STARTING COLD

Naturally Dogs And Cats, Hartford, CT

His business opened under some of the unfriendliest conditions imaginable. But day by day, the city’s heart (and its weather) warmed to him.  / BY KENNETH BURNS

In the middle of the fierce Hartford, CT, winter of 2014, Bob Marshall had reason to wonder what he’d gotten himself into.

His new store, Naturally Dogs and Cats, was being run out of a storefront with cement walls and bare floors. There was no running water, a scant two electric outlets, and his only connection to the outside world was an Internet cable run through the ceiling of the business next door. Worst of all, there was no heat — an almost unimaginable hardship during one of the coldest winters on record for the East Coast.

“We opened in a blinding snowstorm,” he said. He and his employee wore winter jackets. “There was one small construction heater that was electric, and it really didn’t do anything.”

The trying conditions were “definitely a test to see if we were really hardy enough to do this,” Marshall says.

Marshall had launched his business that winter with the help of a program called iConnect, an effort by the city of Hartford to subsidize retail businesses in empty storefronts. As part of the program, Marshall was allowed to take over an empty storefront, rent-free, for six months. Marshall’s business concept strongly appealed to city planners — a local pet store that would sell only products manufactured in the USA, with a special emphasis on local vendors, where possible. “Not very easy to do,” says Marshall.

Forty-five business applied for the incentive, and only four were accepted. The program’s execution didn’t always go smoothly.

“It took a long time, much longer to get the storefronts open and activated than they ever thought,” Marshall says. “Like, a year longer than they thought.” 

Even so, Marshall was still thankful for the chance to try. He calls the iConnect program “an excellent opportunity to test our business model.” 

Day by day over that tough first winter and spring, the store gained customers … and its owner gained confidence. After six months, Marshall says he saw enough interest to believe “maybe we could sustain something longer term.”

In August, after his rent-free term expired, Marshall negotiated a lease with a downtown property owner and, in August 2014, opened in a nearby storefront. The new store couldn’t be more different. “It’s warm, homey and inviting,” Marshall says. “It has hardwood floors. It has exposed brick. It’s in a historic building overlooking the park.”

Much hard work remains. To support his business, Marshall has kept his full-time job at an insurance company, and between that and running Naturally Dogs and Cats (and serving as the store’s delivery guy), he regularly works 14-hour days.

However, the future looks brighter every day. In part due to initiatives like the iConnect program, the downtown area is slowly but consistently expanding, revitalizing local businesses and bringing new customers to Naturally Dogs and Cats. Marshall now sounds like a long-time neighborhood fixture when he says: “What we’re trying to foster is a sense of community, and to become part of a family at our store. You’re one of our family members once you start shopping here. People know that.”

Sounds like a dream coming true.