Locally owned bussiness

[starfire8472]

I don't know if the rest of you have had similar experiences, but after hearing some complaints about p******* and others, I thought I would share that I have had some of the best experiences at a locally owned store near me. The place that I go actually treats the animals well, instead of cramming a couple leos into a 7 inch wide display, they housed 3 females in a very well furnished 20 gallon tank, with similar setups for their other animals. I have never seen a malnourished animal there. Another thing that amazes me is that they dont try to skimp out when selling crickets/mealies there. I have repeatedly ordered 2 dozen crickets and counted them at home an ended up with around 30. The prices are comparable to chain stores for feeders and supplies, the animals themselves are maybe 5-10% more, but I feel it is worth it for a higher quality pet. Has anyone else had an experience like this?

 

[paulnj]

Ever store, no matter what they sell, is only a good as the owner/ staff makes it. Whether a lowes, walmart, chain pet store, jimmy's hardware, jenny's dress shop or joe's love those lizzards, it all boils down to enough caring help who likes what they do.

 

[daveim]

ooh, you should see how they keep the leopard geckos at my local *****. they stuffed 20 or more juvenile leopards in little ten gallon tanks with sand as substrate. They were so careless that some leos climbed in the sliding door and got squished (they didn't die, but most were injured). For some reason, the other lizards were kept somewhat reasonably, except for the 10-15 baby beardeds being cramped in a space smaller than 10 gallons. The best kept were the crested geckos, but most of the others were obviously mistreated.

 

[Tanner505Geckos]

My friend alan is the reptile guy at my local pet store and he is pretty good about the reptiles and keepin them clean

 

[fallen_angel]

We have a few local stores around and they all do excellent jobs in taking care of their animals. IMO, smaller individually-owned places are better just because they obviously know more and care more about the animals. They do not hire just anybody that walks in the door looking for a job, you have to be experienced/knowledgable with the animals they sell, which isn't true for the larger chain pet stores.

 

[lamarr]

hit and miss

I'll have to say that in my neighborhood the chains are way cleaner than the one local that has reptiles but the animal quality is better at the independent. Pick your poison I suppose. I watch the chains for nice leo babies but steer everything I can to the indy.

 

[StinaKSU]

I've seen plenty of locally owned places that were FAR worse than just about any large chain store. You simply cannot make a blanket classification based on if a store is corporately owned or not. EVERY store is different and every store is run by different people. It's the individual people who work in the stores who matter. I actually had someone come into the store I work in the other day saying she's heard so many bad stories about ***** on her bird forums.....and then that none of those people must come into our store....b/c most of us are knowledgeable and take care of and care about our animals.

Blanket classifications/stereotypes dont' work for anything else.......why would they apply for this?

 

[Lena]

My local petstore is so bad that only the term rescue is fit for my little AFT that I bought from there.

My boyfriend can't even look at when we go in there for feeders. (Then again, he can't in P***m*** or P**c*, either.)

 

[stano40]

Ever store, no matter what they sell, is only a good as the owner/ staff makes it. Whether a lowes, walmart, chain pet store, jimmy's hardware, jenny's dress shop or joe's love those lizards, it all boils down to enough caring help who likes what they do.

Your right paulnj about how it depends on the owner and his expertise and knowledge.

I depends also on what that store specializes in also. Big chain stores want to cater to about every facet of the pet industry in order to stay big & to make there money. I've seen chain stores both good and bad. Depends on the Manager of the chain store in how good they are.

I've also seen mom & pop stores that were just horrible. Filthy, un-kept animals to a point where they should have been reported. The smaller store sometime's tries to cater to other species's but on a smaller scale, you have to know what their specialty is in that store and you can judge from that point on on how good that store it.

My main concern is how the store, animals & staff is kept. Is the store clean? Are the animals & there surroundings kept clean? Do the animals look healthy and active (they shouldn't be laying upside down with their mouth open and their tongue hanging out)? Does the staff look clean and presentable? The staff that works in a certain department, do they have the knowledge to safely answer's questions of their customers & are attentive to their customers? If not then they have a bad manager or store owner that does not train his/her staff properly.

So for me that would be a tough question because I've had good and bad experiences from both the chain store and the mom & pop store.

bob/stano40

 

[David Loftin]

I think a really big thing to remember.. is the fact that if a store does something that you find wrong. You DO NOT have to spend your money there. Do not help that place stay in business. Buy it online. Even if you are just buying feeders there.. They make a profit on it.. or else they wouldn't continue selling it.

