Local dog grooming chain Lucky Paws is under new management. Since the end of August, Pin Gao and her husband Ryan Sarnan have been revamping the business’s eight locations with renovations, new software, better products and some price perks.
“We are trying to bring the focus back to the customers in the neighborhood. We try to run this with a mom-and-pop philosophy, but in a more modern operation,” said Gao, who visits each location weekly.
Gao’s hands-on approach to the business keeps her in at least one of the Lucky Paws establishments per day.
While there she ensures that products are fully stocked and customer service is at its most effective.
Gao and her husband, who runs the marketing and advertising side, acquired the business on paper in August, but it took until September to implement all of their changes such as retraining employees for best practices on customer service and adding software to organize and schedule appointments.
Previous owners ran the grooming chain for four years before Gao and Sarnan took over. During this time the business experienced duplicate appointments and having to turn away customers due to scheduling conflicts.
“It’s so amazing now compared to what it was. She loves to take care of us as employees. she gets snacks and drinks for us at our job now. I only met the old owner one time,” said Kaylie Holliday, who has worked at Lucky Paws for almost a year, describing Gao’s management style.
Now, Lucky Paws dog grooming is described as a “dog spa experience.”
Services like ear cleaning, nail trimming and teeth brushing are included with every groom. Additionally, returning customers will receive 10% off consistent grooms while first timers get 20%.
“We’re trying to really look at the market and see what people are next looking for in their groom. We take inspiration from other industries like hospitality, med spas and modern doctor offices just to see if we could fit this into practice and see how people respond to it,” said Gao.
The new business model comes with take-home amenities for customers in their New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Queens locations such as paw and nose balm, accessories, dog perfume and gourmet doggy treats.
“We want every customer to feel like they’re really pampered. We have a line for customer service, so anytime a customer has any kind of feedback, an employee will take care of it and relay it to us,” said Gao.
