Thinking about opening a pet store....yes, seriously!

Emmasmom said:
I hope you are looking into all the grants etc the federal govt has available.
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On my homework list!

This is huge project to consider! For that reason, I've opted not to look for any other work until I figure out whether this is viable or not. But neither am I rushing it. I spend a couple of hours a day, no more, on research. Then I pontificate......and do more research.....

I don't know if its like this for most people, contemplating this, but because of the dollars and time investmet involved I'm being very cautious and methodical.

And I'm so thankful to this forum....I think I've said it about 8 times now. You guys just keep me thinking about the "what abouts"
 
Pet Grooming Mobile?

What do you all think about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQ8L9okOIg


I wouldn't do the grooming myself but would hope to eventually own a "fleet"

I groom my boys myself to some extent, but I still bring them to the groomers 3 times per year. I hate bringing them there because I know it stresses them out. How lovely to have it done right out my door.

For those of you that pay for groomers, how much more would you spend to have this convenience? It normally costs me $70 to have the dogs have the full meal deal. I hate it because I know there are caged while drying etc. Would I spend an extra $20, 3 times per year....yep!

I'm going to give these guys a try in the next week or so, but welcome your feedback on the concept.
 
They are huge over here. Very very popular amongst people who don't need the full deal (eg clipping), esp large and medium dog owners. Most of my friends use them and are happy. It costs about $50 for a lab. They do a lot of charity and sponsorship work so are a respected company. I tried them but they are just not set up to dry off heavy coated dogs, although the wash was fine.

Recently someone started a 'poodle' one for dogs that need clips, its been doing really well. If there was one that did the double coats I would use them, its much less stressful for the dogs as you can stay with your dog while they get washed and great if you want to save your back.
 
My groomer is a mobile groomer, and we love her. She is a foster mom for our local sheltie rescue, so she is awesome at shelties. She charges us a lot less than $70 per dog, but I am assuming that is because we have one of her rescues.

I think it is a great business...they seem to do well over here.

Honestly, people seem so busy these days, that have a store may not do to well. Owning a business that adds convienance to someone's life will probably have a much better chance at success, than a business where people need to go there and shop.
 
I would consider a mobile groomer in the same way that I would consider a regular groomer. I would only go to ANY groomer off of a friend's recommendation because they had experience grooming shelties. It doesn't matter to me where they are located. I would drive 30-45 minutes to take my dogs somewhere where they had sheltie experience.

So the mobile thing doesn't really appeal to me any more than a regular groomer.
 
The only times we have used a groomer was a mobile groomer. Riley is about $70 for a brushing, bath, trim, nails, and ears. I actually only use a mobile groomer because she hand dries Riley and he is never crated...oh, and I can hang out in the van with them. She barely trims him (per my request) and just does a 'sanitary' trim. The good news was that she does not like shaving or over trimming long haired breeds and had to talk another sheltie owner out of shaving. We actually have to drive 30 minutes to get into the 'area' that she works and find a parking lot to trim.

I do prefer learning my own trimming or finding a sheltie breeder that would like to groom Riley, but we use Mandy (our groomer) during the colder months since he gets fully dried and fluffed!

Interesting fact: our mobile groomer started to do mobile grooming after graduating grooming school and working at a Petsmart/Petco location for 2 HOURS!!! Apparently there were dogs who had been waiting for hours to be groomed with no water.... She was so outraged that she took each out for water & potty, went on a break and never went back.....
 
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Great feedback!

I personally love the concept because I hate I know the boys hate going to the groomers, even if its only 3 times per year. It stresses me out that they are stressed out.

As Corbinam pointed out: the business is only as good as the groomers themselves. And we've all had bad groomer experiences.

That being said, I think that we, as a group, are fussier than most. Most people don't have a clue as to how their dog should be properly groomed, as long as pup is clean, smells fresh and isn't dumping fur everywhere.

If I were to consider this, my goal would be to have a small fleet of vans, with groomers that had "specialties".
 
DPSheltie said:
The only times we have used a groomer was a mobile groomer. Riley is about $70 for a brushing, bath, trim, nails, and ears. I actually only use a mobile groomer because she hand dries Riley and he is never crated...oh, and I can hang out in the van with them. She barely trims him (per my request) and just does a 'sanitary' trim. The good news was that she does not like shaving or over trimming long haired breeds and had to talk another sheltie owner out of shaving. We actually have to drive 30 minutes to get into the 'area' that she works and find a parking lot to trim.

I do prefer learning my own trimming or finding a sheltie breeder that would like to groom Riley, but we use Mandy (our groomer) during the colder months since he gets fully dried and fluffed!

Interesting fact: our mobile groomer started to do mobile grooming after graduating grooming school and working at a Petsmart/Petco location for 2 HOURS!!! Apparently there were dogs who had been waiting for hours to be groomed with no water.... She was so outraged that she took each out for water & potty, went on a break and never went back.....
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Thanks for the feedback! I would expect that alot of groomers feel this way. They go into the business beause they love pets - how can they be happy when a dog is unhappy!

The business model behind this needs lots of investigation. The advantage to a grooming salon is that when you drop your pups off, you often buy other high margin product. With the mobile truck, it is service alone.
 
BarbV said:
Thanks for the feedback! I would expect that alot of groomers feel this way. They go into the business beause they love pets - how can they be happy when a dog is unhappy!

The business model behind this needs lots of investigation. The advantage to a grooming salon is that when you drop your pups off, you often buy other high margin product. With the mobile truck, it is service alone.
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Hi Barb,

I've been reading this thread with interest and I think I have an idea for you.

If you had a website that your customers used to book your grooming trucks, you could also have an online catalog that your customers could use and have product delivered when their grooming is performed. That would allow you sell high margin product and avoid the costs associated with a brick-and-mortar. You would just need to find some extra room in the truck to carry the deliveries.
 
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