If I find a place that is doing it right.. I spend my money there. Sometimes it costs more.. But IMO its worth it.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

My "local guy" is a bit of a drive from me, Pets 2 Go in Elk Grove, Ca. Jeremy is also putting on the Sacramento Reptile show as Upscale Reptiles. He is an old timer and does an excellent job. He is an exception to the rule though, mom and pops do better than **** chains, but they also vary a lot in quality.

 

[leonut]

most of the locally owned pet shops around me do a better job with their animals. most use converted aquariums instead of tiny commercially available cages. and the prices on equipment is much lower. (15-20%.) my first leo was actually from a locally owned pet shop. (granted she was a normal and cost me $60 but oh well.:main_laugh but there are some acceptions. one pet shop was keeping fully grown beardies in 18"x7" enclosures and their 2 sandfish were so neglected they had about 30 crix and Superworms attacking it! as Paul said before it all come down to the person running the place.

 

[rubym]

I don't know about most locally owned stores but we have 2 where I live. One is owned by the nicest person in the world. She doesn't carry alot of reptiles but the ones she does carry are well taken care of. She gives out a friend of mines number for any snake questions and mine for any geckos ( I give out this web site addy ALOT!!!!). The other local shop is aweful. They do carry more reptiles and it is never pretty to go in there and look at them. I don't go in there anymore. I don't think it is the size of the store that makes a difference, it is the attitude of the person that owns/runs it.

 

[leonut]

I don't think it is the size of the store that makes a difference, it is the attitude of the person that owns/runs it.

well said. :main_thumbsup:

 

[Wind Dancer]

our local pet store does a super job with almost all of their animals. the only thing that bothers me is that they keep the leos on sand, which kinda ticks me off. the local chain store keeps 10(ish) babies in a 8 in x 8 in cube, on sand. and the babies tail are so, so skinny. and not just the tails, you can see the ribs on some of them. it just brakes my heart .
if i ever got mom to let me get one, i'd much rather find a breeder on here than go to either store, although other than the sand, the mom and pop store takes really good care of their leos, they're in a 12 x 16 cage, maybe 4, 5 of them tops at a time, fat, happy, fairly good sized guys. maybe i should print out a list of excerpts from care sheets and mail it to them(giving the web site for each care sheet so they can look the whole thing up). hummm....i'm gonna have to think about this....

 

[Zynx_Keekeio]

I work at a locally owned business and we are always taking the best care of our animals, we have some of the most knowledgable people on our staff, each and everyone of us are looking over our animals, everyday, we make they eat too, we never sell an animal that isn't eating In fact we do everything possible to keep our animals in tip top condition, no cross contaminating or anything, we have a euro that all of the sudden got very ill, for unknown reasons and we pulled him to our quarentine room and now he is under round the clock care, but I don't think he'll make it, he's to dehydrated and we can't give him water, I know its a catch 22 but we are giving him the meds he needs, and we always are taking care of our animals, fresh food, water, and make sure their areas are clean. We have nice healthy animals

here's where I work http://www.petstopowasso.com although i don't know when the last time it was updated and yes we did have a fire, it was very sad but a shortage in a heating element can't be helped

 

[GatorGirl286]

i agree with those saying its all about who owns the store and how its run. like i have read on here before in other threads...some of the big stores have knowledgeable employees who know how to take care or their animals, and some dont.....same with small stores. the small reptile store near me keeps their hatchling leos on sand...i was in there yesterday and the tiniest leo was on sand with like 10 crickets running around in there that he obviously wasn't interested in. i was disappointed to see that.

 

[Gecko Ranch]

Lou's Pet Shop in Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

This is one of my customers who is doing it right:

http://wdiv.cityvoter.com/lou-s-pet-shop/biz/15795

Wow! Way to go Lou's! :main_thumbsup:

 

[MSMD]

I'll have to check that out next time I'm down that way! Thanks, Julie!

I have been to some really great privately owned shops and I have seen some horrors--appallingly worse than some of the big box stores. :no: And not just overcrowding and inproper setups. I'm talking disgusting, deplorable conditions. And they didn't care. It really all depends......

 

[Superior]

The ******** near me takes alot better care of their geckos than the other local buissness. I didnt think a store would keep animals if they werent going to take care of them :main_angry: The leo tank was also the crocodile gecko tank, there was poop everywhere, and they had sand as a substrate. I did not see the geckos, so im just hoping there arent any in there.