columbus mt or maybe another small town? dog grooming and such.... (Billings: home, neighborhood)

[angelajenkins]

we are still in process of selling our missouri home but still searching for the right land to put up a simple home in columbus on. we hope to add at least a handful of jobs into the community when we open up our doggie spa and boarding retreat.

any thoughts and ideas are appreciated! we hope to add to the community and value what God already created there. Columbus is just one area we looked at, any other locations are still open as well! small town under 10K is all i want

[rickers]

I could be wrong and I've never been to Columbus But I know "Small town Montana" fairly well and I have doubts if the folks in small Montana towns of 10,000 people would support a business called a "Doggy Spa and Boarding Retreat". It sounds a bit to foo foo for Small town Montana folks to me. It might fly in Whitefish or Bigfork though. Expect to have a second job to keep afloat. If the business does fly It will probably only support you and yours and I doubt if the business would support a few other employees. However like I said "I could be wrong" but what do I know, I've only lived in a few small towns here in Montana for 11 years.

[jimj]

I can almost promise you it wouldn't float in Whitefish either. Heck the ones that are already here struggle.

[EhlJay]

For what it's worth....I live about 30 miles from Coumbus and while it may be a little 'too' small (only a couple thousand people) you might actually look at the Laurel area for a business like that.

Laurel is about 8-10 miles from Billings. About 6,000-7,000 people (somewhere in that neighborhood) and it's right off of I-90.

Guess my thinking there is most people in need of boarding are either flying out (airport in Billings) or on a road trip of sorts (and likely on I-90) so the location would gather in people from outlying areas on their way 'out'.

I have 2 Welsh Corgis and when we travel we do need to board them. The options are fairly limited. There's Kota's Kennels in Billings. Nice, but pretty much the outdoor kennel setup. Animal Lodge between Laurel and Billings. Much more 'pampered pet' and quite expensive. If you need to board and don't book in advance chances are the kennels will be booked already....so the business is obviously there to support it. There are a couple of other options but nothing special (still the outdoor kennel setup type of thing).

We also have one of our local vets as an option but he basically puts the dogs in a cage and only takes them out twice a day....we only use that option for the 'long weekend' type of thing.

I don't know how big the 'spa' part would be but to have another option for a nice boarding facility would be good in this area.

One of my daughter's friends (and one of my 'adopted' daughters) works at PetSmart in Billings and called this morning to say she was at work and had 4 grooming appointments to do this morning (it's New Year's day!!) so apparently the need for grooming is strong enough to warrant working on New Year's day!

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in!

[seven of nine]

Well, I love my doggies but.... the spa consists of the utility sink and well if they can't go with then they stay here. In tough times people will not be spending money on such things, of course IMO. Better spread out the eggs, not in one basket. Good luck.