The Pet Supermarket

[Caroline Hess]

Hi all,

 

I had written a short time ago about Mitchell Walters who manages The Pet Supermarket in Johns Creek who called me about working with GHRS to adopt our rabbits. The Pet Supermarket does sell rabbits -- they sell mostly 2 month old bunnies for $29.99. However, they willingly take their rabbits back if buyers change their minds ... even after a year! Mitchell agreed to have me come and do a Bunny 101 course for him and a staff member, which I did this evening. I wanted to touch base with everyone about my impressions and how things went.

 

First of all, the store was very clean and well appointed. They sell mostly high-end items and had good quality rabbit food, litter, and hay. They had three 2-month-old bunnies and one older (maybe 5 month old) male who had been returned and exchanged for a female. The customer returned the rabbit because he was too aggressive (unneutered, of course). The babies were together in a display case with aspen shavings, hay, pellets, and water bottles. The male was in a display case along side them. I was told that the rabbits are taken out in the morning and placed in an x-pen in back of the store for exercise and again at night while they are cleaning up to close. They all looked clean and healthy. The display case was clean as were all of the cages for the other animals.

 

I spent about 2 hours with Mitchell and Shayla (another employee) discussing a modified Bunny 101. I had to incorporate a bit of our Shelter 101 conversations because they, like shelters, have rabbits to care for, and especially babies, something we don't deal with as much in our Bunny 101 class for adopters. Mitchell was actually very knowledgeable and has a neutered male Netherland Dwarf of his own (he showed me photos on his phone). He was very responsive to what we talked about and I think he learned a number of things from the discussion. He was thrilled to learn about Dr. Colby's practice and the store is apparently not far from him.

 

I brought him a bunch of material (including a couple of Bunny 101 copies to use with his staff, a copy of our application so that he could use it to help his staff ask appropriate questions, our brochure, and my business cards along with a few handouts) and told him he was welcome to give the brochure, business cards and handouts to customers interested in purchasing a rabbit. Perhaps he can get them to call us before they make a purchase and we can help them make an informed decision. Mitchell is trying to convince his district manager to stop selling rabbits and to work with GHRS to adopt out our rabbits, and his district manager is interested but not yet convinced. Mitchell would like us to come and do a Bunny Adoption Day -- he suggested that we might like to do one on their Customer Appreciation Day on October 19. I told him that I would speak with all of you about this possibility. Ultimately, he would like us to do with him what we now do with Petco. He thinks if he can do some joint efforts with us, he will be better able to convince his managers to stop bringing in baby bunnies to sell and just provide adoptables from us.

 

All in all, I liked this young man and think he has the best interests of the rabbits at heart. He seems to really want to work with us in whatever capacity we will allow. I think this store is close to Darlene (it's on State Bridge Road in a Hobby Lobby Shopping Center, across from a Home Depot and Target; pretty busy area) and maybe Ellen. If they are willing to work with this pet store (they also sell guinea pigs, ferrets, birds, and fish), I would suggest they stop by and introduce themselves. I'll talk to Mitchell at a later date to invite him to contact ferret and guinea pig rescues to perhaps do the same thing with them.

 

My suggestion would be to have Mitchell see if he could get his boss to keep babies out of the store for one month and allow us to provide a couple of adoptable buns for them instead. We would do the adoptions, but the customers could purchase their supplies from Mitchell -- win/win for both of us. Mitchell liked that idea, but, of course, I told him I would run everything by you guys first. We can make a decision and get back to him with what we are willing to do. We could perhaps do the Adoption Day in October and request that they not have any babies to sell that month.

 

So, that's it. Let me know what you all think and I can work with Mitchell and any of our educators who live in that area who would like to help (Darlene, Ellen -- hint, hint).

 

Thanks,

Caroline

[Johna]

Yay! More from me later but I just wanted to reply quick and thank you for taking the time to do this!! I think it's great you're making this connection 

Johna 

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[Shelley Williams]

I'm more than happy to work with the Pet Supermarket in Ansley Mall - it's right around the corner from me, and the manager (at least, the person in charge as of a few months ago), was definitely on our side, I think. Should we go slow, or should I perhaps try to get another manager on board?

[The Bunny Lady]

I so agree with Johna, Caroline.  If we could turn the Pet Supermarkets and make them like Petco’s that could have great results for the rabbits.  Personally, I would love to see them shut down but that is not likely to happen.  So,  If you can’t beat them, best to join them!  But only if they promise not to sell, and agree with our philosophy that new adopters have to be screened and educated!  As part of our chapter pledge we are not allowed to associate with  companies that sell rabbits so we will be towing a fine line but if the individual store promises then I think it is a start that could possibly change company philosophy also.  We need that inroad and sometimes it requires compromise.  I am ok with it! Edie

[Caroline Hess]

Both Mitchell and I would love to see Pet Supermarkets stop selling animals, but Mitchell only has management over one Pet Supermarket. He does not speak for any of the others. Any work we might do with them would be individual. According to Mitchell, they already screen and try to educate customers and do say no to customers they feel aren't up to the challenge. Selling rabbits, however, is a higher-up decision, but Mitchell thinks if we can work with him, he will be able to change his boss's mind about selling rabbits. So, the board will have to lay out what we are willing to do with his Pet Supermarket in exchange for those things we want from them. It's my impression that Mitchell hopes to "prove" our value to Pet Supermarkets and will try to convince his boss to forego selling rabbits for a period of time while we bring rabbits in for adoption. Even if we only agree to an Adoption Day in October, we could request that they not display any of their bunnies while we are at the store. Perhaps Mitchell could start there if we can agree. These are indeed compromises, but we compromise with Petco where our rabbits are kept in smaller quarters than we have at the rescue and in allowing them to free-feed rabbits, so there is certainly precedent for compromise. At any rate, I  look forward to hearing what you all decide and I'm happy to have anyone contact Mitchell (678-412-5917) to ask questions or hold a discussion.

 

Caroline

[Caroline Hess]

My suggestion is that the board come up with a plan for the Pet Supermarket in Johns Creek before we take on another one. But, once we get a plan in place, we might want to get started with Ansley Mall (and any other Pet Supermarkets that are around). Mitchell and this other manager might have greater leverage with their corporate leaders if they join together. We just have to be careful to not spread ourselves too thin.

 

Caroline

From: Shelley Williams

Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 11:40 PM

To: Johna

Cc: Caroline Hess ; GHRS group e-mail

Subject: Re: The Pet Supermarket

[Johna]

After reading what Edie had said about us not working with places who sell rabbits, I thinking we are limiting ourselves and our effectiveness.

I realize we don't want to be associated with certain stores because it would be negative publicity/ misunderstandings etc

At the same time, these are exactly the types of places we 'need' to form relationships with! Imagine how many bunnies we get in as rescues that probably came from Pet Supermarket. Every sexually intact bunny sold in the area has the potential to wind up at our shelter...even worse, there's the potential of litters......meaning each bun could be responsible for several that will abandoned down the line. Dealing with this at the source is important 

I think there should be some room for compromise here and hope that the idea of working with them isn't automatically rejected because they're selling buns.

J

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