Philly pet chain Doggie Style plots suburban growth

Ira Goldfarb's Doggie Style chain of pet food and pet product stores plans 5 new locations in suburban Philadelphia this year. One will open near the Wegman's in Warrington on May 24th; others are planned for Paoli (June), South Street (August), and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust's Moorestown Mall (September) and its Voorhees mall (October). That's besides the 6 stores this five-year-old chain now runs in Philadelphia, one in Montgomeryville, and two in the Baltimore area.

There's also a franchised store, Doggie & Kitty Style, in Haddonfield, where the original name was judged too graphic.

Shelves are lined with fancy collars and Chinese plush chew toys, but "our number one seller" is dog food - premium brands like Innova Evo, California Natural, Merrick, Wellness, Solid Gold, which cost more and leave smaller profit margins, "but they're healthier, you'll need the vet less," Goldfarb told me in his office above the funky-chic Doggie Style at 315 Market. He says the brands he stocks have less sugar and corn than Purina, Pro Plan and other mass market best sellers: "The supermarket stuff, it's like eating McDonald's all the time. It's why so many dogs are obese."

Besides Doggie Style, Goldfarb also runs his own distributor, United Canines, from a warehouse on American Street. He started it six months after opening the first store near Rittenhouse Square."When we looked at the market, we saw an opening. Retailers were gouging." With his own distribution, "we can sell quality products at less than the price of the boutiques, and offer some of the same products you see in (national chains) Petsmart or Petco at the same or better prices... I am hiring constantly." He's self-financing the expansion; the firms use Nova Bank's downtown branch for credit cards and other transaction services.

Goldfarb and his partner and "chief operating officer," Claudia Gutierrez, own Chloe, an English bulldog; Bella, a "rescued Chihuahua mix"; and Sassa, a rescued cat. He credits Claudia's daughter with the idea for Doggie Style's favorite charity, "Oporation Ava", which solicits donations for vet care for unemployed pet owners.

Dog ownership was the key step in Goldfarb's evolution as a pet entrepreneur. Growing up in New York, Goldfarb's immigrant parents forbade pets; he grew up to operate the Leather and Fur Co. clothing chain, including a Philadelphia store, before he sold it and went into the info tech business at the end of the 1980s. He developed Infocus LLC, an optometric management software firm, and sold it to TLC (The Laser Centers) in 1999. He sold Center City real estate in the boom years, then started Doggie Style, which won a "Retailer of the Year Award" from Pet Product News by expanding during tough business conditions in 2009.

Goldfarb wants to be the local-favorite Genuardi's or Clemens' of Philadelphia-area pet suppliers. Or maybe the Trader Joe's: "We're going to be national - we'll be international in the next three to five years."