Last Call

Giselle and Brooklyn Flores of Crate and Howl

Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK

Crate and Howl, a dog supply store, opened at 16 Portland St. at the beginning of this month. Beginning from a pop-up at Worcester Public Market, this familyowned business promotes healthy and environmentally friendly products for dogs. Specifically, taking the health conscious approach afforded to human food, and applying it to feeding man’s best friend as well. While on paper, the owner is Giselle Rivera-Flores, Crate and Howl is actually the brainchild of her 14year-old daughter, Brooklyn. Last Call sat down with the mother-daughter duo to talk about how they’re keeping it all in the family.

How did this start?

G: A year and a half ago, Brooklyn said she wanted to start a dog walking business. My husband and I were a little concerned about that — her having to manage 10 dogs at a time that she didn’t know — it just didn’t seem safe. So we asked if she had another idea and she said she wanted to open a pet supply store. Brooklyn’s ultimate goal is to be a vet and is very concerned with what dogs ingest and eat.

We started with leasing a space at Worcester Public Market to see if people were interested in the type of products we wanted to carry for dogs. It did very well and we just finished a year at the Public Market but it was only 96 square feet. We wanted to carry more items like beds and collars so expanded to the 16 Portland Street location. We’ll see if we hold on to the market location but for now we have two.

How did you make the big jump from a dog walking business to a pet supply business with two locations?

G: It actually seemed easier to me than her walking dogs, when Brooklyn suggested opening a store in the public market area. I’m an entrepreneur and I work on branding for clients in the city. So, I felt this was a better approach as soon as she came up with it, based on the fact that I have experience taking businesses from idea to reality.

The second shop was really on a whim — we saw it was available and in the middle of a neighborhood that has plenty of dogs, so we saw an opportunity to expand. The second location is designed for both humans and pets — we wanted to stay away from the congestion of a regular pet shop and have it be modern with an open, clean, Soho feel.

If you’re prioritizing space and an uncluttered set-up, does this mean you might rotate products in and out?

G: Absolutely, we actually do that quite a lot. Every time we have new products we like to rotate them based on seasons and holidays. We display different treats every month.

What’s your criteria to carry a product?

B: Definitely has to be healthy for animals and not have any ingredients that could possibly have a longterm harmful effect on them. I just want to make sure dogs are properly cared for. We don’t have any grains or dairy and make sure to work with companies that are cruelty free, so a lot of our products are vegan. We try to make sure they’re made by local or regionally owned companies.

G: They’re small-batch companies so you won’t find them at a Petsmart or Petco yet. Many of them are online and they work with small retailers like us. Some of these brands are relatively new because healthy foods have only recently translated to pets from humans. It’s kind of like the same thing with kids — people started becoming more conscious of what our kids are eating, so it expanded to our animals. There’s a market there that hasn’t been touched upon by larger companies.

When it comes to food, we like to avoid grain, dairy, gluten, soy and wheat and we also don’t carry mixed meats, sticking with things that are 100 percent one kind of meat, no chicken with beef filler.

We also try to cater to different eating styles — like people, dogs prefer different tastes and textures. They’re also actual meals — if it says salmon and rice, then it’s just salmon and rice.

What about toys and other items?

B: We make sure they have no choking hazard and are made of recycled materials and plastic, or no plastic at all.

G: We try to keep things that are one piece and high quality, not sown together that can come apart. The other thing is functionality — we work with a sustainable company that makes collapsible bowls that can fit on a keychain. Easy to travel with and make sure your dog is always hydrated — even backpacks for dogs.

What encouraged you to go this route with a pet supply store?

G: I’m a mom of three so a healthy lifestyle is very important to me and making sure my kids are eating well. When Brook and I decided to do this, we thought that the food we’re eating as humans should translate to pets as well. There’s this notion around dogs that they have a garbage disposal stomach, that they can eat anything and are kind of indestructible, but that’s not true. We always made sure to feed our dogs good food and learned that some breeds are more at risk for certain health issues. So we try to find products that are not only 1) sustainable and 2) healthy but 3) general wellness, addressing issues like anxiety that domesticated animals also experience.

We work with a company called Fox and Hound and they’re one of our top sellers — they do shampoos and flea/tick spray but they have ingredients that are 100 percent natural. Another thing we have is Wolf Spring. It’s a hydration formula and it’s almost like Gatorade for dogs that you can supplement in their water and food. We’re trying to show pup parents that water doesn’t always do it, it doesn’t carry any electrolytes and you can still be dehydrated after drinking water.

Where did the name Crate and Howl come from?

G. We were sitting down thinking of names and we’re big on wordplay so Crate and Barrel led to Crate and Howl.

Would you say this is a family project?

G. It started with just Brooklyn and me at the shop in the Public Market but then it got popular and we needed all hands on deck. So now it’s myself, my husband, and our middle child as well. Brooklyn is very good at picking items to carry, Evian (our middle child) does packaging and inventory, I do marketing and PR, and my husband does art portraits for clients. I even had the baby here for a few hours.

How did COVID affect the beginning?

G: It was hard but we made it. We opened the market store in June 2020 and didn’t get a lot of in-person traffic at first, so we’re very grateful for online orders. Customers were inspired by Brooklyn, and wanted to support her as a young entrepreneur. We had customers from the market location come to our soft opening of the second location.

Do you have any pets of your own?

B: We have a rabbit.

Anything to add?

G: It’s important to support the ideas of everyone, no matter how young they are. This is a practical experience that you won’t get in an MBA.

Brooklyn, 14, and Evian Flores, 10, recently helped their parents, Jamie and Giselle Rivera-Flores, holding little Shia, come up with the idea for Crate and Howl, a dog supply store that promotes healthy and environmentally friendly products for dogs.

ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE