What’s the number one challenge in operating a successful pet store? How can you make sure to have the resources to best serve your community?

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In this week’s interview with Greg and Nina Querin of Pet Valu in Fergus and Cambridge we’ll talk about the importance of hiring great people in your business, and making sure that those staff members are well supported to give their best to the public.

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Find Greg, Nina and their team here – 

Web: https://www.petvalu.com/ca/order-ahead/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PetValuFergus, https://www.facebook.com/PetValuCambridge

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petvalufergus/, https://www.instagram.com/petvalufranklin/

 

Now, let’s get to the interview!

 

 

Transcription:

Laura Wombwell
Hi there, it’s Laura from Laura Wombwell Photography. And joining me today are Nina and Greg Querin of Pet Valu in Fergus and in Cambridge. Hi, guys, I’m so excited to have you here today. So, let’s start off with what got you interested in operating a pet store?

Greg Querin
You know, we’ve always been involved in our own type of business. And we wanted a business that was family based, that we could grow with our family and other families. I mean, the people and the pet department is what appealed to us most. And Pet Valu was just an opportunity that came up at the right time, and we jumped in.

Laura Wombwell
Amazing. And have you folks always been in southwestern Ontario? Or did you move here from somewhere else?

Greg Querin
So I was born and raised in Kitchener Nina was

Nina Querin
born in London, Ontario, and moved to Kitchener area. Yeah.

Greg Querin
So with Fergus in Cambridge, it kinda, it’s a nice strategically placed where between both, so for the half an hour from each location for us is perfect.

Laura Wombwell
Excellent. So Pet Valu, I believe, is a franchise, correct? That’s right. So how are your stores? The same or different from the other Pet Valus?

Greg Querin
That’s a great question. You know, standard offerings are obviously going to be the same in a franchise system, as is the store format. You know, that’s what you’re buying the franchise, part of, I think, where we try to stamp ourselves to make it a little different, if you will, is the the personal interaction, We want, we want people to come and know who they’re dealing with. We want it to be a family business. It is I mean, Pet Valu is a chain, but we’re a family business. We want that local tie-in with everybody, we want to see faces, and we want them to know that we’re the owners and there every day.

Laura Wombwell
Wow. So are you actually in the pet store every day?

Greg Querin
Well, I mean, I make it down. Yes. But with two stores, it’s not the same store every day, or sometimes it’s more behind the scenes than physically in the stores as they grow and times change. It becomes more challenging. But we’re definitely involved every day. And in the stores, you know, I want to say four days a week, at least if not five,

Laura Wombwell
Wow, that must be a lot, especially balancing the two different stores, what are some of the challenges that you encounter in running the stores?

Greg Querin
Gosh, you know, the people is obviously our number one, always, um,

Nina Querin
we always want to make sure we have the best people. And, you know, for our customers knowledge, having the best people is is great.

Greg Querin
Well, and our staff become, again, it’s a family business, we want them to be part of the family as well. So having that connection, and the locations are the same, but they’re different, right? You know, when you’re in Fergus versus Cambridge, it is a different environment. So there is a different dealing there with the local people that we’re hiring. And again, to find staff that fit with our vision, in how we want to interact with our customers. So probably, you know, that’s always the main underlying challenge. COVID notwithstanding, you know, that that has presented a whole new set of challenges in the last year.

Laura Wombwell
Do you find that there is a different type of pet in Cambridge versus Fergus? Are you getting bigger animals in one? Or is it pretty standard across the board?

Nina Querin
I think Cambridge has the bigger dogs than Fergus. But the the thing that stays the same between both stores is the love of their pets, the customers love of their pets, definitely doesn’t matter where you are Fergus or Cambridge, customers come in, because they love their pets and want the best for them.

Greg Querin
I think what’s really impressed us and both to which kind of surprised me a little bit is the level of knowledge and involvement that people will take, especially in today’s day and age of being able to search everything immediately, people will come in with a mindset or or just a really good understanding of where they think things should go. So a lot of times in both locations, and then it’s not exclusive to one. We’re working together as opposed to us just educating them. So really, it’s um, yeah, the animals may be a little different. But I think that that passion is the same throughout and that level of involvement. Really, it’s it’s impressive.

