Wish my wife good luck. New business venture.

So after 10 years of dreaming and scheming my wife (and by extension me) opened a pet boutique in downtown Burlington, Vermont.

https://www.houndstoothvt.com/

It's called Houndstooth. We're just open weekends for now but will go full-time in the spring. 

I'm so proud of her for doing this. She knows her product, loves animals, and is much happier here than at the boring 9-5 office job she's been doing for the past 16 years.

Christmas weekend went well, but we're preparing for the mid Winter slow down retail generally suffers.

So if you find yourself in Burlington, Vermont stop in and say hi!

Hopefully this impacts my automotive pastime only marginally. I'm ready to put things on hold for a while to get things going. No big purchases. Guess I can get to all the little jobs that require more activity than money. Those 10 minute jobs that add up.

Cool 

Go for it! I've decided any effort towards a self-owned business is worth it. 

From the picture, my only suggestion is More! More anything, just fill up the space with display boxes with sheets around them or something. Just make the space look "full".  Lots of stuff = success in America. Show your customers you are already have made it. (Fake it until you make it.)

My wife started a photography business last year. I'm always by her side, because free labor, but she's chipping away in a very competitive (and eroding field, with phone cameras) and starting to get a bit of traction. She is insanely talented, so product is no problem. But I love helping her vision!

I will have to check it out next time Im up there for work.  I was just at the Courtyard around the corner on Cherry last week. 

Shadeux said:

Go for it! I've decided any effort towards a self-owned business is worth it. 

From the picture, my only suggestion is More! More anything, just fill up the space with display boxes with sheets around them or something. Just make the space look "full".  Lots of stuff = success in America. Show your customers you are already have made it. (Fake it until you make it.)

My wife started a photography business last year. I'm always by her side, because free labor, but she's chipping away in a very competitive (and eroding field, with phone cameras) and starting to get a bit of traction. She is insanely talented, so product is no problem. But I love helping her vision!

Getting more inventory every day. Doing weekend pop-ups to feel things out.

logdog said:

I will have to check it out next time Im up there for work.  I was just at the Courtyard around the corner on Cherry last week. 

Bring your dog. Many of the hotels and the businesses downtown are dog friendly.

Don't know if you've already thought of this but a local one here does pet birthday "cakes". I go by it often and it seems I always see someone leaving with a cake and they ain't cheap. 

 Not a bad idea.  People will spend an irrational amount of money on their pets.

Awesome! Good luck to her in her new venture.

My wife managed a pet store for a few years and now pet-sits large and small animals for a living.

As Corb Lund says: Folks will pay top dollar to make sure Fido isn't hot under the collar.

Stampie said:

Don't know if you've already thought of this but a local one here does pet birthday "cakes". I go by it often and it seems I always see someone leaving with a cake and they ain't cheap. 

Our favorite cupcake shop, Superb Cupcakes, makes us Pupcakes. They now sell them as well alongside their regular cupcake line up. 

aircooled said:

 People will spend an irrational amount of money on their pets.

First, let me wish you all the luck in the world with the new business.

Then, I must comment on the photo of the dog with the elevated bowls.

A five-year study of all of the canine bloat cases seen at all of the North American veterinary teaching hospitals found a greatly increased risk of bloat when using elevated food and water bowls.

These things are dangerous.

In reply to Floating Doc :

Lovely, is that because they can eat and drink faster?

We have a new Great Dane puppy and the literature said to use those bowls so they don't bloat.

We're not btw.

Sorry for the threadjack.

I hope you do well!  There is a boutique pet store (Called Phydeaux, yes, really) near where I work and it seems people are always going in and out of it.  

RE: raised bowls. We have sighthounds. Have had sighthounds for 20 years. Always with raised bowls. They have long legs and struggle to eat when on the floor. Never have we been told nor have we had any issues with bloat. Quick eating and sudden running or activity has always been my understanding for the cause of bloat.

Brett_Murphy said:

I hope you do well!  There is a boutique pet store (Called Phydeaux, yes, really) near where I work and it seems people are always going in and out of it.  

Thanks. Going to be a long slow slog for sure. Will check out Phydeaux.

aircooled said:

 Not a bad idea.  People will spend an irrational amount of money on their pets.

This and it's only getting worse. 

Also I saw someone damn near kill themselves to avoid a small dog on i85 going 70mph.

Congratulations on opening the store! I became dog people after my fiance convinced me a dog would be fun. Since we're a few years from kids this dog has taken full spotlight - looking forward to finding something for her from your wife's store.

classicJackets said:

Congratulations on opening the store! I became dog people after my fiance convinced me a dog would be fun. Since we're a few years from kids this dog has taken full spotlight - looking forward to finding something for her from your wife's store.

Thanks! Let me know if you have any questions.

vwcorvette said:

RE: raised bowls. We have sighthounds. Have had sighthounds for 20 years. Always with raised bowls. They have long legs and struggle to eat when on the floor. Never have we been told nor have we had any issues with bloat. Quick eating and sudden running or activity has always been my understanding for the cause of bloat.

Even if you had 20 dogs over those 20 years, it would be too small of a sample size to give you any meaningful data.

This study had 1613 dogs. 

Approximately 20 and 52% of cases of GDV among the large breed and giant breed dogs, respectively, were attributed to having a raised feed bowl.

Floating Doc said:

vwcorvette said:

RE: raised bowls. We have sighthounds. Have had sighthounds for 20 years. Always with raised bowls. They have long legs and struggle to eat when on the floor. Never have we been told nor have we had any issues with bloat. Quick eating and sudden running or activity has always been my understanding for the cause of bloat.

Even if you had 20 dogs over those 20 years, it would be too small of a sample size to give you any meaningful data.

This study had 1613 dogs. 

Approximately 20 and 52% of cases of GDV among the large breed and giant breed dogs, respectively, were attributed to having a raised feed bowl.

So that's something then.