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Date: 12/4/2019
SOUTHWICK – From pocket pets like fish, small lizards and birds, to horse and other farm feeds, Russell’s Tropical Fish and Pets has plenty to offer for owners of any kind of pet with plans for store expansion according to its owners.
After the Russell family – Mary, her husband George and their two children Cameron and Jillian – purchased the lease for the store, located at 549 College Highway, in July, they faced over a month of preparation before the store opened Aug. 26.
“It was a complex process, we needed to apply to the state for a license and then we needed to be inspected. We needed to pass all the criteria to obtain the license for the pet store, it was a lot of hoops to jump through,” said Mary.
She added that running a pet store has been a dream for her and George since they were in high school and now was finally the chance they were waiting for.
“We tried to open a pet store when we were in college but life kinda got in our way, but it’s always been in the back of our minds. We happened to go by and decided it was time to start a new chapter,” she said.
George explained that shifting from working retail in pet stores with his son to owning a business was one of the biggest adjustments for him. “It’s a learning experience being new to the business side of things. Finding wholesalers and getting licensed were two of the biggest challenges for us, along with having the right products,” he said.
He also explained they have plenty of plans for expansion for the store in the works. “We’re trying to expand our salt-water line, so we’ll have salt water fish and coral to more than double our current salt water space,” he said. When walking into the back of the store customers can see that there is an entire area under construction for the salt water space.
Mary added that they are looking to use all 8,400 square-feet available to them in the store for the salt water expansion and expansion for the reptile living quarters by setting up a wall of appropriate enclosures.
While the store does not sell puppies or kittens, George explained that he would like to create a partnership with a rescue group in order to potentially do so in the future.
Mary added that the store’s bread and butter is its supplies section right when customers walk in, but that wasn’t what she was expecting.
“That’s really helped us along, we weren’t intending to do this type of pet store, we really were just going to do a fish store. But we do have the experience in that kind of store so it just kinda happened,” she said.
George said his goal is for the store to become a place for everyone’s pet needs. “This town has a big gamut of people, we’re trying to become the hometown pet store and offer what people are looking for,” he said.
Mary said customer service is at the forefront of the entire business and they want to tailor what they offer to their customers’ needs. “We want to put in the extra effort for our customers and what they want,” she said, “We even deliver to our customers at their homes, I guess that’s a unique feature because our customers say they don’t get that kind of service anywhere.”
She explained that she wants to keep the business in the family once she and George are ready to retire. “We told our children we wanted to retire into this business and eventually pass it along to them. So it’s going to stay a family business, I want them to have something for them when we retire.”
While the store had its grand opening in October, Mary said they are going to be making it official soon when they do their ribbon cutting ceremony, but there isn’t a set date for that yet.
“It’s been super fun, when I get up in the morning I can’t wait to get here. It took a long time to find a place you can get up in the morning and want to rush to,” she said.
The storefront's website can be found here: https://www.loc8nearme.com/massachusetts/southwick/russells-tropical-fish-and-pet/5488632/