Laura Wombwell
Nice. You mentioned that your customers are doing their research and coming in with great questions. How do you train your staff to be able to answer those questions?

Greg Querin
Gosh, that that’s probably the biggest ongoing thing, because, you know, we used to think that we could train someone in a month, and then away you go, the scenarios are endless. So, you know, to say we’ve been in the business for 10 years, I’m still learning, I mean, because every scenario is so different in what comes up. So, training, the involvement, it’s a lot of working in partnership with another more experienced staff member. Situational, always, right. So a lot of times, you know, we can’t always be everything for every situation right at that time, right. So it’s good to be getting back to customers, and then we learn from that experience and share it after the fact with other staff. So we’re fortunate to have some really long term pet people that are working for us. So they bring with them a natural, a natural knowledge base that they’ve gotten over the years. And really, that’s probably something that we should have said from the beginning is those that are coming to work for us. They’re passionate, I mean, they’ve got they’re coming to us for a reason. Anyone that really is working for us at this point, and after the years, what we’ve learned is, they’re there because they want to be there. Um, it’s not just a job. So a lot of times people will come with an expertise level that they’ve had, you know, whether it’s reptiles for one person, dogs for another, cats, horses, whatever they’ll come to us with, and they can share that then and we learn from each other that way.

Laura Wombwell
Is there anything that you would say you really specialize in at your stores?

Greg Querin
I mean, we’re small pet specialty, right? So dogs and cats, they always take the the bulk of our business, you know, I’m in I don’t even, I wouldn’t want to put a percentage on what that split even is. But that’s going to be our main. And then the small animal beyond that would be the you know, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, fish, birds, you know, we like to touch on it all. But you got to be careful, because we’re dealing with family members here. So it as much as we welcome all conversations. And if we can help someone out even beyond our comfort zone, we will as long as you think we know,

Nina Querin
We know the answer. If we don’t know the answer, gosh, we always have to, you know, go to outside sources, you know, see your vet, see somebody else, right? See your trainer, see some somebody else? We don’t have all the answers to everything.

Greg Querin
Yeah, yeah, mistakes are too great. Right?

Nina Querin
They are too great. You can’t just make up an answer. You can’t come up with something and it not be correct. Right. So I’d rather have somebody not answer fully. And it’d be correct, then, you know, making something up.

Laura Wombwell
Well, and part of helping your customers is referring them to people who can help them with specific situations. Absolutely.

Greg Querin
And that that’s where I think from the business, the business method that we’ve always tried to have is, it’s it’s a lifetime experience, it’s not a one time experience of someone coming into our store, they become 2,3,4 times without buying a single thing just because we’re talking, they’re learning. They’re developing their plan before they even get a pet or as they get a pet. And then they might become a customer after you know, several interactions and that kind of thing. So you may get some business out of that you may or may not. but as a business philosophy for us these pets are lifetime pets. They’re not just a one time interaction. So I think was like what Nina was saying, sometimes you’re just passing them off to someone but they’ll remember that that’s a great experience. Right? And I would always remember someone that helped me out in a you know, for especially for a pet, something so important to our family.

Laura Wombwell
What is your very favorite thing about owning and operating a pet store?

Greg Querin
The pets. The animals coming in, we have a blast when people bring their animals in and the experience we can have the interacting, taking pictures. spoiling the dog, mostly dogs, because that’s what’s the most mobile, but we get we’ve had dogs, cats, birds, snakes, other kinds of hedgehogs, reptiles, yeah, bunnies, we do get a fair amount. And we love it. I mean, it’s just it’s fun. The staff gets involved. Other customers like to see that. Right. So that’s the most enjoyable. And I think that’s the obvious answer, right? Because the pets are always fun. We’re all in it for the same reason that we love the animals. Beyond that, I think it’s it’s the relationships that we build. It’s amazing. How many people you know, we see new customers every day, but we see the same customers every day as well. And that’s really special to us to see those faces that you know, sometimes just a wave and a Hey, but we’ve seen them every week for, you know, months and months and years. It’s really special. It’s great.

