• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Moochie Unleashed: Upscale, Mall-Based Pet-Store Chain Says It?S Itching to Expand

Posted on: Friday, 13 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Jeffrey Sheban, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Jan. 13--A pet-store concept reared in Columbus is ready to stray from home.

Tom Dagne, a former Limited Too official who operates Moochie & Co. stores at the Mall at Tuttle Crossing and Easton Town Center, is considering Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton and possibly Detroit for expansion by the end of the year.

Dagne, 46, created Moochie & Co. to be a mall-based retailer offering high-quality and unusual pet products, treats and accessories.

There's the expected -- decorative food and water bowls and tasteful pet beds -- and a few surprises.

Fun items include novelty Tshirts for dogs emblazoned with "Security" and "Bitches Me." And what well-dressed doggie would be without designer cologne labels CK-9 and Timmy Holedigger?

Other hot sellers are freshly baked dog cookies in five flavors -- BBQ, carob chip, beef, peanut butter, and garlic and cheddar -- and a rubber-chicken chew toy named Henrietta, dolled up with lipstick and a purple bikini.

"Our customers share our sense of humor," said Dagne, who opened the first store at the Tuttle mall in 2004 after losing his accessories-buying job at girls' clothingstore chain Limited Too.

Dagne noticed that nobody in the mall was catering to pet owners with disposable income.

The concept struck a cord with shoppers, doing so well that he opened a second store at Easton two months ago. Dagne also operated temporary stores and kiosks in Cincinnati and Dayton during the holidays, and talks are under way for permanent locations in those cities and in Cleveland.

Dagne is getting help with negotiating leases, logistics and accounting from Albert J. Bell, 45, former vice chairman and chief administrative officer of Big Lots Inc., who joined Moochie & Co. in July. Bell's addition brings the number of workers at the Worthington headquarters to five.

They think Moochie & Co. can grow to 250 locations nationwide without issuing stock, financed by a combination of bank loans and store profits. Some analysts agree.

"It would not surprise me to see pet retailers like this having success opening new stores," said Dan Poole, assistant director of equity research for National City Private Client Group.

He said aging baby boomers and empty nesters are driving the $37 billion pet-food and supplies industry.

"They're replacing kids with a pet or a second pet," Poole said of the demographics.

The industry is dominated by grocers, discount stores and specialty retailers including Petco and PetSmart. Most of them are destination stores.

Moochie is a different animal.

"The mall fosters crossover shopping patterns," said Malachy Kavanagh, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

"A strip center is a purposeful trip: You know exactly what you want and get in and get out," he said. "The mall is a more spontaneous shopping trip, and you have more impulse buying."

Dagne said the mall is making all the difference.

"It delivers customers who might not have thought otherwise to buy these products for their pet."

jsheban@dispatch.com

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:BLI, NASDAQ-NMS:PETM,

Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

More News in this Category