Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Visiting Vanity Fur
I spent a very nice couple of hours with Michelle, who owns Vanity Fur grooming salon. It's a very cute little shop, in downtown West Jefferson, right on Main Street. Michelle has her shop divided by counters and there's a little room partitioned off that she uses as a drying room. It's not lighted, though the top of the room is open so it gets ambient light from above.
Front of Vanity Fur as viewed from grooming area
Vanity Fur drying area. See the white Mini Schnauzers in the bottom crate? cute. :-)
Vanity Fur bathing area
Michelle with English Cocker Smokey
Michelle is lower-tech than Valerie is; there is neither a recirculating bathing system nor a high-velocity dryer in Vanity Fur. But she does just fine without, hand washing and towel drying. The drying room holds a couple of wire crates and half a dozen or so box fans. No cage drying with heated air, and that's a good thing. No baked pooches!
But Michelle DID introduce me to a very cool little tool called a Moser - a variable-height clipper. The blade adjusts from #10 to #40. Cooool!!
I think I like the idea of having counters dividing up the space without blocking the open atmosphere. Kind of a blend of Valerie's and Michelle's shop areas.
Michelle uses an Edemco grate at the bottom of her tub, so the dogs aren't standing in water. I like that idea, but also like having the dogs standing in the soapy water as I'm bathing them. I think that would loosen the crud in the pads and make it easier to get out, especially with the jets of water produced by the Bathing Beauty. But having them standing above the water would make rinsing easier, and use less water to do it, because the dog wouldn't be able to get back into the suds as the tub drains. hmmmm.
Michelle may be interested in going to the Chicago trade show in August. I told her that if I do go, I'll most likely be driving, and offered to take her along. It'd be great to have someone in the car with me, especially to split gas costs. Not that I'd be spending too much money on gas, as my little car gets great mileage. I got 400 miles on one 12-gallon tank a couple weeks ago! Also Michelle doesn't smoke, so she's definitely hotel roommate material. *grin*
Michelle also lent me a couple back issues of Groomer to Groomer, a grooming industry magazine put out by Barkleigh. Valerie hates Barkleigh, so I'm not in any doubt why she didn't tell me about the mag. I'm going to post to some of the lists and see if there's anyone looking to get rid of back issues. It's mostly ads, but articles and Q&A columns as well.
Michelle let me take pics of her, her shop, and some of her clients. I'll get them posted as soon as I can!
It was a very nice visit, and we had a great chat! I look forward to getting to know Michelle better. Thanks, Michelle!
Front of Vanity Fur as viewed from grooming area
Vanity Fur drying area. See the white Mini Schnauzers in the bottom crate? cute. :-)
Vanity Fur bathing area
Michelle with English Cocker Smokey
Michelle is lower-tech than Valerie is; there is neither a recirculating bathing system nor a high-velocity dryer in Vanity Fur. But she does just fine without, hand washing and towel drying. The drying room holds a couple of wire crates and half a dozen or so box fans. No cage drying with heated air, and that's a good thing. No baked pooches!
But Michelle DID introduce me to a very cool little tool called a Moser - a variable-height clipper. The blade adjusts from #10 to #40. Cooool!!
I think I like the idea of having counters dividing up the space without blocking the open atmosphere. Kind of a blend of Valerie's and Michelle's shop areas.
Michelle uses an Edemco grate at the bottom of her tub, so the dogs aren't standing in water. I like that idea, but also like having the dogs standing in the soapy water as I'm bathing them. I think that would loosen the crud in the pads and make it easier to get out, especially with the jets of water produced by the Bathing Beauty. But having them standing above the water would make rinsing easier, and use less water to do it, because the dog wouldn't be able to get back into the suds as the tub drains. hmmmm.
Michelle may be interested in going to the Chicago trade show in August. I told her that if I do go, I'll most likely be driving, and offered to take her along. It'd be great to have someone in the car with me, especially to split gas costs. Not that I'd be spending too much money on gas, as my little car gets great mileage. I got 400 miles on one 12-gallon tank a couple weeks ago! Also Michelle doesn't smoke, so she's definitely hotel roommate material. *grin*
Michelle also lent me a couple back issues of Groomer to Groomer, a grooming industry magazine put out by Barkleigh. Valerie hates Barkleigh, so I'm not in any doubt why she didn't tell me about the mag. I'm going to post to some of the lists and see if there's anyone looking to get rid of back issues. It's mostly ads, but articles and Q&A columns as well.
Michelle let me take pics of her, her shop, and some of her clients. I'll get them posted as soon as I can!
It was a very nice visit, and we had a great chat! I look forward to getting to know Michelle better. Thanks, Michelle!
