Trusting her instincts has made all the difference for Penny Midulla of Dog Lovers in Tampa Fl.
Her journey from the engineering department at GTE to independent pet store owner began about 10 years ago, when she was trying to find a way to solve a skin condition Panda, her English Bull Terrier had.
She found a specific brand of dog food, Innova, cleared up its skin and left its coat shiny and healthy. When she learned the pet store was for sale, she grew worried, wondering how she would continue to find a supply of the food.
A lesson in X-Treme Problem Solving
She figured out a way to solve her problem-she'd buy the store!
"I didn't know a thing about retail, I honestly didn't have a clue," she said. While this might sound like a foolish leap into the unknown to some, to those who know her it exemplifies Penny's determined spirit.
"I knew I could learn-there was no way I was going to fail." She said her experience with GTE, where she laid out cable routes for new home subdivisions and for commercial buildings, revealed she could learn anything she put her heart and mind to.
"I read every magazine, every label, and I started learning," she said. Vendors also helped in the learning process, teaching her what items would sell in her 3,000 sq. ft. shop and which ones wouldn't. Today, she's moved a half- mile down the road from that location into a stand-alone 10,000 sq. ft. store. She's been in the store for three months now.
Her extensive knowledge of products served her community well during the recent pet food recall.
"People were terrified and looked to us for answers," she said. Fortunately, the store didn't have many brands that were suspect, and Penny got the bags off the shelf the morning the story broke.
Soon, she had TV stations interviewing her as a local expert on the problem. Her ability to provide accurate information drove more customers through her doors.
Her knowledge of nutrition for dogs has enhanced her reputation in the community-"People come to me and tell me their dog can't eat anything because of its allergies, and I can find them something."
Often, dogs respond well to Kangaroo strips or Salmon, which is great for the dogs because of the Omega-3 oil, she said.
Doggy Heaven
A signature aspect of her store is the "Doggy Deli"-sixty-three bins of doggie treats. There's a little bit of everything: bones, sweet potato chews, pig's ears, hooves, bully sticks, everything to pamper a Florida canine.
