We don’t stamp, ‘Feed them this’ on food. The big companies don’t think like that.”
Schurrer said she has tried to make a stop at Pet Supply Port memorable. She has a pet bird named Donald who is well-known by customers, as well as guinea pigs, a bunny and a lizard, none of which are for sale.
After the practices at the dance studio next door, students will make their parents bring them to the store — including the fish room that Schurrer designed to emulate her childhood memory of a small, dark, blue-lit fish shop in Sheboygan.
Schurrer said she doesn’t make much money selling fish — or from selling crickets — but she does it to make sure none of her customers are left out, which ultimately benefits the store by building a following.
“It’s why we have been able do this for some years,” she said.
Emily Monroe, owner of cat and dog supply store One Wag in downtown Port Washington, said customers often bring their dogs with them to browse and buy bagged or frozen food, treats and toys.
Port is walkable, Monroe said. During the summertime, there are water bowls on almost every block and most businesses are dog friendly — not to mention the beaches, parks and the marina.
“You can kind of make your stops on your way,” she said.
Monroe said customers know when they stop in they will either see her or her only employee Lyla McBurney, who both know them and their pets.
“You get a true conversation. When you go to a big store, you just walk down the aisle and grab a bag. You don’t get to ask questions and have time to think and see the different options,” she said.
Port Pet Supply only has three employees in addition to Schurrer and her mother.
“For us, turn around isn’t a thing,” she said.“We are here for education, and people trust us to be here for them.”
Monroe said people love spoiling their pets — it’s why treat and toy sales spike each year around Christmas.
“I always loved shopping for my animals before opening the store, and now I get to shop for everyone’s animals,” she said.
Social media has helped popularize frozen and fresh food for animals as well as building complete diets and giving them “enrichment activities” like puzzle toys, Schurrer said
“Even 10, 15 years ago, people came in and bought dog food and that was it. There weren’t all these other things,” she said.
McBurney said customers like to shop for different flavor options for their dogs.
“You’d get sick of eating the same thing, and if your dog can (have variety), it’s a good thing,” she said.
Schurrer said readily available information about pets can be good, bad or anywhere in between. On the positive side, the proliferation of animal welfare tips has practically eliminated the idea of keeping beta fish in goldfish bowls, as was previously common.
Schurrer is selling off her stock of hamster and guinea pig cages and switching to only larger Living World cages that are more than a foot wide and close to 3 feet long, along with travel carriers.
For some people, even that is too small, and they devote entire rooms to the animals.
Online shopping made a dent in the sales of local pet stores, Schurrer said. Basically anything except frozen food can be bought online.
“The Amazons of the world have killed us on pricing because we can’t compete at selling things basically at cost,” she said.
But Schurrer said that even with online competition, she is able to special order specific and hard-to-find items for customers.
“There are always toys a dog really loves that customers no longer can get. We strive to find it for them,” she said.
Pet Supply Port has shifted towards cat and dog products over the years, Schurrer said.
“The dog people are taking over the world,” she said, adding that she designed the store’s layout to try and draw the dog shoppers to the fish room.
When Schurrer started working at the store at age 16, reptiles and birds were very popular. She said the store had a whole row of bird toys, and now have none.
“It’s been a hard few years because those things have gone away,” she said.
Schurrer said consolidation across the pet supply industry has made getting local, small-business-made products tough.
The second a small treat or toy manufacturer gets big enough, a large company will buy it, she said.
The difficulty of getting products is compounded, Schurrer said, by distributors that restrict what brands you can buy.
“It’s a lot harder to get things done,” she said. “But that is for me to worry about so my customers don’t have to.”
Both Pet Supply Port and One Wag have reward programs, which also help keep customers coming back. Schurrer said companies will often offer free coupons for dog food to try and get pet owners to switch.
Monroe said part of the reason for the local stores’ success is that the areas shops, groomers and veterinarians all get along and help each other.
“Everyone works together,” she said.
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