Focusing on a particular type of customer helps BirdStuff build a loyal customer base.
By Devon McPhee

Donna Garrou, owner of BirdStuff, sells only avian products at the store.

Donna Garrou and Larry Nemetz, D.V.M., opened BirdStuff, an all-avian retail outlet and boarding facility in Orange, Calif., for several reasons. They, however, all center on the same overarching goal: happier, healthier pet birds.

Safety is one main reason the pair founded the BirdStuff, a runner-up for Pet Product News International’s Retailer of the Year Award.
“We heard stories about birds getting their nails caught in rope toys and rings toys, and poisonings from paint,” Garrou says.
“We knew there was a need for a place to go for safer toys.”

Another reason is health. Customers crave information on healthier avian diets and are looking for tips on how to keep their birds healthy, Garrou says.

“A lot of people come here specifically because they’ve heard about the store and seek us out for our knowledge of healthy diets,” she says.

The pair also wanted to develop an environment that doesn’t compromise the cleanliness of the inventory.

“Birds, like any other animal, have communicable diseases that they can pass on to other animals,” Garrou says. “So there was also a need for a place where the food and toys had not been exposed to any illnesses.”

BirdStuff is located in Orange, Calif., and caters to customers in a 200-mile radius.

BirdStuff has strict quality-control measures to ensure that its products remain contaminant-free. Since communicable avian diseases spread primarily through feather dust and dry fecal matter, the owners do not allow animals in the store. They have strict health requirements for the birds they do board.

Owners who board birds must have had their pets tested for major viral diseases (psittacocis, psittacine beak and feather disease, polyomavirus and herpes) and have taken them in for a check up within the past year. No exceptions are allowed.

Garrou and Nemetz also screen manufacturers to make sure they do not keep birds near their toys or, if they have birds, that they get them tested regularly.

“Customers know that the toys coming into my store are clean and that they stay clean,” she says. “That is im- portant to them.”
A final reason for opening the store is the popularity of high-end boarding facilities for pets.

AT A GLANCE

BirdStuff Location: 210 S. Tustin St., Orange, Calif. Owner: Donna Garrou and Larry Nemetz, D.V.M. Size: 1,200 square feet Employees: Three part time, one full time Years in Business: Four Products and Services Offered: A strictly avian store, it stocks healthful food and treats, toys, cages and other bird accessories, and gifts. Upscale boarding services and bathing services available.

“High-end boarding for dogs and cats exploded, and we saw a need for something similar for birds,” Garrou says.
 
Boutique Boarding
A typical bird boarding facility consists of a collection of generic cages, Garrou says. BirdStuff takes a more indulgent route.
“People have high expectations and want a positive experience for their pets,” she says.

At BirdStuff, birds are housed in custom-made clear plastic cages designed, Garrou says, to make them feel secure but not confined. The smooth surfaces of the cages also make for easy, deep disinfection between boarders, she says.

Old World and New World birds are housed in separate rooms because “studies show these species are uncomfortable with each other,” Garrou says, noting that birds from the same household are placed across from one another so they see each other. The rooms have filtered air and cages have filtered water.

Each boarder is taken out to play on a stand for two 15-minute sessions daily. Most birds use the time to preen and stretch their wings, she says.

When birds are checked in, a staff member reviews their diets with their owners, then files the information for future appointments. Birds are weighed every day before breakfast in an effort to track how well they’re eating.

One-of-a-kind Sales Force “I just call them my salesmen,” says BirdStuff co-owner Donna Garrou of the birds she boards at her facility in Orange, Calif. Garrou lets her feathered boarders play with toys that she sells in the shop, and lines their cages with litter instead of newspapers as a sales tool. Customers watch birds playing with the toys, or see the litter, which piques their interest in the items, she says. “Not a day goes by that I don’t sell one or two of the toys that my birds are playing with in their cages,” she says. This sales technique works, Garrou says, because many customers cannot visualize how their pets would use the products without seeing them in action. “People see an item on the wall and they don’t know how their bird is supposed to use it or how it works in a cage until they see it,” she says. While this technique does require an initial expenditure, the return on investment is well worth it, Garrou says. “It does cost me money to provide them with the toys, but it pays off in the long run,” she says.

“Birds are prey animals,” Garrou says. “If they get nervous or scared, they won’t eat.”

If a bird isn’t eating, Garrou says, she has several tricks to encourage it to eat properly, including trying a food it wouldn’t normally eat. For instance, serving the food to other, nearby birds usually results in everyone enjoying a meal.

“Birds are social eaters,” she says. “It’s hard for them to watch 10 or 12 birds eat something and not eat it themselves.”

Garrou says she aims to improve the health and possibly the appetite of her boarders.

“My goal is to send all birds home a little bit better than when they came in,” she says. “Maybe they’re a little bit healthier, maybe their diet has improved or maybe they’ve learned to enjoy vegetables.”

Staying on Target
The success of the boarding facility and of the store supports the soundness of the owners’ business plan, which many entrepreneurs scoffed at when they first opened, Garrou says.

“A lot of people told me that a business could not survive if it was just birds and boarding,” she says. “The hardest thing for me to do was not lower my prices or try to appeal to a larger group of people.”

Sticking to her guns has paid off. BirdStuff draws customers from a 200-mile radius. Many individuals fit Garrou’s ideal customer profile: mid- to upper-income individuals with one to five birds who treat their birds as family.

Garrou says the store plans to put all its products online within the next six to eight months. This move may make it easier for BirdStuff’s long-distance clients to make purchases and perhaps allow the store to reach a whole new audience.

Considering the success of her retail venture, Garrou says the secret was staying on target—advice she says any shop owner should heed.

“Don’t get waylaid by what the competition is doing,” she says. “Focus on yourself and who your core customer is, and take care of that customer.” <HOME>