Pet sales take a hit during recession
By: Elyssa Maldonado
Puppies barked by the window of Pet Palace, a store in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, as their small pleading eyes, cajoled customers to come and find the best match for them. A young boy pressed his face against the window begging his mom, “Please mom! Look at this one!” and she responded, “You know we can’t have one.”
Pet Palace keeps their puppies in cribs
The recession has brought about a new type of reality for many business owners. Pet stores, too, have suffered and owners have had to reanalyze how to run their businesses. Because many consumers have cut back drastically and made budgets to fit only necessities, often buying new pets just doesn’t make the cut.
“There’s been at least a 25% drop in sales just this past year,” said Claudia Canel, owner of Pet Plus in Brooklyn. This seems to be a common trend among pet stores. Jonathan Aponte, an assistant manager at Pet Land agreed, “Most people don’t come in to buy new pets, but instead just to get the necessities for their current pets.”
Even though it seems as if animal sales are going down, that doesn’t stop pet stores from persevering. Sue LaRosa-Caracci, owner of Pet Palace in Ridgewood, just opened her pet store in the beginning of April in midst of the recession, “The key is to have good credit, a good budget, and a good accountant, who’s going to help you pay all your bills on time. So we saw this [place] and that was it, we jumped in with two feet [because] if you’re too hesitant it’s never going to happen.”
Home to a variety of different exotic animals
Many eager Ridgewood residents are drawn to the store because of its location. “Metropolitan is a heavy traffic street,” said customer Victor Rhodes, “all the puppies in the window draw attention to drivers who stop for food at the Wendy’s next door.” Aside from the busy street, the variety of puppies playing in the window draws many eager pet lovers into the store.
In order to compensate for the lack of sales of animals, many pet stores had to come up with alternative marketing strategies. Many stores now offer grooming as an incentive to get more customers, as opposed to visiting the veterinarian to get their pet groomed. “I’m training to start grooming dogs myself” said LaRosa-Caracci. Pet Palace also offers dog training like from a professor dog trainer, who will teach pet owners to house break their pets and even train dogs to be guard dogs.
For smaller business owners, the challenge isn’t only in keeping up their sales, but dealing with corporations as competition. “I’ve been here sixteen years, and a year ago, they moved a Pet Land, one block down, but Pet Land [doesn’t] sell cats or dogs, so we’re doing well in [that area]. Also we started grooming” said Canel.
Pet Palace, being a new business isn’t concerned with competition, “we actually take courses for [pet maintenance],” said LaRosa-Caracci. She also described how customer service is a very important part of the business and what she feels is the key to a successful business. Aside from just selling pets, Pet Palace works with the neighboring Antelyes Animal Hospital, and with any purchase of a pet, get two free vet visits.
Even though pet sales have been declining, sales for aquatic animals and aquatic accessories have increased. Aponte mentioned that although overall sales have dropped, one area with consistent sales seems to be in the sale of fish and fish equipment, like tanks and filters. Aponte said, “People have to maintain their animals. Things break, and need to be replaced. Ironically filters and tanks are the most expensive but sell very well.” LaRosa also saw a trend with fish sales. “Fish are very popular around [Ridgewood]. Maybe its cause they are low maintenance, but people are always coming in for fish food, tanks, filters, and adding to their assortment of fish.”
Over the course of the years, LaRosa-Caracci and her husband had an aquatic business, which involved installing and maintaining fish tanks, “We did very well; it was very popular in corporate offices and for doctor offices and some homes because fish are so easy to take care of.”
Even though the recession may be hampering on pet sales, pet store owners won’t be discouraged. Aponte stated, “People consider their pets to be part of their family. So regardless if there is a recession or not, they need to take care of their pets.”