Page 8 - BusinessWest December 21, 2020

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Chris Pratt, right, and Tracy Faulstick have had to pivot and create new revenue streams, because COVID-19 has left fewer dogs home alone.
COVID Tails
Pandemic Has Forced This ‘Pet Resort’ to Consolidate and Pivot
By George O’Brien
“Because no one wants to be left home alone.”
That’s the marketing tagline for a venture called Wag-
ging Tails Pet Resort, and until the middle of last March, it effectively summed up what this company was all about and why it was so successful; dog owners wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment.
That was true for the boarding side of this operation, obviously, but the day-care component as well, said owner Chris Pratt, who told BusinessWest that many professionals had come to understand the value of leaving a dog in a
day-care facility — for com-
panionship and also, in the
case of larger, athletic breeds,
to work off some off their
considerable energy before
their master gets home at the
end of the day.
But starting in March, most dogs didn’t have to be left home alone. Their owners were working remotely for the most part, if they were still working at all. Meanwhile, very few people were traveling anywhere.
Almost overnight, business for the day care, boarding, and other components of the multi-faceted Wagging Tails operation plummet- ed, said Pratt, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic could not have come at a worse time for her — not that it’s come at a good time for anyone.
That’s because business had been so good at her resort on Russell Street in Hadley that she moved aggressively and opened a second location on Florence Road in Easthampton — the Heritage Farm — last February to handle what had become an overflow.
Just a few weeks later, though, there was no overflow. She said she kept operating both locations as long as she could, but when Thanksgiving came and the numbers of boarding and day-care dogs were just a fraction of what they were a year ago — and not able
to generate enough revenue to pay the staff — Pratt was forced to shut down the Hadley operation, with the intent of reopening when
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“
We’re combining our resources
to get through the winter.
”
8 DECEMBER 21, 2020
COVID STORIES BusinessWest
Staff Photo