Pleasure for dogs and cats

Called "Artgerecht. Das Freudenhaus für Hunde & Katzen" ("Spe-cies-specific. The house of plea-sure for dogs and cats"), the 300 m² store is located in a prime position in Bad Wörishofen. "In addition to the complete Fleischeslust range and a few other high-quality brands of food and accessory products, the focus is primarily on a huge BARF range," Fleischeslust founder Susanne Rutzinger-Kurpas told PET worldwide. A highlight of the store is the large butchery counter, which is stocked up twice a week and offers a large selection of meat products fresh from the abattoir. "The shopping experience is key here, linked to a range of additional offerings of advice, activities and workshops that are intended to create a dedicated community of customers."

Running the new store is franchise partner Nadine Salzgeber, who can draw on in-depth knowledge from her training as a certified nutritionist covering species-specific nutrition, dietetics and healthy pet food. In the accessories category, the new shop has turned its attention to outdoor and mushing dogs. As well as a wealth of new equipment, numerous seminars and workshops are offered here on the topics of dog trekking, canicross, dog scootering, skijoring and bikejoring.
Susanne Rutzinger-Kurpas wants to present her three stores in this sector primarily as competence centres, where customers can test all equipment free of charge or hire it for a small fee. In 2017, travel offers are expected to follow for adventurous dog owners. It especially pleases the entrepreneur to be inundated with enquiries from well-educated nutritionists and alternative animal health practitioners when complaints are frequently voiced in the sector about how difficult it is to find young talent and skilled staff.

Two more store openings in Bavaria and North-Rhine Westphalia are scheduled for the first half of 2017. "Careful consideration has been given to the choice of location," adds Susanne Rutzinger-Kurpas, "because on the one hand the local partner is a very critical factor, while on the other we are only looking at locations where we have no retailer coverage yet."