Pet Project

Pet Project is about simple concepts hiding in plain sight. Jim Dougherty saw an opportunity and capitalized on it. Never one to shy away from a challenge, he couldn't resist taking on a project an out-of-state owner offered him. The project was to renovate a warehouse on a dead-end street and turn it into a pet food store superstore. The challenge he accepted turned into success and motivated Jim to start his pet food superstore. PetSmart, originally called Petfood Warehouse, became a reality in March 1987. Pet industry insiders doubted this new pet superstore idea would survive; Jim proved them wrong. The idea was almost too simple, yet pet owners couldn't get enough. The curious pet owner became a return customer. The pet food superstore was here to stay. Several years after Jim had retired due to health issues, he set his sights on another Pet Project a scaled-down version of the pet superstore. During PetSmart's early days, many pet industry leaders thought the superstore concept would result in small pet retail stores going out of business. Jim's theory was that he was making the pet retail space bigger, allowing new ideas and concepts to be developed. He realized there were more pet owners and pets than there were pet retail stores. He founded Petsense, a smaller store in suburban and rural areas another simple idea hiding in plain sight. Along the way, Jim discovered a passion; mentoring. He had help along the way to success and wanted to give back to an industry that had been good to him. He knew about failure and success; it's part of the business. Jim has never backed away from a challenge and sees new and struggling businesses as a challenge; the opportunity to mentor entrepreneurs like himself about never giving up, find a positive on the dark days, and build on the notion that tomorrow will bring a new beginning. Find a comfortable place and enjoy a feel-good book for entrepreneurship, success, failure, customers, and the passion of pet owners and lovers. Pet Project will give you some insight into what it takes to be an entrepreneur and how a few words transformed the pet industry: give the customer what they want.