Connie Packard Kamedulski, owner of Animal Fair pet shop, stands with Allegra Jacobs, left, and Erica Pack behind the counter in the store. —Steve Coulter photo
A new staff wardrobe, a magazine feature article, and a pair of VIP trips to Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. — sounds like a pretty good deal, right?
That’s the reality for Animal Fair pet shop, which won the grand prize of a small business contest sponsored by Lands’ End Business Outfitters, INC magazine and American Express OPEN this summer.
“We have like 20 different shirts all with different logos and different colors, so we don’t have a cohesive brand,” said owner Connie Packard-Kamedulski “That’s what Lands’ End is creating for us and we couldn’t be more excited to have an official look — by the time they’re done with us, we’ll look fabulous.”
Ms. Packard-Kamedulski and her employees celebrated with customers Friday, Aug. 23, inviting pets and pet owners alike to hang out in the store.
Ms. Packard-Kamedulski and three of her employees will also receive four round-trip tickets to Lands’ End headquarters in Madison, Wisc., Sept. 5-7, when they hand-pick their new apparel and do a photo shoot for an article that will run in the LandsEnd Business Outfitters November catalog.
“They told me to send our measurements and our design preferences,” she said. “They will tailor it, embroider it and have a wide variety of new uniforms for us to choose from when we get there which is amazing.
“The goal is team branding through attire — branding through look.”
While in Wisconsin, the group will attend the Dane County Farmers’ market and a University of Wisconsin football game — two Madison traditions.
The group will attend INC’s 500|5000 Conference Oct. 10-12 in Washington, D.C. for small businesses.
Ms. Packard-Kamedulski sent in her entry essay in early July. She was startled when she got a call that Animal Fair was one of ten finalists for the grand prize.
The final voting stage with a four-person panel and a public vote, took place in July.
“It was a national contest that hundreds of business participated in,” she said. “They wanted to know how our values impact our success. I guess they really liked what I wrote.”
In her essay, Ms. Packard-Kamedulski talked about her store’s four core business values: Strengthening human-animal relationships, doing the right thing for every animal, learning everything you can about a product, and treating the customer as “we’d like to be treated.”
Ms. Packard-Kamedulski purchased the store in September 2001 — the week of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
“I bought an existing pet store, Hubbard’s Cubbard, because of my passion for top-notch, responsible animal care,” she wrote in her essay to the panel of judges. “I believed that I could supply top-quality pet products to our town in a cost-effective manner, not a boutique for foo foo dogs but a real pet store staffed by real people with real solutions — people who care about the animals in our store and in our town.”
One of the questions she had to answer in the essay was what her biggest challenge has been as a small business owner.
Ms. Packard-Kamedulski didn’t hesitate in her response. Pet Valu, a Candian-based pet chain, had “invaded our small state with 18 stores slated to open this year.”
The first store opened within walking distance of Animal Fair in April.
“We continued to do what we do — fair pricing, great customer service, and doing the right thing for the animals,” she wrote.
The second part of the question — how did you overcome the challenge — was a bit more tricky to answer.
“Ask me in a year if we have overcome this challenge!” she explained. “We are pulling out all the stops to overcome our competitive challenge. We are in ‘go big or go home’ mode!”