Laura Wombwell
Nice. Speaking of relationships, I know that you folks make a point of giving back to your communities. I know with COVID, fundraising for rescues and whatnot has been tough. But I’d love to hear a little bit about what you’ve done in the past to help support pet-based charities.

Greg Querin
Yeah, I mean, I think that we’ve done several different charity things. We will sponsor dog walks and pitch tents and give up goodies. We will raise donations from customers, which again, when you talk about animals, everyone wants to give and help. So the generosity of our customer base is really impressive. So when we’re raising for a local rescue, we love to have local rescues that we can support, give them food, money goes a long way, obviously, but food a lot of times solves a lot of problems.

Nina Querin
Yeah, we usually have two large fundraisers each year. One is where we collect food, and supplies and products for our local rescue we work with each store has their own local rescue we work with, and then our other large fundraiser is generally in the spring. And that’s where we collect cash or money, people buy a paw, we put them up on the window, and that money then goes directly to our our partner, our shelter that we work with. And then also along with that, we do generally always have it an adoptable pet in the store from one of our local rescues. So one or two at a time, whether it’s a cat or a small animal. And yes, so that’s, we love, yeah, giving back, that’s our way of giving back and working with our local rescues.

Greg Querin
And we’ll have a lot of community-based small charities or raffles will come to us a lot of times, so we are constantly doing gift baskets, and and, you know, small items, but very local, you know, I love seeing people from our neighborhood come in, and say they’re doing just something to help out, you know, a team or whatever. And that’s, that’s, again, that’s our, our base that’s supporting our business, and we want to support back that way.

Laura Wombwell
Wonderful. What’s something that you really wish that the general public knew about pet stores?

Greg Querin
We can’t solve it all. You know, I think it’s, it’s a lot of times, there’s not a quick answer to a problem. You know, there’s, I don’t, I don’t want it to be a negative thing, because it’s not. But I think sometimes people want to come to us and be able to skip either going to event or to solve an answer real quickly. And money doesn’t always solve a problem real quickly. You can’t just buy your way out of a bad situation sometimes. So in that we’re there to work with them. But it’s sometimes just a longer process. You know, I think, but like I said before, I’ve always been impressed with the level of knowledge that people already come with. So it’s not that that’s a lot. But it’s probably one of our main you know, things that we, the main challenge that we deal with in what customers come to us for

Laura Wombwell
perfect. So given that it’s been a heck of a different sort of year, I’d love to know, what sort of impact has COVID had on your business? And what sort of changes have you made to cope with what this past year has thrown at us?

Greg Querin
Great question. You know, the number one impact well, I mean, there’s many impacts. So I shouldn’t say number one, but one of the main impacts that we have found is the stress level on our staff is quite great. And we see that every day. And that’s probably what affects us or concerns us the most. Again, they’re not only our family, there are there the extension of our business and us really, and seeing every time we go through a transition, whether it’s into a lockdown, or really mentally straining, and again, they want to do the most that they possibly can to serve the customer. They’d rather be able to spend time and when you can’t, it’s it’s stressful. And then you see that stress level built on the customer back, right? They want answers or they want to be able to come in and look at something because they can’t express what they need without you know, being in the store. So that’s probably been the biggest challenge that way. We’re lucky to be in a business where in some way, shape or form we’ve been able to serve as our customers.

Nina Querin
Curbside obviously isn’t ideal. It’s difficult. The phones are ringing all the time. We can’t always get to them all the time, the email, everything. It’s really challenging. But like Greg said, we’ve been lucky to be able to still service the customers. Whether it’s curbside or in store, so that’s been one of the toughest parts is going back and forth. Again, thankful that we can still do that and still operate in general.

Laura Wombwell
Are there any pivots that you’ve had to make that you think you will keep implemented? After all of this calms down?

