Local Pet Shop Offers Personal Service for Furry Friends

The sun has been in the sky for less than an hour when Corey Prom arrives with his Red Bull Yellow Edition each morning at Corners Pet and Grooming. As soon as his keys stop jangling and the door to the store lets in the brisk morning air, he is met with the sound of excited barking from dozens of puppies and meows from kittens eager to greet him.

The general manager of Corners Pet and Grooming in Hales Corners, Wis. starts his mornings by putting in orders to make sure the store’s shelves are stocked, feeding the cats and dogs, cleaning up any mess they made overnight and confirming incoming shipments are correct — all before the doors open.

“I love my job,” said Prom. “We got little puppies and that always brings joy to me.”

The pet shop changed owners and was leased by Corey’s father, Billy Prom, in 2019. The shop sells puppies, kittens, pet supplies and offers grooming services for animals. Since leasing the store, the owners have faced challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, inflation and competition from larger companies.

The store had only been under new management for a couple of months when the coronavirus outbreak led to the store being partially shut down in April 2022.

“When we didn’t have an understanding of the pandemic, the state government closed down our grooming, puppy play area and kitten room for about three months,” said Corey. “The state deemed that grooming created too much contact and we didn’t understand how covid was spread at the time.”

Those areas of the store remained closed until June 2020. During that time, the store’s two groomers were laid off and customers who would regularly get their animals groomed there had to put it off for months.

“Our grooming was fully booked for weeks because we were closed for three months, making it more difficult on our groomers when they returned because when a dog comes in routinely every two months on average it allows for less matting and less pain on the dog,” said Corey. “We did get more business than normal when we opened up, but that was kind of artificial.”

The federal government signed into law the CARES Act in March 2020 and the American Rescue Plan in March 2021 in an attempt to provide resources to states and help ease the burden on businesses hurt by the shutdowns.

“We did get two $30,000 grants from the state government and a PPP loan from the federal government that was forgiven so that helped us out a lot,” said Billy.

Following the store’s full reopening, Corners Pet and Grooming was back to normal; customers were playing with kittens and puppies again and the store was alive with the sounds of pets getting groomed once more. However, Corey soon noticed that the orders to restock inventory were getting more expensive.

One year later in June 2021, the consumer price index reached 5.4%, a number not seen since 1982. That number has only kept rising, peaking in June 2022 at 9.1%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Over the past three years, the average toy price has doubled on our end, so it’s hard for us with inflation because it seems like every other week everything is getting raised in price,” said Corey. “It’s hard to stay on top of it and make money.”

The store has also had to compete with larger companies at the same time-both from suppliers and competition.

“We’re in the middle of getting out of a contract with Cintas, a company we rely on that provides chemicals, mats and uniforms, but they provide very bad service,” said Corey. “When we have a contract with a billion-dollar corporation, they can kind of bully us so I would say bigger companies can kind of mess with our production when they promise things that they don’t follow up with.”

One of Corners Pet and Grooming’s biggest competitors is Chewy, an online retailer of pet food and other pet-related products owned by PetSmart and valued at more than $2 billion.

“Chewy is like the amazon for dog products and they can sell some products for cheaper than what I can even buy it for,” said Corey, “so a lot of times I have to be careful of what I get because there’s a company out there that has a deal with some of these bigger chains that can give them quantities and prices that I can’t physically beat.”

Despite the challenges the store has faced, it has attracted many loyal customers like Lillian Rutowski, who have helped it become a staple in the Hales Corners community.

“In high school I would spend every single day after school at Dunkin Donuts, right across the parking lot from them,” said Rutowski. “We would end the night at Corners Pet and Grooming petting their puppies. They were a safe space for me and my friends to go to after school.”

“I’ve gone into their kitten room and puppy area more times than I can remember,” said Rutowski. “I have gotten hamster items, dog food, my hamster, cage accessories and I’ve groomed my dog there. They are my only spot for pet items because they have a cute small business feel with premium products.”

That small business feel is something that Corey says has helped create a strong and caring work environment.

“I really like that we are a small business and have only 10 employees,” said Corey, “the connection between the employees is more like a friendship rather than just being a payroll number.”

Corey also credits some of the older employees for rubbing some of their wisdom on the younger members of the crew.

“Karen, one of the groomers, has been doing this for almost as long as I have been alive,” said Corey. “She brings a lot of wisdom, and it makes me feel good that we got a little squad and that we got each other’s backs.”