Don’t let Daughtry Perritt’s relaxed, easy manner fool you—he’s an astute businessman doing what he loves. This blend of traits has resulted in a chain of 5 and soon to be 6 successful pet stores as well as a thriving online store in just 15 short years. Pet Depot’s stores are located in Northwest Alabama and range in size from 8 to 10,000 square feet.
“Rather than having a five or ten-year plan, I just take everything one step at a time,” Perritt explained, adding “When I get to a certain comfort level, I start making plans to open another.”
“Business continually changes, and you have to try and keep ahead of where it needs to be—it means you have to do things right now,” he said.
Currently, he’s set to open his next store in the town of Athens—in fact it may be open for business as you’re reading this. Pet Depot stores are full line—covering dog, cat, bird, fish and small reptile categories. It offers fish and small animals (but no dog or cat), which makes it a big draw among the younger set. The stores are located in rural communities, and Pet Depots are the pet superstores of their respective areas.
Why are the stores successful? Perritt said it boils down to two factors—selection and service. Why go anywhere else when a store has what you need and someone who can cheerfully help you make your purchase?
Pet Depot offers the Pet Lover’s Club Card, where a $5 signup fee gets you a 5% discount each time you come into the store. The card also serves as a collection point for customer e-mails, which enables Perritt to send out newsletters and other offers. It drives the business “pretty good,” he said. Four of his six stores offer grooming services.
The company also uses a 12-page insert into the local papers about 4 times a year, which also draws a fair amount of traffic into the stores.
As far as product goes, the biggest attraction in all stores is the selection of premium dog foods, which mirrors the national trend. “People are looking for selection for their pet, and dogs really drive the business,” he said.
Coastal Products are well-represented in the store, with an impressive 24’ devoted to collars, leads, grooming and other products. Last fall, the selection was reworked to skinny down the primary colored items and increase the number of basic fashion products. Perritt says he’s been pleased with the results of this re-work.
Pinnacle Marketing Group’s Jay Guarino is a key factor in the chain’s success, as he visits the store on a regular basis.
“Jay keeps the wall in very good condition—and as you know, presentation is so important,” Perritt said.
Perritt had some advice for Coastal—it should highlight the large number of products “Made in the USA.” He said more customers have an interest in where the items they buy for their pets are made. Many read the labels.
Daughtry’s success is also in large part due to his team of excellent managers—Paula Keeton in Florence, Billy McDaniel in Muscle Shoals, Nathan Hudson in Cullman, Trent Hammond in Guntersville, Leslee Metcalf in Jasper and Nick McCleskey in Athens.
Mark Iwanski, his District Manager, oversees the managers, leaving Perritt free to look at the big picture. Over the past year, getting a web site up and running where customers could order direct was an integral part of the big picture. The site, www.petdepotonline.com is steadily becoming a success. It boasts a large selection of electronic training collars, no-bark collars, and wireless fence systems. Perritt reports customers tend to gravitate toward these bigger-ticket items.
Pet Depot’s roots go back to Perritt’s dad, who owned a Feed manufacturing company—Fuzzy’s Feeds—for about 30 years. He sold the business in 1986. At the time, Daughtry wasn’t interested in pursuing the pet trade as a career—after all; he had a degree in public accounting. But it wasn’t too long before he figured out it wasn’t what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
“Of all the different kinds of retail, I’m thankful I went into pet,” he said. “After 15 years, I’m still glad to get up in the morning and have opportunities.