Question for those that sell retail....

[petgroomer82]

I am opening my new salon/bakery in about a month, I am so excited. I thought I would carry some retail products in my shop. The question I have is where do I order from? I am already ordering pet urns to sell in my shop, but I would like to carry leashes, collars, toys and bowls, but I dont know where is the best place to get them at the best price. I like Lupine collars for their guarantee, but everyone around here carries them and I would like to be different. I would like to carry things that are not too expensive but are a little different than the normal things that the pet-somethings carry. Also, does anyone know of a pet food bowl that can be personalized? My dad is trying to help me find something that will work, say like etching the name on a metal bowl, but if someone does this or something similar I would love to hear about it. I am so excited about my shop, but I am getting kind of nervious about not ordering my retail stock yet. Thank you all for your help and I look forward to your advice. Gabrielle / Bark Bath and Beyond

[Grinch]

Can't help you too much but I love your name too cute!

[workingchihuahua]

you should go to a reatil trade show. there is one in atlantic city, nj coming up. you will have more resources than you will know what to do with. the show is a HHbacker show. it is probably listed on the calendar of events on this site.

[Tzu-crazee]

Try the Yellow dog line for collars/harness and leashes they are a great co. with great products and great service, the price point will be in line with lupine. I know what you mean I did not want lupine as everyone has lupine. The web addy is:
http://www.yellowdog-design.com as for the dog dish thing nothing is coming to mind and I have been doing retail since 2003. If I think of somthing I'll get back to ya.

[Luvkitties]

What if for pet food bowls, you had someone local that made pottery (washable of course) pet food bowls where you could also have their name inscribed in the firing process. That would be so cool and unique, no one around you would have those. Of course you would probably have to charge a little more, since its a one of kind, but even if you didn't make a ton on them, everyone would remember where they got them!!! And of course would continue to bring their animal to you!!

By the way, what are you doing for your bakery? Are you making all of the items yourself? Are you going to have a real bakery counter where the dogs/cats can peer in at all the goodies? Are you going to do Birthday cakes as well?

Your store sounds like its going to be fantastic!!!

[petgroomer82]

Thank you for your quick responses....

Oh I am so excited. I convinced my mom to be my partner, so she will be helping me when I get really busy. My dad ownes a glass business so he is making me a glass case to put my cookies in and yes we will be baking them ourselves. I will also have self-service bathing in addition to grooming. So I hope to be swamped,lol. My aunt has volunteered to bake cookies if we get to busy to bake them in our oven in our shop, so hopefully if we get that busy we will have cookies baked in our shop and at her house. I am going to carry pet urns and breed specific signs because my parents have a plotter for vynl lettering so it should be really interesting, busy and hopefully fun. I am excited and nervious we are trying to do the remodeling ourselves and I am trying to get all of the ordering done, and last night we took out the bath tub that was there when I rented the building to find a very large, "lovely" patch of mold. So tonight I have to go tear out some drywall and try to patch up the wall. Anyway, thank you all for the advice keep it coming, I can use all the advice I can get. Gabby

[GroomSaloon]

Try this site http://www.WholesalePet.com but you will save more if you contact the companies directly. Have you looked into retailing any of the products from the manufacturers who advertise on this site. There are tons of reputable suppliers who make fantastic products. A wise groomer who sells a lot of retail told me not to ever carry anything that doesn't make you at least a $5.00 profit. Cookies and treats were not one of them.

[workingchihuahua]

going through a distributor will be cheaper than buying directly from most manufacturers, the exceptions being those companies that won't sell through distributors. going to a pet retail trade show will put you in direct contact with both distributors and manufacturers. the trip will be tax deductible.

[allick06]

you could buy an etching tool and fancy stencils for bowl engraving. you could maybe do some informal portraits of pets and parents. we sell a lot of natural pet products like herbal meds and food supplements. maybe you could come up with a new private label(your name of course) line of grooming products. shampoo, remoisturizer, detangler, cologne and so forth. best of luck and i hope to see you on the fortune 500 soon!!

[hairdevil]

I am opening my new salon/bakery in about a month, I am so excited. I thought I would carry some retail products in my shop. The question I have is where do I order from? I am already ordering pet urns to sell in my shop, but I would like to carry leashes, collars, toys and bowls, but I dont know where is the best place to get them at the best price. I like Lupine collars for their guarantee, but everyone around here carries them and I would like to be different. I would like to carry things that are not too expensive but are a little different than the normal things that the pet-somethings carry. Also, does anyone know of a pet food bowl that can be personalized? My dad is trying to help me find something that will work, say like etching the name on a metal bowl, but if someone does this or something similar I would love to hear about it. I am so excited about my shop, but I am getting kind of nervious about not ordering my retail stock yet. Thank you all for your help and I look forward to your advice. Gabrielle / Bark Bath and Beyond

you can go to any ceramic shop and have them custom make them for you. colors, names the whole nine yards. you can do them yourself and just have them fire them for you. its fun too! your customers would love them!