Little Leona’s Pets & Supplies
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
Vivian Flanders, Owner

How’s business going?

It’s going OK. It’s a little slow. This is normally a slow time of year. We’re in a touristy area, and people look but don’t buy much.

Any trends in your business? What’s selling well?

No, I don’t see any trends. Mostly, I’m selling reptile-related things. Also, mostly this time of year I do pond fish sales. I carry quite a few different types of products. The only things I don’t cover are cats and dogs. I’m really small, so I can’t carry the animals. I do carry some dog and cat products.

I cover reptiles, saltwater fish, freshwater fish, hamsters, small mammals, birds, pretty much everything. Freshwater fish are doing better than saltwater fish right now.

I also live on a farm, so I have farm animals, like horses and things like that for people to look at. That’s why I have a lot of tourists come in.

Anything new?

No, we’re keeping things about the same. I’m waiting to see how things go. The economy hasn’t really been as bad for me. I’m in Martha’s Vineyard, so the economy hits us last--and hits us longer.

Do you sell livestock?

Yes, I do. Rabbits and hamsters, mostly the dwarf hamsters, are selling well, actually. Everyone seems to be buying them. I’ve been selling them all winter.  I raise miniature horses, but there more pets for me. I don’t sell them. I do get a lot of tourists interested in them.  --EM

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Forest Lake Pets
Forest Lake, Minn.
Peggy Toonen, owner

How’s business?

Business is going very good. It’s been pretty steady.

What’s new?

We did bring in new dog food, Grandma Mae’s, which is selling pretty good, catching on.

What is your best-selling livestock?

Fish. Pretty much everything [is selling well]: the tropical, salt, we do goldfish.  --KI

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Sand Bar Pet Shop
Mission Viejo, Calif.
Julie Pells, Co-owner

How’s business?

The truth? Business for us is probably down about 40 percent compared to two or three years ago.

Our supplier reps tell us that 50 percent of fish stores have vanished. They’re just gone. The biggest decline in the industry I think is bird, especially the large-bird market. When the bird flu hit it scared everyone and people started to think, “If I buy a canary, I’ll get bird flu,” which of course isn’t true—well, not likely. But it didn’t matter because it scared everyone.

What’s your key to success?

We’re a whole service store. We’ve been in business 32 years and have good people working here. My kids have been working for me for the last 10 years, and we try to hire people who want to stay around for a while. We sell a little bit of everything, and we have a good client base. We offer tank maintenance service and did grooming for 26 years, but stopped because the groomer was making all the money. If you’re a good groomer, you can pretty much support your own store. Of course, when things get tough the grooming service is the first to get cut because people start to do the grooming themselves.

What product categories are most popular among your customers?

We sell a little of everything. And as far as animals, we sell dogs, cats and fish pretty much equally. Reptiles do pretty good because a lot of kids these days are allergic to cats and dogs. Of the dogs we sell, our most popular are the poodle mixes.

Any news on the homefront?

We actually gave away a dog recently to a family whose dog was attacked and killed by a man in San Clemente. We wanted to do something to help. It got a lot of attention in the news.  --JMB