Independent pet supply store battles big guys

A few years after opening his first Pet Supply OC store in Fountain Valley, owner Gary Hoeflich had to battle an industry Goliath.

When PetSmart introduced its pet superstore concept more than two decades ago, Hoeflich saw a 50% drop in sales that forced the Rancho Santa Margarita resident to lay off all his employees and work the store himself.

“I worked every single day for five years with no days off to survive,” Hoeflich said. “Are a lot of people willing to do that? People would just close house and say, ‘See you later.’ But we did it.… There was no ‘ands, ifs or buts’ on whether this was going to work. It had to work.”

Now 35 years into the business, Hoeflich not only has survived the arrival of big-box pet retailers, but he has expanded Pet Supply OC to include six stores, 55 employees and his own line of dog and cat food. (In addition to Fountain Valley, the Orange County stores are located in Huntington Beach, Irvine, Trabuco Canyon and Rancho Santa Margarita.)

“Our sales have grown every year,” said Hoeflich, who is considering opening another store, in Irvine, and expanding Replenish, the pet brand he co-created four years ago with the president of Pets Plus, Scott Johnson.

Although Hoeflich has always been a pet lover, the Buffalo, N.Y., native started in the automobile business, restoring antique and classic cars.

He got to know the owner of Pet Country, a little pet store across the street from his current location in Fountain Valley, and ended up buying the business from him.

“I liked animals and had animals, so the transition was pretty easy for me, going from cars to retail,” he said.

Over the years, he has expanded the Fountain Valley location, moving into a 1,600-square-foot space in a shopping center on Brookhurst Avenue before eventually taking over five storefronts totaling 18,800 square feet.

At his Fountain Valley store, Hoeflich is carving out a 6,000-square-foot space for “Cat Country,” a new section devoted to cat-related products. The move is in response to a trend he sees among millennials whose apartment living and busy schedules can better accommodate cats as pets.

“Younger people want more cats than dogs as pets,” he said. “People that love cats will love the section.”

His children are also involved in the pet supply business, with his two sons managing stores while his daughter serves as merchandiser.

In high school, Hoeflich’s daughter, Elaine Shay, worked Sundays for her dad so he could take a day off.

“He’s so knowledgeable and he’s always thinking outside the box,” she said. “He’s thinking about next year’s thing and the years to come.”

A big part of Hoeflich’s success was his early jump on the healthy, gourmet pet food trend and buying products in bulk to keep prices reasonable.

“We try to be innovative,” he said. “I like to be leading the pack instead of following, so we are always trying new things. If it’s a good, new product that’s healthy and works, we’re the first to have it.”

The stores carry 100 kinds of dog food and more than 80 brands of cat food, including prescription diets, vet-recommended special foods and fresh-raw frozen foods.

The store also has a selection of products for fish, birds, reptiles and other small pets.

Most of the brands sold at Pet Supply OC are not available at big-box retailers because that business model cannot support smaller companies, Hoeflich said.

“We carry a lot of stuff that you just don’t find anywhere,” he said. “Big-box stores have half the selection of what’s here, but people’s perception is that they’re bigger and better and cheaper with more stuff. But our prices are better and the selection is better. That’s something the independents have battled against for years.”

To maintain a competitive edge, Hoeflich heads to trade shows in Las Vegas, Tennessee, China, Germany and Italy to learn the latest trends in industry products.

“We see things that you wouldn’t see in the U.S. for years,” he said. “We can kind of see where the trends are and where the industry is going. It leads the direction of what we do.”

Four years ago, shortly after Procter & Gamble Co. acquired Natura Pet Products Inc., Hoeflich and Johnson started the line of healthy dog and cat food called Replenish.

“We sell a lot of food, and we sold it for a lot of companies, and every time we build up those brands, they would get sold and we would have to start all over again with something else,” Hoeflich said. “Half the sales went away. So we go, ‘Why not sell our own food?’”

They developed six flavors for cats and six for dogs. Chicken, brown rice and peas is one of the six flavors of dog food.

“It’s a very simple formula, great for sensitive stomachs, great for skin and coat,” Hoeflich said. “We know this product works because we make it. Some foods are pates grinded up from leftover stuff. This is totally different.”

Replenish is now sold in 350 stores in California, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona.

“We definitely want to develop this as more than something we sell in the store,” Hoeflich said.

Customer service has also been key to the success of his business.

“He gets mad if we don’t offer to carry out a bag for a customer,” Shay said of her father.

It’s what kept Cathy Mclaren coming back as a customer for 35 years. She also went to work part-time for Hoeflich after she retired three years ago.

“If I had a question, almost anybody here can help me,” she said.

Combine that with good pricing and you’ve got a successful business, Hoeflich said.

“That’s the big difference between us and a lot of other stores. We stress service,” he said. “It’s guiding people in the right direction and making sure the person has the right product. It’s one person at a time. It’s how you build your business.”