Digging Up New Niches to Survive Economic Downturn

Proving that only the strong survive, Pacific Paws Doggy Resort & Spa owners are already on their way to cultivating innovative niches that will hopefully ensure the resort's endurance during economic hardships.

The Middleton and McCullough families recently marked their first anniversary of ownership at the beginning of the year, after the spa's original owners sold the Hawaii Kai-based business to the families after only two months.

"It was basically a startup even though the infrastructure was there, so we've come a long way in a year," explained Ken Middleton, Pacific Paws co-owner/partner. "We're obviously a lot busier than we were a year ago when we purchased the business.

"We just finished our busiest two weeks of the year over Christmas and New Year's," he continued. "It was very busy, which I think it is at every kennel business around the country and probably around the world."

While the families did reach the point where they could begin paying themselves back over the prosperous holidays, when many patrons took advantage of the resort's boarding service, Middleton says he predicts a decline in boarding reservations this year due to the far-reaching recession.

"People, I think, are going to take fewer family vacations just because of the economy, so Spring Break may not be as busy as it was last year," Middleton stated. "If the economy continues like this or spirals down even more, we may see a decline in next Christmas' bookings, but we can live with that."

In preparation for the tough year ahead, Middleton says the spa, located in Koko Marina Center, is expanding on its services and discovering groundbreaking ways to serve clients.

"We've got one year of experience under our belts, but there's a lot of other little niches out there that are either underserved or haven't even been developed," Middleton noted.

For instance, Pacific Paws introduced a puppy training session, which takes place every Tuesday night.

"It's a great place to introduce dogs to other dogs, and then get the basic commands down as far as sit, heel and come," Middleton said. "We're also developing a curriculum for private training - more intensive training as follow-up and also for problem areas, whether it be barking, chewing or aggressiveness."

In addition, launching sometime this quarter, will be outcall services, which will accommodate patrons who are traveling but don't wish to pull their dogs out of the house. According to Middleton, the outcall services include household visits, in which staff members attend to pets a couple of times a day, walking the dog(s) and feeding the fish; and they'll even pick up the mail and newspaper and water the plants.

"We'd rather have the dogs at our shop, but when there's a variety of species involved...we can't accommodate the other animals at this time," Middleton explained. "So we need to go to them because we recognize and want to help families in those situations as well.

"Typically, we're interested in 15- to 20-minute types of visits once or twice a day," he added. Already, Pacific Paws' employees are providing dog-walking services for some of their elderly clients, who have large dogs that they no longer can handle.

Recently, the resort even picked up a new vitamin line that provides a variety of vitamin supplements for dogs.

"It's terrific nutritional supplements for dogs, particularly for older dogs who have arthritis or other conditions," Middleton said. "And this vitamin supplement comes with a 60-day warranty, so it'll guarantee that you'll get some results as far as the dog's health improving, or you get your money back."

Besides the new additions to the doggy spa business, Middleton says the grooming venture has been steady and growing each month.

"Over in East Oahu, people treat their dogs like they're family members, so I don't see dogs being neglected because of the economy or the economic situation around the state," Middleton stated.

On top of grooming services, one of Pacific Paws' most popular services is its day care, which is called "working parent packages." With a 14-hour window for patrons to drop off and pick up their furry family members, between 6:30 in the morning and 8:30 at night, the packages offer 10, 20, 30 or 60 days of day care.

"It's real convenient for folks or families who have dogs that are latch-key dogs or stay-at-home dogs that chew on things, bark at annoying neighbors, tear up things or the yard, howl, or do anything that disturbs neighbors, building managers and security," Middleton said. "We're a great alternative, where dogs are engaged the whole time they're at our shop. They play with other dogs; they get a lot of walks; and they get a lot of attention from our people staff.

"The day care won't be affected as long as people have jobs," he added.

After a successful first year, Middleton sums up that the business, which employs seven staff members, may quite possibly suffer some losses, but will continue to thrive out of the recession.

"We had a good first year, and I think we'll continue to grow the business," shared Middleton, who also owns a yacht charter business as well as a wedding planning company. "(Pacific Paws) seems to be a pretty recession-proof industry, and I think we're better situated than my tourism-related businesses. We'll develop some of these niches and help continue to provide jobs for folks here in the community," he added.