It took a national tragedy witnessed in real time by millions of Americans to give Steve Lane, of Steve’s Wonderful World of Pets, the ultimate direction in his life.
Steve Lane
In 1986, Steve was a payload manager for the Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama. Boeing was a NASA partner in the space program. He, like many in the country, was watching the launch of the Challenger Space Shuttle. He viewed the event on a big screen TV with a group of astronauts training for the upcoming Hubble Telescope mission. They watched in disbelief as the shuttle exploded like a starburst 73 seconds into the launch, killing all 7 on board, including Christa McAuliffe, the first member of the Teacher in Space project.
“We were in shock—can you imagine how horrible that was to watch with other astronauts,” he said.
The Shuttle program was grounded for more than two-and-a-half years. In the meantime, Steve’s employers wanted to shift him into the “Star Wars” program--the Strategic Defense Initiative-- but that didn’t sit well with Steve’s sense of purpose.
“I didn’t want to have anything to do with making bombs,” he explained.
Starting Over
Steve's Wonderful World of Pets
Searching for a new way of life as well as a steady paycheck, he ended up on the sales floor of a New Mexico pet store, “a huge change for me.” He found that he liked being around animals and also enjoyed building relationships with his customers. He soon became manager of the store.
In 1991, he opened his own store in Williamsville, NY, a northeast suburb of Buffalo. It was a 2,500 square foot store, and, before long, he was able to add another 1,500 square feet as his business prospered.
Not far from the store was a strip plaza with a Super Gap clothing store going out of business. With a 5-lane highway running by the plaza, Steve knew a good location when he saw one.
“I looked at it and knew it would make a great pet store.” He’s been there ever since.
Steve runs the store, which specializes in placing puppies in good homes, with much-valued assistance from his wife, Ellyn, a licensed vet tech.
“I firmly believe the animals (puppies) we place have a better life than any other option, and I firmly believe that, on the human side, owning an animal is very good for you.”
“My job is to help educate and prepare people to bring a puppy into their home,” he said, “and teach them about their health and behavior needs. I spend a lot of time and energy training my staff on animal husbandry.” He considers this to be a key reason for his store’s success.
He tells this story to illustrate:
“When I first became a manager, I was having a terrible month and knew I wasn’t going to make my sales number. I pushed too hard to make each sale and found I did even worse.” He regrouped, analyzed what he was doing, and came up with the approach that’s still in place today.
“I decided to do what I liked best, which was to just talk to people about animals,” he said, “and you know what, I started to make my month.”
