No matter where you live in the township, chances are that you are at a walking distance from a pet shop. Some specialise in grooming, some are discount stores or focus on clinics. Either way, there has never been a better time to be a pet parent, as your fur babies are now spoilt for choice.
Time was when the twin townships had a combined count of just one or two pet shops but ever since the pandemic, their number has multiplied.
Heads Up For Tails, a national brand, opened up near Kwality More on September 10. This is their fifth in the city and manager Dibyendu Ghosh says they chose Salt Lake as many customers from here had been traveling to far-off branches for services.
“It’s true that Salt Lake is full of pet shops; we ourselves are surrounded by six rival stores. Customers are coming and mentioning so-and-so store to be offering discounted rates but they still leave our store with bills of over Rs 20,000. So it all boils down to service,” says Ghosh.
Right business at right time
Diptiman Sengupta, a resident of Uniworld City, was in the travel and tourism industry, which naturally took a dip during the pandemic. “I always loved pets and wanted to start a pet shop so took the plunge in 2021,” says the proprietor of Oh my Paws in Downtown Mall.
During the lockdown, Nishan Saha had trouble sourcing pet food and groomers for his retriever. “I realised others would be having these problems too and opened a store in 2021,” says Saha, who lives in Howrah but chose Salt Lake for this venture as it has a better market. His Pups & Pets is in a BC Block lane.
Toys on display at Pet Plaza in AB Block. Brinda Sarkar
Health and hygiene
While most of these stores sell food, accessories, grooming services and offer vet consultation, some try to differentiate by choosing a core area.
For Pups & Pets, this is grooming. “We have a groomer who is trained abroad. Such is the rush for his services that we sometimes have 10-day--long waiting lists,” said Saha. “A store on the main road would have given us more visibility but rent there is sky high and there are too many pet shops there anyway. This worked out better,” Saha says.
Moitri Bhabna clinic in CG Block offers laparoscopy, even claiming to be the only centre in the city to do so. “Laparoscopic surgery reduces the need for post-operative care and the pet can go home safely after it,” says the attendant Shampa Biswas. “We were an eight-year-old clinic in Beleghata but moved to Salt Lake last year. We are doing well as almost every house has a pet here.”
An Alaskan Malamute gets groomed at CK Block’s Cats n Dogs. Brinda Sarkar
Fashion and grooming
Pink Paws had opened its first branch in AC Block in 2018 but recently moved to a bigger premise on the First Avenue in AB Block. The new store boasts of a lounge for pet parents to watch on a TV screen as the pet gets groomed inside.
“Quality is paramount to us. Our toys aren’t the cheap Chinese ones available elsewhere and our clothes are made of special fibres that, if bitten or ingested accidentally, can be easily digested,” says Purna Bhattacharjee, who runs the store.
Three plots away is Pet Plaza that calls itself a discount store. “We offer 15 per cent off on medicines and 20 per cent off on products,” says Avijit Bhadra, a groomer there. This brand has had its flagship store in New Alipore for over 16 years and opened a branch in AB Block this year.
“While other stores charge Rs 3-4,000 to groom a long-haired breed, we do it within Rs 1,500,” Bhadra says. “Now if we can sustain despite such discounts, imagine how much other shops have been fleecing customers! Salt Lake has many stores with regular customers but once they visit us out of curiosity and compare our rates, they are not going back.”
Pet products available at Pink Paws in AB Block. Brinda Sarkar
Then there’s Corona, the city’s oldest pet shop, that has a branch in Metropolitan, near Chingrihata, and one in New Town. “But we are closing down the latter and reopening elsewhere in the township in a big way, focusing on grooming,” says Kumar Krishna Basu Roy, who runs the chain.
Besides regular services, Corona offers some unusual ones. “We help with pet transportation. We have been getting eight to 10 pets a month to be flown to Canada, USA, or Germany. There is a lot of paperwork, tests, and micro-chipping to be done that needs expert guidance. We also help dogs get pedigree papers from Kennel Club of India,” says Basu Roy.
Miles to go
Sengupta of Oh My Paws feels the market is nearing saturation. “Salt Lake, particularly, has stores eating into one another’s market. They should focus on virgin territory in other parts of town. Besides, most pet shop owners have no clue about pets,” he says.
Arijit Mukherjee, who runs the clinic Cats n Dogs and retail outlet Artemis in CK Block, says the shop owners in the township lack unity. “Our motive should not be profit but the welfare of animals. I had wanted to start a well-equipped centralised operation theatre for Salt Lake, in anyone’s shop. I approached the others but they didn’t even hear me out,” Mukherjee says.
A German shepherd dog waits for the vet to tend to him at Murphy Pet Solution in CG Block. Brinda Sarkar
His clinic has an ambulance and provides medical help till 1am. “I’ve spoken to the mayor for space in any defunct ward office for overnight emergency cases but nothing has materialised,” he says.
Murphy Pet Solution is perhaps the only clinic with a 24-hour medicine shop and provision for post-operative pets to stay overnight. “We have been trying to give 24 emergency service too but no vet is available at night,” says Sayanta Bhattacharya, who opened up at CG Block clinic and shop a few months ago.
Bhattacharya says pet shops are mushrooming like grocery stores and that the trend will continue as long the society remains materialistic. “It’s all about status symbol now,” he says. “I know pet parents who get their dogs groomed at the most expensive stores but when the dog gets skin disease, turn to us as we provide genuine service,” Bhattacharya says.
A pomeranian gets vaccuum-dried at Oh My Paws in Downtown Mall. Brinda Sarkar
Vet Aparajita Chakraborty is concerned about the proliferation of stores too. “There are so many shops that vets visit them all once or twice a week. This affects follow-up,” says the vet who runs her own APC clinic at Kankurgachi and Patuli and also sits at Pet Plaza near PNB Island.
She cites the case of a dog who was visiting her for five years. “He had an early hernia condition but one day his parent decided to get medicines from the new pet store near his home. The shop lured him with their vet too, but that vet had no knowledge about the dog’s medical history,” says Chakraborty. “Such vets only collect their pay cheque. They come in casually and have no responsibility. It’s only after the dog’s hernia worsened that they rushed back to me but now the dog’s life is in danger.”
Another clinic owner said he is inundated by fresh graduates looking for a temporary job as a vet to fill in the time till they sit for their specialisation exams. “Such vets are more eloquent with poultry and livestock syllabus than canines and felines,” says the shop owner, asking not to be named. “I stopped appointing them when one new vet mistook a Great Dane for a calf in front of me!”
Write to saltlake@abp.in