Start a Toy Line, Finish the Floors and Not Snap at Customers Top 2021 Year-End Goals for Pet Businesses

Editor’s Note: We asked members of the PETS+ Brain Squad, “What is one thing you want to achieve by year’s end?” We wish them all the best in achieving these goals.

• I am hoping to purchase the property I am running my business out of by the end of the year. — Jennifer Hall, All Things Pawssible, Charlottesville, VA
• I just want to make it to the end of 2021 without snapping on a customer and being canceled. — Richie Powell, All American Pet, Springfield, OR
• Get a handle on my back office and find a more efficient way to receive and count inventory. — Jennie Dudley, Hairy Winston, Mount Pleasant, SC
• We want to become well versed in nutrition, both Western and Eastern medicine. — Ruth Sturgis, Dog Daze, North Syracuse, NY
• I’d like to achieve a full staff so my husband and I don’t have to be on the schedule much at all, and have our leadership team be better suited to run the store in our absence! — Shane Somerville Paddywack, Mill Creek, WA
• Get sales, revenue back up to at least equal or better than last year. Find a manager, employee to take over store operations so I can focus on growth (mobile grooming?). — Karesa Prestage, Health Mutt, Seattle, WA
• Increase sales to $150,000 per month. — Sherry Redwine, Odyssey Pets, Dallas, TX
• I am GOING to get my floor redone. COVID has delayed the flooring for months, and my main goal is to have it done by the end of October at the latest. Sigh. Maybe more like a wish? — Diana Farrar, Fifi & Fidos Pet Boutique, San Antonio, TX
• By the end of this year, I hope to have my own toy line. — Margo Tortorelis, My Natural Pet, Brooklyn, NY
• I want the store decorated for holidays better than we ever have. — Cindy McConnell, A Natural Pet Pantry, Osprey, FL
• My personal goal is to help the business achieve new revenue streams by the end of the year. In turn, this will help us achieve great flexibility in bringing in new products quickly in 2022! — Stephanie Wright, Bend Pet Express, Bend, OR
• Our goals are to achieve our highest revenue and biggest staff since creation! — Amber Van Denzen Suarez, Atta Boy! Animal Care Pet Sitting + Dog Walking, Mulberry, FL
• Create more business in a smaller space. Continue to grow and find balance between personal life and work. Hiring is a key part of this. So I need to be fully staffed. — Leslie Cook, Woof Life Inc., Crown Point, IN
• Online ordering and the live inventory system to go with it. — Rebecca Martino, Stately Pet Supply, Clarks Summit, PA
• By the end of the year, our goal is to have standard operating procedures identified and documented including using videos when possible. — Wendy Megyese, Muttigans, Emerald Isle, NC
• I have a new management model in place, and I’d really like to see the staff thrive. I feel that success here would be a push in the right direction to give me the confidence to grow the business. — Angela Pantalone, Wag Central, Stratford, CT
• Just to get back to a fully functional staff. — Michelle Nelson, The Pet Authority, Albert Lea, MN
• Hire two quality people. Find a new source for livestock. Be done with COVID. — Paul Lewis, Birds Unlimited, Webster, NY
• I’d like to get to 50 percent pre-booking from our grooming clients. — Tammy Breckenridge, Bark Dog Spa and Boutique, Athens, GA
• I want to take our aquatics department to the next level. Better managed, better selection, etc. I’m hoping to bring on an additional manager specifically for this department and should hear back from a person I made an offer to any day now… fingers crossed! — Paige Elder, Buzz n’ B’s Pet Shop, Erie, PA
• New website up and running with online sales available. — Laurie McClearen, Cohutta Country Store, Blue Ridge, GA
• I want to be a million dollar store by the end of the year and have a successful holiday season! — Kelly Ross, Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming The Woodlands, Tomball, TX
• I want a full team back. Working with a small staff has been very challenging. — Deana Deitchler, Dogs Paw, Park Rapids, MN
• We would like to pare down our offerings. By streamlining, we could be more generous with what we offer seasonally. Excitement would be generated and traffic with a must–see feeling. — Bonnie Bitondo, Maxwell & Molly’s Closet, Newton, NJ
• By year-end, I want to get my POS up and running! — Lisa Boegl Eldorado Country Pet, Santa Fe, NM
• Would like to get our shop back to opening six days a week safely! — Niki Libarios, Hawaii Doggie Bakery, Honolulu, HI
• We would like to achieve a better communication platform for our customers. Our customers really run the gamut of age, so with the decline of Facebook and even Instagram, we are looking for a better way to communicate with all of our customers, a more closed system for existing customers. Blog? News Sheet, old school style? — Andrea Demmons, The TailGait Market, Asheville, NC
• I want more balance between training and home life. — Wendy Ewing, Dog Trainer Wendy, Bremen, AL
• By the end of the year, I would like to have my 2022 social media and event calendar planned out, so that all that is needed in 2022 is fine tuning, and I have time to devote to other projects. — Theresa Moreno, For Healthy Pets, Montgomery, AL
• We are working hard to hit a 10k sales day this Christmas! We got close last year and are pushing hard to figure out how to get there this year! — Kendra Martin, Woof & Whiskers, Omaha, NE
