# Went to an out of state PetSmart as a "pretend" customer...



## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Actually, we went to two. We are probably buying our first home this summer (yay!) in NJ and we went to the town we're looking at. There are also two PetSmarts I could possibly transfer to, so since I have the weekend off we went down and I checked out the stores and grooming departments. 

The first store had a questionable-looking groomer there with a really crazy hairstyle (which is against policy but anyway...) but the manager seemed calm and sane. I walked into the salon as a "potential customer" with Hanna, knowing full well they've probably never seen a Havanese in full coat untrimmed. I was greeted nicely and promptly, but the bather asked if she was a Shih Tzu. One of the groomers behind chided her underbreath, She looks nothing like a Shih Tzu! I asked about pricing, if they know how to groom a full coated dog, etc. She took it well considering I was a little tough, in response to the face feet but belly trim (which I knew was coming after I said I don't need a full body haircut) I told her, I don't trim her eyes or face either. She took a closer look at Hanna, realizing the untrimmed face hair and continued with the conversation. If I were a real customer, I left thinking I could give them a try.

The second store was brand spanking new, so everything was very clean. For that salon, I got a litte bit of attitude from the manager as I told her I wanted a groomer to handle her, not a bather, and she told me she couldn't waste a groomer's time with just a bath and feet trim! As I was walking out the door she asked if I needed a card and I answered, no thanks!

I was glad I went to "spy" on the salons, it was a good exercise for me to put myself in the customer's shoes. Even at a PetSmart salon, staff need to realise that there are customers with different needs and if they encounter something different, they need to think outside the box and try to accomodate the customer. For the 2nd store, the manager was being "to the book" but she could have said ok, but I will have to add an extra fee for the special handling of her coat, and I would have been fine with that as a groomer would understand long coat much better than a bather and that's what I wanted.


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## shimpli (Mar 24, 2010)

That was a really good exercise. I would love to know where you will be working at. I live in NJ.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

It would be right across the hudson in Bergen County. DH took a job in the city and we're looking for an affordable town to buy our first home with top schools and a good commute. That would be Ridgefield Park. It's a really small town, actually a village, the houses are small, older and have small yards, but almost all of it is kept clean and in good shape, with very low crime. Is it close to where you are?


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

How long have you worked at pet smart? I have been thinking about becoming a groomer. Is it hard to get a job as a trainee?


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## shimpli (Mar 24, 2010)

atsilvers27 said:


> It would be right across the hudson in Bergen County. DH took a job in the city and we're looking for an affordable town to buy our first home with top schools and a good commute. That would be Ridgefield Park. It's a really small town, actually a village, the houses are small, older and have small yards, but almost all of it is kept clean and in good shape, with very low crime. Is it close to where you are?


It is 1 hour 34 minutes from me. I am in South Jersey. That should be a nice place to live. Good luck.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Suzi said:


> How long have you worked at pet smart? I have been thinking about becoming a groomer. Is it hard to get a job as a trainee?


I've been with PetSmart for over 2 years. It's easy to get hired if they have the need. You get hired as a bather first, which means you work on all the short haired dogs and dogs that are just getting a bath. You'd be working on a lot of labs, pits, goldens, pugs, jack russels, etc. It's quite grueling, dangerous and dirty work. If you are in a busy salon you are hustling and hauling yourself around all day. Also if you don't do well working with difficult personalities, it wouldn't be a good fit for you as co-workers, managers and customers and be real jerks and a pain in the neck sometimes. If you survive (my salon is a sink-or-swim place for new bathers) you get sent to academy, which is just another petsmart that has a manager that teaches the course, and it's really just a month long crash course in grooming. The real learning is the 3 months after you come back, and then refining your skills takes about another year and it's always ongoing after that.

Many groomers have chronic back, knee and wrist issues, sometimes forcing them to seek a different career.


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

i think the best advertisement is word of mouth, people will talk and send other people your way. Do you get to hand out your personal card so the customer can request you, or do they have another system in place like a first come first serve type thing?

seems to me like grooming would be a harder job than one would think, dealing with some unruly dogs and then...their unruly owners. I imagine it can be quite stressful some days!

Kara


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Thumper said:


> i think the best advertisement is word of mouth, people will talk and send other people your way. Do you get to hand out your personal card so the customer can request you, or do they have another system in place like a first come first serve type thing?
> 
> seems to me like grooming would be a harder job than one would think, dealing with some unruly dogs and then...their unruly owners. I imagine it can be quite stressful some days!
> 
> Kara


Yes, word of mouth works, that's how I get a lot of new "request" clients. I don't have a card only the manager gets a real card with her name printed on it, I'd have to write my name on : (. It'd be a bummer to start out all over again as I do have a large following now and I'd have to re-build my clientelle.

Yes, grooming is quite stressful, but I try to think about the positives like all the nice dogs I like and their wonderful owners. I know the doggies forgive me after we're done!


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## Pipersmom (Jul 27, 2009)

We're about 1/2 hour away from where you are looking. Bergen County is nice and has some great dog events-one of our favorites is Carnivale of the Dogs in Ridgewood every September. I'm not familiar with the town you are looking in but the area is nice. We'll have to have a play date


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Yes, definitely! Hanna's a bit of a scaredy-cat with new people/dogs but she tends to respond better to Havanese-looking dogs (our neighbor has a shih tzu and Hanna loves her).


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

If it is something you love and are good at you should look into opening your own shop. There is a lady in my husband's office complex that used to work at Petsmart as a groomer and she opened up her grooming shop about 6 months ago in the building next to ours and she is always booked and doing quite well. She also has a referral agreement with the salon next door, doggy and mama day spa time slots, a few a week and they are always booked up.

Kara


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Thanks for the encouragement Kara! I've been toying with the idea for a while. After we're all settled we'll probably take a good look and run some numbers. It would definitely be great to run my own shop the way I like it without all the hassle of the corporate world and choosing who I want to work with!


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## unjugetito (Jan 2, 2011)

I would definitely go to you if you transfer to Bergen. Hannah always looks gorgeous!! I do my own grooming right now but it would be nice to have a break every now and then without worrying my furkids will come back traumatized.


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