We celebrated Small Business Saturday at the end of November, a nice flow from Thanksgiving and Black Friday. With the day devoted to getting to know and supporting your small business community, I thought this would be a good time to take a minute to talk about what it’s like to own a small business in this day and age.
Currently, Amazon and Chewys.com, depending on who you believe, have cornered around 80 percent of all dog food sales. This development is a new one in the pet store world. This news alone is disheartening for a small pet store.
Every time you purchase your dog food from the big two, you push a small business closer to the edge of the cliff. No one can deny the convenience of having products show up at your door. Many manufacturers, while paying lip service to stores like mine, are quietly putting their products on the big two. Since Petsmart has acquired Chewys, however, many companies are taking a second look at having their products with these two companies. Both Fromm and Champion foods have taken themselves off of Chewys, putting a focus on driving traffic to stores like mine.
This past summer was difficult for us. Ogden Avenue remained under one form of construction or another for the entire summer. Now that it’s is over for the year, things have begun to return to normal. We can’t thank you enough for sticking with us.
We hope that you will find it in your heart to shop locally. It’s estimated that 33 percent of consumers’ holiday shopping will be done at small, independently-owned enterprises. Reports are encouraging that say 91 percent of all consumers believe that supporting small, independently-owned restaurants and bars is important.
Simply put, money spent at Dog Patch stays in Naperville. I live in Naperville and I love this community that continues to be distinguished by many other locally-owned independent businesses that welcome your support, too.
We wish you all much happiness this holiday season!
Find more about Dog Patch Pet & Feed, where there’s a large variety of wild bird seed for the season, too, visit www.dogpatchpets.com.