• I’ve been remodeling for a year. Several contractors quit. Finish my renovations! — Kristina Robertson, The Pet Spa at Barkley Square, Falls Church, VA
• We have come so close to having a six-figure month several times now. If we haven’t hit that by year’s end — September is historically a big month for us — that will definitely be the goal for 2022! — Katherine Ostiguy, Crossbones, Providence, RI
• By year’s end, I gotta get the new location settled! — Liz Harris, Creatures Featured, Madison, FL
• Building our e-commerce and local delivery service by the end of 2021. — Becci Scott, Fetching Dog, Scottsdale, AZ
• This year: Hire and train staff and leadership positions so we’re stable for next year. Help ensure staff is happy and healthy and mentally able to take on the next year of crazy growth! Get through SKU rationalizations and clear some inventory by year-end to start the year with our bestsellers. — Jennifer Larsen, Firehouse Pet Shop, Wenatchee, WA
• Mastering Instagram, growing my online store sales, and increasing sales by 25 percent. Cathy Dervalis, Dog Day Afternoon, Belleville, IL
  I’d really like to improve our training with our current employees. A lot of our employees were hired on during COVID, and we missed out on some important aspects of training when we unexpectedly became increasingly busy as things started to normalize again. I’m currently working with our managers now to implement stricter training regimes and help our existing employees as well as any future employees gain the best learning experience possible. — Natalie Bosch, Albany Pet Hotel, Albany, OR
• I want to create an amazing “Give Back” program that allows me to engage customers to buy a specific product (or two or three), and then I give one of the same products to a local shelter animal. I hope to begin this Sept 1 and run it through the end of the year. — Johnna Devereaux Fetch RI, Richmond, RI
• End use of plastic shopping bags. — Michael Dan, RedRidge Pet Market, Richmond, VA
• More freezer space and frozen products! — Jennifer Baker, Grateful Dog Bakery, North Ridgeville, OH
• We are still just trying to maneuver through this pandemic and all of the changes that seem to come weekly and sometimes daily. Both of my locations are in areas with a high percentage of “anti mask” and “anti vaccine” customers; this has brought so many more challenges on top of the pandemic, with protests and picketing outside of my store, to violent customers inside and us having to call the police on three separate occasions to have people removed from the property and twice having to issue no trespass orders. We have “fired” more customers in 2021 than all years combined. 2021 has proven to be even more volatile than 2020, so we are simply trying to get through this year with as few scars as possible. — Julie Sterling, Julz Animal Houz, Marysville, WA
• By year’s end, re-merchandising of the stores to increase raw food impact and body parts/chews. Jeff Jensen, Four Muddy Paws, St Louis, MO
• I just want all of the dogs and cats to have a home! — Ron Keller, Captivating Canines, Westerville, OH
• By year’s end, I’d like to have a solid staff with a full-time employee who prioritizes my business — not just fits me in around their other priorities. — Janet Cesarini, Pupology, Georgetown, TX
• By year’s end, get the foundations under control to remove myself from day-to-day decisions. — Beth Staley, Happy Dog Barkery, Downers Grove, IL
• Getting my wholesale business started. — Nancy Guinn, Dog Krazy, Fredericksburg, VA
• I’d love to have our commercial air in our local movie theatre. We’ve not yet started it, but it’s on our list to get done by the end of this year. — Lisa Kirschner, Sit, Stay, ‘N Play Inc., Stroudsburg, PA
• I want to pay off debt from 2020, which I believe is achievable by the end of 2021. — Jennifer Thomas, Lucky Dog Pet Grocery & Bakery, Lawrence, KS
• By year’s end, I’d love to grow our self-wash tub service! It’s fairly new and still slow going, and we have revenue goals we’d like to meet. — Danny Offenbacher, City of Paws Petcare, Philadelphia, PA
• Beat 2020’s sales by 5 percent to get us back to 2019 sales numbers. — Janelle Pitula, Wags to Whiskers, Plainfield, IL
• Hire another groomer! — Cynthia McKinney, Loyl’s Natural Pet Grocery & Groomery, Houston, TX
• I would love to hire another groomer. They are so tough to find. — Pam Alerine, Style Mutt, Cleveland, OH
• To increase my customer base. — Kaye Busse-Kleber, Bark On Mulford LLC, Rockford, IL
• Ever increasing profits, happy customers and end to Covid. — Laurie Wilson, Teca Tu-A Pawsworthy Pet Emporium, Santa Fe, NM
• To NOT get shut down again from Covid or any variant so people won’t shop as much online. — Teresa Bues, Urban Dog Barkery, Houston, TX
• To reach some normalcy, and it would be nice to have the store start delivering food to customers. — April Darling, spcaLA Marketplace, Lakewood, CA
• I would like consistent revenue in our pet retail section with returning customers. — Cristen Carlson, Riverside Animal Clinic Feed Store, McHenry, IL
• Continue to be profitable while enhancing the relationship our customers have with their pets. — Frank Frattini, The Hungry Puppy, Farmingdale, NJ
• By the end of 2021, I want to break our single day sales record. — Janet Huffor, Furry Friends Inc., Colorado Springs, CO