 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
 |
FEATURE ARTICLES | |
Memo Calendar | Memo Pad | Business Memos | Loaves & Fishes | Letters | Home |
Local storeowner competes with large chain stores and big ad budgets by going the extra mile for his customers and animals
DARLENE VINSON
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
 |
| Glenn Chezik, Family Pet Center owner, goes fishing for a customer. |
 |
| Family Pet Center owner Glenn Chezik helps Sherrie Jackson select a new submersible pump for her 20-gallon aquarium. |
| MEMO PHOTO: TIM CURRAN |
Upon entering the shop at 12419 N.E. Glisan St., one is immediately immersed in Chezik’s animal world. Toys, treats, and tools of the trade for all pets, large and small, line shelves and wall displays. Dog lovers can select from a range of chew toys, snacks and quality food labels, and will find leashes and training aids, too. Cat fanciers will find scratching posts, playthings and healthful foods for their pets.
But it doesn’t stop there.
At the back of the shop are housed kittens, puppies, small mammals and reptiles, all waiting for the right home. Family Pet Center sells birds and the necessary cages, foods and accessories for a healthy avian collection. Off in a back corner, one enters the darkened aquarium room. Here, fresh water fish like the colorful Neon and Cardinal Tetra, beautiful Red Tail Shark, prehistoric looking Plecostomus and interesting looking Needlenose Gar and Glass Catfish fill sparkling tanks. The shop carries aquariums, aquarium supplies, rocks, plants and foods for both aquarium and pond fish.
Chezik began his professional career as a baker making pies at restaurants such as Marie Calendar and Plush Pippin.
So how did he get from pies to pets? While he had always thought he would have a pet store as something to do in his retirement years, the opportunity came earlier than expected with a corporate buyout and organizational changes at the restaurant some 16 years ago. He took his severance pay and went looking for an opportunity.
His management experience paid off in terms of running his own business, but puppies and parakeets are not pies. He had to learn the pet store business. To do that, Chezik visited every pet store in the area, pumped other store owners for as much information as they would share and read every trade magazine he could get his hands on looking for anything to give him an edge. As many small business owners will tell you, it took commitment and long hours to get where Chezik is today, but he says he found the edge he was looking for in the dedication, honesty and knowledge of his employees. Chezik believes having honest employees who treat customers with respect is a good formula for success.
Mike Steenson came with the store, so to speak, having worked for the previous owner. He describes himself as a book freak with an excellent memory. Applying these assets to his work, Steenson is valued as a resource by customers as well as his boss.
Marilyn Carter has been at the store nearly as long. Her love of animals has resulted in something akin to a small zoo. She has 20 cats, 10 dogs, dozens of snakes and lizards, cages of birds, and houses farm animals to boot. Her son Mark, now 23, began working at Family Pet Center when he was 14.
Ferralyn Chezik, Glenn’s wife, does the books and all four of their children have worked in the store cleaning tanks and cages, stocking shelves, doing whatever was needed. Jake, the youngest, was born the day the purchase of the store was completed.
Chezik knows he must impress his customers to bring them back. He knows he competes with national chains and large advertising budgets. He and his staff have found that their success is directly related to their ability to quickly respond to any customer request. If a customer asks about a particular product, Family Pet brings it in, usually within the week. If there is a problem, every employee is authorized to use his or her own judgement to resolve it, even if it generates an expense to the business because a happy customer is a return customer, and Chezik says he relies on his regulars. He also uses a very sharp pencil when calculating mark-ups to keep pricing as low as possible, often below big store pricing, he says.
Because Family Pet Center has been in the area for so long and because everyone there is dedicated to the pet business, they are able to make referrals for aquarium services, dog walkers and veterinarians.
So the next time you find yourself talking to the animals, find your way to the back of Menlo Park Plaza and drop in on Glenn, Mike, Marilynn or Mark. They are confident they offer the service, variety, pricing and knowledge you want and your pets deserve.
MEMO Advertising | MEMO Archives | MEMO Web Neighbors | MEMO Staff | Home