The Meaning of The Pet Shop

What was the meaning of a pet shop? To act as a filter, the store picked docile, healthy, beautiful pets from the breeding base, and then recommended the customers buy these pets. After all, few customers were experts.

Compared with the Love Lovely Pet that was reluctant to let Zhang Zian visit the breeding base, he was satisfied with the breeding environment of Pet’s Home after a tour, both in terms of the breeding density and the sanitary condition. The most important factor was that they didn’t treat dogs and cats like machines.

He paid a lot of attention to those lactating cats and dogs, observing their posture, hair color, and especially their healthy and vigorous spirits and their caring movement toward kittens and puppies.

Another feature here was that all non-lactation cubs had their own cages, regardless of size, rather than being squeezed in with other cubs.

The man who seemed like an old farmer finished the sterilization procedure. He removed the sprayer from his back and took off the personal protection clothing, earplugs, and mask, and then walked toward Zhang Zian.

"Which pet shop are you from?" he impolitely asked Zhang Zian, looking him up and down.

His name was Sun Yinian. He looked and dressed like an old farmer, which he used to be. But now he was the owner. He personally worked here in order to save the money when he was out of helpers, like now, so he didn’t look like a usual boss.

"Amazing Fate Pet Shop, you probably haven’t heard of it," Zhang Zian answered.

"Oh, do you mean the one on Zhonghua Road?" she interrupted.

"Right, you know that store?" Zhang Zian felt proud when she mentioned his pet shop.

"I know it. We are kind of neighbors!" She smiled, and stretched out her hand to him. "My name is Sun Xiaomeng. Have you seen the new Spirit Curing Pet Clinic on Zhonghua Road? "

Zhang Zian thought for a while. There actually was one, just on the north side of Zhonghua Road, while the Amazing Fate Pet Shop was on the south side. They are separated by a whole block, just hundreds of meters. He would be reluctant to say they were neighbors, but they were really close.

The Spirit Curing Pet Clinic was newly opened. Due to a state regulation, the locations of pet clinics and hospitals had to be at least 200 meters apart from breeding bases, slaughterhouses and trade centers. As such, to avoid cross infection when sick animals were present, it was impossible for the two to be adjacent.

He quickly shook hands with her and said, "It’s a pleasure to meet you, and I’m looking forward to our future business partnership."

She forthrightly said, "Of course. We are neighbors and should help each other."

Sun Yinian was waiting impatiently. He rudely separated their hands and roughly said, "What are you doing here? Hurry up if you want to pick some pets. I have something else to do."

Sun Xiaomeng pouted, indicating that Zhang Zian should not be offended by her dad’s hot temper.

Zhang Zian had decided to buy at most four or five pets before he came into the store. Because he ran the Amazing Fate Pet Shop by himself, and was also a beginner in the business, it would be overwhelming if there were too many pets.

He said, "I’d like to see your Siamese cats, British Shorthair cats, and Samoyed dogs, all around the age of four months."

These three kinds of pets cost several thousand yuan and were pretty popular, so basically every breeding base had them.

"Okay, follow me." Sun Yinian didn’t talk too much and immediately led the way.

He took two steps and looked back to find his daughter following them. He stared at her angrily and said, "What are you doing here? You just said you wanted to go back early!"

Sun Xiaomeng looked up and said, "Hum, that’s because you didn’t pay me and I didn’t want to work for free. Besides, he’s my neighbor. I have to follow you and make sure that you will not take advantage of him."

Zhang Zian persuaded her. "You can go if you are busy. I can take care of myself."

She totally disagreed, "No problem. My clinic just opened so there’s not a lot of business yet. Did you drive here or…"

"I took a bus here. Do you deliver for free?"

"Do you think a cheap person like him will deliver for free? Usually people drive here to get pets."

He was now worried about carrying some cages on the bus. A taxi driver might not be willing to take them either. He could use the game, Pet Hunter, to temporally store the pets in his cell phone, but he didn’t want to do that in front of others. After all, it sounded crazy…

She noticed his embarrassment and thoughtfully said, "That’s fine. I have a car and can give you a ride."

"What a big favor! I will pay for the gas, then," Zhang Zian replied gratefully.

Picking out pets was an easy process. He had never managed a pet shop, but he had at least seen a lot of pets, so he was familiar with some pets’ features. On the other hand, he felt more relaxed because Sun Xiaomeng, a professional veterinarian, was there. The pets had been picked, and then it went to the price.

When hearing the several numbers out of Sun Yinian’s mouth, Zhang Zian twitched his mouth, even though he had been mentally prepared. The price was 40% higher than Love Lovely Pet (LLP) store; no wonder LLP had much greater scale and better business.

For a pet shop, the purchasing price was directly related to the profit. It would be difficult to reject the temptation of a low price. After all, he would earn the money as long as he could sell the pets. It was none of his business whether the pet was healthy or had any birth defects; he could simply blame the customer for not knowing how to raise it.

But why had Amazing Fate Pet Shop been run by his parents for more than ten years, while 80% of the new pet shops went bankrupt after one year? It was only because the businesses with bad reputations, the ones that always chased immediate profits, would only survive for a short period of time.

Folks who had pets liked to communicate and post pictures on blogs, Weibo, and WeChat. They would surely tell other people not to go to certain pet stores if they bought unhealthy pets. Bad news always spread faster than good news. He would only be hurting himself if he wanted to cheat customers.

Sun Xiaomeng chimed in, "Dad! It’s his first time here. Can’t you give him a discount?"

Her dad stared and said, "Are you my daughter or his daughter? Who exactly are you helping?"

"Hum! So cheap!" She got mad and, not wanting to say anything, turned her face aside.

"Fine! I’ll take them at this price!" Zhang Zian decided, as good value would come with a high price.

Zhang Zian’s quick response surprised Sun Yinian. He had purposely raised the price higher at first in order to let the young man go. He was not optimistic about this young man. There were a lot of petty bourgeoisie who simply wanted to open flower shops, coffee shops, and pet shops. The young man in front of him… was not a profiteer.

"Mm!" Sun Yinian coughed. "Well, I can add some other pet for free if you spend more than 5,000 yuan here."

"What? Why didn’t I know this rule?" Sun Xiaomeng turned her face back and mocked her dad.

"Do I have to ask for your permission when making rules here?" Sun Yinian stared again.

Sun Xiaomeng’s car was an Encore, which was a small compact car, but it was still spacious enough for four cages.

Zhang Zian became speechless when seeing the free pet from Sun Yinian. What a small free hamster!