Nina Querin
Probably online ordering has come about from that. Online, but pickup in stores, so people can choose their items on our website, and select our location. And then and it’s all ready for them. And they can come in and pick up in store, whether they, you know, right now outside, curbside, but in the future, hopefully that maintains, because I think it’s a great option, you can still, you know, browse and take your time from home and see what toys or treats you might like. And it and pick up at your convenience.

Greg Querin
Yeah, I hope we keep some of the traits that we’ve been forced to learn, whether it is through how we deal with the customers being able to do curbside. Because that may continue that people don’t want to come in or, or whatever. And having that, like Nina said, that ability to have an order ready for someone before they even get there. Also, you know, it’s been a real eye opener for how we maintain things. And safety precautions for customers staff, us, you know, all want some of that to stay on beyond this, because let’s learn from our past and hopefully never go back again. Right. So whether that’s how we clean and disinfect or shields or protective equipment, whatever, you know, I don’t always want to wear masks and stuff. But we do we have to do right, so.

Laura Wombwell
Excellent. So we’ve talked a lot about your store, and how you folks operate. I would love to know a little bit about you and your own pets because I know people that get into any pet care business. They do it because they absolutely love pets. So who lives with you currently?

Greg Querin
So we’ve got two pets at home right now. We joke that I’m a little bit thankful that we have allergies in our house. Otherwise we’d have to sell our house and buy a farm. But so we have a 10 year old Beagle. His name is Woody, who is very dear to our family. And we have our newest members Coco, who is a linealated parakeet. And she joined our family this past winter.

Laura Wombwell
Have you had birds before?

Nina Querin
No.

Greg Querin
We love birds, but we’ve never known we just never had one and then we found a we found a great place and and researched it and it just seemed the right fit and thought that that might be the one pet that we could get that someone in our house did have an allergy to, and lo and behold, our oldest son has an allergy to birds, but it’s fine.

Nina Querin
It’s okay. It’s okay.

Greg Querin
We love, love it

Laura Wombwell
And how does woody get along with Coco?

Nina Querin
Well he’s coming?

Greg Querin
Yeah, Woody’s a beagle, so of course that’s a bird dog. So there was a little bit of a transition period there. He has come around. Thankfully, as he gets older, his desire to get that wound up about things is becoming less and less. Yes, he likes to, he tolerates the bird, if you will,

Nina Querin
We don’t keep them too close together generally.

Unknown Speaker
We’re always there with him when we do so. But he’s okay. He’s great. And the bird is super social. Sounds great, always on our shoulders and following us around. And if we leave the cage open, she’ll jump right down and come over to us and it’s really a lot of fun. And our kids love the animals.

Laura Wombwell
Now obviously Coco probably can’t leave the house. But are there are there any things that you really enjoy doing as a family with Woody here in southwestern Ontario,

Greg Querin
Hiking, going to there’s so many great spots around here. We were just in Elora a couple of weeks ago, taking a great hike. And he loves that I mean, nose to the ground. And off he goes he can spend hours out there, we love doing that together.

Nina Querin
Yeah, walking is probably the biggest.

Greg Querin
Yeah, that but his favorite thing is to hear that he can go for a car ride and he’ll jump right into

Unknown Speaker
The car rides. He loves to, wherever we can go. It doesn’t matter where.

Greg Querin
Yeah, so he’ll, he’ll come to the store with us sometimes when it’s off hours and that, but we

Nina Querin
otherwise he would eat the whole story.

Greg Querin
Yeah, he’s very food motivated.

Nina Querin
Yes.

Greg Querin
So, but he’s again, he is also a very social pet. So he loves being by our side. So anything we do as a family if he can join us, he’s thrilled.

Laura Wombwell
Now being pet store owners, your pets must have access to all sorts of wonderful treats and toys and enrichment activities. Is there anything right now that either Coco or Woody is really enjoying that you think people would would love to hear about?

