Attractive superstores

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The Kölle Zoo Group's smallest store, with a retail area of 1 700 m², opened in mid-May in Frankfurt-Griesheim. "Frankfurt is an attractive patch for a pet product store like Kölle Zoo," says managing director Matthias Pohl. On the day of the opening, around 6 300 visitors turned up and sales exceeded the company's expectations by 25 per cent. The store is managed by Heinz Kienzle, who previously ran the Kölle Zoo outlet in Karlsruhe. As is to be expected of Kölle Zoo, extravagant pet presentations form the focus of attention in the store. Take the 5 000 litre show aquarium by the entrance, for example, in which piranhas swim alongside large shoals of ornamental fish, including a shoal of around 10 000 neon tetras. Then there's a 60 000-litre koi pond, complete with resident iguana living directly beside the pond in its own lair, as well as a walk-through 15 m² aviary featuring tame parrots. One special feature of the bird and small mammal presentation is the so-called "glass feed kitchen", where customers can watch food being prepared for the birds and small mammals. The rodents and the dwarf and pedigree rabbits are housed in over 50 enclosures. These sales enclosures are made by the store's in-house carpenter, and their style and shape are reminiscent of the rabbit hutches used by hobby breeders. In the aquatics department, each of the more than 250 aquariums is set up as a show aquarium, and tall wooden columns and a suspended ceiling create an exotic touch. The reptile department is housed in an oblong room with a 12 m² open enclosure at one end with a desert landscape for bearded dragons and other reptiles. Glass panels create a barrier through which children can see the creatures close up. The store stocks a complete range of goods, with a large selection of premium food products and accessories for all types of animal. The shelves are located opposite the related pet presentation in each case. Kölle Zoo intends to open two to three new stores a year, and a second store in Frankfurt/Main plus an outlet in Munich are high on the company's wish list. At the start of June, the Zoo & Co. Welke Borsigallee pet store then opened on the other side of the city. A new concept was implemented here for the first time: "In the realm of pets" focuses more markedly than before on the themed experience, ambience and pet. Zoo & Co. system manager Frank Stratman and Thomas Brill, managing director of the Welke…