Think Outside the Shelter to Increase Adoptions!

Thinking Like A Retailer

By Brent Toellner
Photo by Sherrie Buzby

Location is important to retailers. If you have something to sell, the more people who walk by and see your product, the more likely you are to sell it - and the more of it you are likely to sell. This common knowledge is why most retailers pay top dollar for high-traffic retail locations.

Rescues and shelters need to think of pets as "products." But the principles of finding them homes remain the same; the more people who see your adoptable pets, the more likely they are to fall in love and adopt them. So many times I've heard shelter people say, "if only I could get people here to meet this dog, they'd fall in love and take her home." It's true.

Most shelters don't have the financial luxury to pay for high-dollar retail locations. Most are sadly stuck in old warehouse buildings, or in far, out-ofthe- way locations. But many shelters are starting to think like a retail store in order to get their adoptable pets in front of high-volumes of potential adopters - and are seeing success with it.

In May, the Fort Worth Animal Care and Control division began a partnership with the PetSmart store in Hulen where they began having adoptable pets available at their local PetSmart (in coordination with PetSmart Charities). The satellite adoption center occupies 1830 square feet that was not being used at the rear of the store and houses up to 50 adoptable dogs, cats, puppies and kittens and one time.

Since the partnership began on May 1, adoptions have skyrocketed - with more than 100 cats and dogs placed with families in just the first 12 days. Sources say that type of volume would take a month at the shelter facility.In fact, from May 1 to September 19, the shelter had adopted 689 dogs and cats from the PetSmart store location. With the success of the retail location, total adoptions for the year for Fort Worth Animal Care and Control was at 1,142 through September 19 - representing more than double the number adoptions in the same time period in 2009 when they didn't have the retail location.

And because of this success, Fort Worth Animal Care and Control hasn't killed a healthy adoptable animal since the program began - the first time in more than a decade that has happened. In fact, the new adoption center has became so busy, that FWACC had to reach out to other shelters in the area in order to keep up.

Simply amazing.

While many animal welfare organizations complain about 'pet overpopulation' being why they 'have to' kill adoptable animals, programs like this one show the power of thinking like more like a retailer. By getting your adoptable animals in high-traffic locations, you can supercharge adoptions and increase the number of lives we save. We CAN adopt our way out of killing homeless pets.

Fort Worth isn't the only organization doing this of course. Last December a local Kansas City area shelter, Animal Haven, took over an empty mall location for one month during the holidays. The retail location resulted in over 150 adoptable pets finding forever homes in just one month.

Off-site adoptions in high-traffic areas are important. And many shelters are finding success by finding semipermanent (or permanent) locations in high-traffic areas. The economy is slowly on the uptick, but the past two years have been really hard on retail areas - and many now have empty store-fronts that might be available to non-profits at a very reduced rate. Think like a retailer - get your adoptable pets more exposure and get them into loving homes. Their lives depend on it and we cannot make excuses for a lack of innovative thinking any longer.

*PetSmart Charities is the nonprofit arm of the PetSmart Corp. which funded the build-out and oversees the adoption program at the Hulen PetSmart store in Ft Worth, TX. Please visit www.petsmartcharities.org to learn more about their adoption programs. For more information about Brent Toellner please visit: Website: www.kcdogblog.com Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Twitter: @kcdogblog Facebook: Brent Toellner