Mutts & Butts
Michael Silverman
Mutts & Butts has been in business for almost 50 years. How did you get started, and how do you plan to celebrate your 50th anniversary?
We started in 1975. We originally had a beer and soda store with a wholesale beer license. We were not allowed to sell cigarettes at the time, so we opened up a business next door, where we sold dog food and cigarettes. That’s how we got the name Mutts & Butts.
We were in the beer business for many, many years, and people always asked for cigarettes. And we noticed in 1975, when I graduated college, that the dog food aisle at the grocery store was growing immensely. It looked like a good business to get into. So we started off with just dog food and cigarettes. Over the years, we made the beer store smaller, and because cigarettes had such a negative vibe to them, we stopped selling them. Now we’re a full-on pet store. We sell dog food, cat food, all the supplies. We have small animals, cats for adoption, freshwater and saltwater fish.
Every 10 years we have a big party. We close the parking lot and we get blow-up rides for the kids, a little circus with clowns, face painting, a food truck with ice cream and hot dogs. It’s in September usually. We’re at 48 years now — it’ll be 49 this April.
What products/services do you offer?
We sell small animals, and we also have cats for adoption in the store. We offer free nail clipping. On the aquatic side, we do free water testing. We check the water and make sure it’s appropriate for the kind of fish in it.
What has changed in the pet supplies industry over the decades?
Customers seem to want better foods these days. Grain-free was popular for a while, but that has settled down a little bit. Now customers are going to raw foods. We sell a lot of Primal, Nature’s Variety, Raw Dynamic, Stella and Chewy. We sell a lot of frozen food and a lot of ready-to-eat food. So customers are asking for better foods over time.
Because of that, we have eight freezers in the store now. We had to rearrange the store to fit them all in.
Tell us about the adoption events you host.
We have big trucks come over once or twice a year with cats and dogs for adoption. Inside the store, we have three large cages that an organization called Cat Connection takes care of. All the cats are already leukemia tested. They’re already fixed, and they’re friendly. We also work with Last Hope as well. Cat Connection sends volunteers over three times a day to change the litter, to feed the cats and to play with them. We just supply the room, the food and the bedding for them. It’s a win-win for both of us. Customers like seeing the cats here, and we’re helping the cats in the neighborhood out.
We’ve adopted out hundreds of dogs and cats over the years. Customers will come back and say how they adopted a cat from us and that they’re doing great. We also have a lot of dogs that come in and visit.
You sell fish and aquatic supplies. What goes into maintaining an aquarium?
You have to do water testing. We have a company that we recommend called Dynamic Tanks that goes to customers’ houses and does a complete service. They clean the tanks, they clean the gravel, they wash the tanks, they check the water, they do water changes, and they clean the products inside the tank as well.
Maintenance should be done on a tank once a week. Every two weeks they should do a very slow water change, a 10 percent water change every two weeks. Many customers bring the water in to get tested here. We have free testing, and we have free advice. Our fish guy has been here over 32 years, so he knows all the customers, what they need and want.
How do you find trusted sources for pet food and treats?
I go to trade shows, as well as my manager. We go two or three times a year. We talk to different manufacturers, we read the labels, and we listen to what the customer wants. Pet Product News is a good resource for finding new products.
We no longer carry any products in the store from China, except for dog toys. We don’t get any food or treats from China anymore.
What are your tips for helping pets stay healthy during the summer?
We definitely advise pet owners not to leave pets in the car — that’s the most dangerous thing there is. We also tell them to make sure the sidewalk isn’t too hot. We sell booties that they can wear. Or walk them on grass. And keep their pets very well hydrated — don’t let them run around too much on the very hot sunny days. Try to play more early in the morning or late at night when it’s cooler out.
Why do you recommend customers shop at a local pet store?
For one thing, local pet stores give very good advice. We pay local taxes to the neighborhood, we hire local kids from the neighborhood and we’re embedded into the neighborhood itself. We do appreciate it when customers shop at local stores. It’s been a challenge. Online shopping is really cutting into retail.
We have very loyal repeat customers. Most of our employees know our customers by name and what their pets’ names are. We have four employees (out of 13) who have been here for over 30 years.
We have a loyalty program for dog food. You buy 12 bags and the 13th bag is free. Customers are very excited when they receive that $100 bag or $65 bag for free. It doesn’t expire over time. We let it go on as long as it takes for them to buy 13 bags.
How do you manage to keep your customers and employees both happy?
The pet business has been a very good business for us, since we’ve been here for almost 50 years. But it’s more and more difficult every year. That’s why we have to keep up, like with the loyalty program, for example. And providing better customer service. We keep our employees for a long time, so they get to know the customers well. We treat our employees like family.
When we have kids that are in high school or college, we pay them for good grades. For every 90-100, or A, we give them $100. For every 80-90, or B, we give them $50. They get a maximum of $350 every marking period or semester. We find we get better employees that way.
And when they do graduate college, even though they’re great workers, I make them leave here in a year. I let them stay here one year after they graduate college, and then they must go into the field they went to college for.
We also give our employees a 35% discount on pet food and supplies. We try to keep our help happy. Happy help is good help.
Visit Mutts and Butts website.
July, 2024