Nina Querin
I love for Woody, the natural treats and chews. We love now making a big deal out of his meals, his lunch or breakfast. So that’s definitely a big thing. You know, building his bowl up, not just pouring the kibble in. But but but making it fun and adding, you know, real whole foods. And so that’s been fun for our dog. Our bird, gosh, well, she just she’s…

Unknown Speaker
She’s a lucky bird. Yeah, she gets everything that’s in the bird section in the store. Right so we try it all it’s it’s fun though, because we get to learn what works

Unknown Speaker
What works and what doesn’t. Right. Some sometimes it’s not successful what we bring home and then we know we learn for our customers, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. But yes, they are lucky.

Laura Wombwell
So I have some rapid fire questions to end off with for you. You ready?

Greg Querin
Sure.

Laura Wombwell
Okay. cat or dog,

Nina Querin
Dog.

Laura Wombwell
Favorite breed?

Greg Querin
We’re not being rapid fire here. No, I love hound dogs.

Nina Querin
Although I’ll go back to cat and I’ll say I love hairless cats. So, again, it’s hard for me with the allergies. But I would love a hairless cat.

Laura Wombwell
Yes. What are your pets favorite treats?

Greg Querin
So Coco’s favorite treats are basically just fresh fruit. So you know this morning was a slice of Kiwi. Broccoli, veggie. Yeah. Woody is pretty much anything. Anything that rhymes with food. He will eat so he loves. I mean, he’s on a raw diet, but he loves anything that’s natural and meaty. Again, it changes often. So for him, it’s, it’s it’s a lot of different things.

Laura Wombwell
Are your pets full of beans? full of dreams or full of something entirely different? beans?

Greg Querin
Beans. Yeah, definitely.

Laura Wombwell
All right. Here’s a tough one. If your pets were to be played by human actors in a movie,who would play them?

Greg Querin
Oh, my gosh. Okay, well, um, I, that is a tough one. Woody would be to answer that. What he would be. He’s kind of droopy but funny. Oh, yeah. You might have stumped me on this one. I’m not even sure how to answer that. Coco? I don’t know. I’m not even sure how to answer that. I’m so sorry. That’s a tough question.

Laura Wombwell
You can pass. That’s totally fine.

Greg Querin
Sorry.

Laura Wombwell
All right. So the last one, if money were no object, and all of our current restrictions were lifted, what one amazing thing would you do to spoil your pets?

Greg Querin
Great question.

Nina Querin
Takethem on holiday. Yeah, I think to a beach, too. You know, I think we would all like that. But I think our pets would love that too. Right?

Greg Querin
I agree. Like they take Woody somewhere on the water and let them just go crazy running around and having a blast and again with a bird just let her have the space in the you know, to do whatever. Yeah, yeah, I think both.

Nina Querin
Yeah. Yeah.

Laura Wombwell
So, I have really enjoyed chatting with you today. How can this southwestern Ontario pet community best support both your business specifically, but also their local pet stores? What’s the best way that we can all be kind and help each other out?

Greg Querin
I think you hit the nail on the head. I think it’s support local, whether it is us or it’s that operator around the corner, go in develop a relationship. You know, it’s not always just the cheapest is the best. It’s what we can learn together and experienced together and hopefully develop a relationship with the customer and the pet. So I think that’s the best way for any operator

Nina Querin
And share your experiences, share good experiences, right with people. And on social media too. You know, that is a big thing. It’s how nowadays you try and get your business out and your word out, I think, you know, staying in touch that way and sharing about great products or great experiences is a big thing.

Laura Wombwell
Yeah. So I’ll be popping all of your social media details right in this interview. If folks would like to get in touch with you specifically, what’s the best way to do that?

Nina Querin
Many different ways calling the store, on our social media, we’re on Facebook and Instagram, and or just coming into our stores and saying hi.

Laura Wombwell
Excellent. Nina and Greg. It has been such a delight to chat with you folks today.

Nina Querin
Thanks, Laura. Thanks so much for doing this for the pet population and parents.

Greg Querin
Yeah, it’s great.

Laura Wombwell
Awesome. Well, this has been Laura Wombwell from Laura Wombwell Photography with Nina and Greg Querin of Pet Valu, both in Cambridge and Fergus, and we all hope that you and your pets have an awesome day. Bye!

Greg Querin
Bye.

Nina Querin
Bye.

 

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