Preuss Pets celebrates 30 years

 

Preuss Pets, one of CaptiveReefs' sponsors, recently celebrated their 30th year in business. Preuss Pets is a family oriented pet store, operated by Rick Preuss, his wife Debbie and daughter, Kirbay.

When Preuss opened in Haslett, Michigan 30-years ago he had enthusiasm and dedication but no financial resources, it was with endless dire conviction to being successful at what we do, being helpful to the community. The single most successful business concept has been that we isolate, quarantine, condition and treat any and every animal that comes in, including every fish. If someone comes into the store, they are going home with a healthy animal.

Six years ago, Preuss Pets moved from Okemos, Michigan to Lansing's Old Town, a renaissance area in Lansing teeming with small business. Rick Preuss likes the entrepreneurial spirit and sense of family in his new Old Town location. Preuss Pets' building was a "brown field" site that was an abandoned mechanic's garage and former car dealership. The Old Town facility has 22,000 square feet of dedicated retail space, plus a classroom, a freshwater fish breeding room, coral propagation facilities, and fish quarantine room.

Preuss is an advocate for educating the public about nature and pets.There are several Lansing area schools and classrooms that have reef tanks as part of their curriculum of educational resources within the library, science rooms, classrooms. (The Mid-Michigan Marine Club, the local reef club helps to fund some of the classroom reef tanks in the area.)

Preuss has a full-time staff member that goes to classrooms and talks about animals, pets and nature. There store has an onsite classroom which helps anchor their educational outreach program. The classroom is used for training classes to teach customers how to successfully keep their animals (they offer several reef keeping classes for beginners and intermediate level hobbyists). Preuss Pets also hosts birthday parties and store field trips for scout troops and other groups. We are excited about our outreach program. It sets us apart from other pet shops.

Rick Preuss is also a co-host for a local pet-education radio show, Mid-Michigan Pet Expert Talk Show. The show features a new topic each week ranging from dogs to reef aquariums and features call-in and in-studio guests.

"Exotic" is not the word Rick Preuss uses to describe the pets he offers at his store in Lansing, Michigan's Old Town District."Appropriate" is a better term in his mind -- though he will accept that Preuss Pets is an "exotic place to go." "We carry appropriate animals for keeping within our living rooms," said Preuss, whose store is marking its 30th anniversary. "Things you won't find in an average pet shop or big-box store, you will find in our store."

Preuss Pets carries a diverse selection of pets, from reptiles and amphibians, to small animals including chinchillas, guinea pigs and rabbits, and even kittens, and from finches to macaws in their bird department. About the only pet you won't find there is a dog.

via the Lansing State Journal.