When you own chihuahuas and you enjoy dressing them up in chihuahua clothes, you tend to visit a lot of doggie boutique shops. What I’ve been noticing lately is that these dog boutiques area really focusing on the banal and boring segment of dog supplies and would do so much better, I think, if they focused on selling the fun goods that people seem to love buying at the Chihuahua Shop and a few of the other chihuahua clothing store business I’ve been keeping tabs on.
I mean, I walk into these doggy boutique shops and what do I see? I see a miniature version of a major pet store: dog food, hair brushes, leashes and leads to fit every breed known to man, and even huge dog houses for bigger dogs. They have no focus. These doggie boutiques are trying to cater to everyone and, in doing so, they’re catering to no one. I walk into these dog clothing shops that, from their name and advertising on the outside of their store front, lead you to believe are going to be an entire store full of chihuahua clothes but are instead a small section of designer chihuahua clothes surrounded by many more generic pet supplies, again, these doggie boutiques trying to be copy the approach of the major doggie shops, just without the money to afford enough space to be one of those major pet store places.
And I think it’s a mistake. These doggie boutique shops have such an advantage over the huge dog stores because they are small and because they can choose to focus in on just one area of the dog clothing world. If you ask me, a little doggie clothing store that specializes and only sells the best small dog clothing is far more valuable than a store of the same size that is essentially trying to be a jack of all doggie trades. A small doggie boutique that focuses in on the realm of small dog clothing and sticks to selling those chihuahua clothes and yorkie outfits and Maltese costumes and shih tzu dresses, and very little else, will draw the crowds because they’ll become an authority on small doggie clothes over time and people will know them for being that way and as the place to go when you want to pick up some chihuahua clothes for your little dog.
Again, I think it’s far more valuable to the customer to have a niche chihuahua boutique that JUST sells chihuahua clothes and chihuahua accessories and things for chihuahuas than for that same person to have access to yet another pet store, but simply crammed into a smaller space and with less selection.
But that’s my opinion, and I can’t speak for all dog owners. But that is why I made the Chihuahua Shop into the kind of dog boutique that just focuses on small dog clothing for chihuahuas and the other small breeds out there. If you have a chihuahua and you’d like to shop for him or her, then head over to the Chihuahua Shop doggie boutique and have a look for yourself: I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised! -Mikey
