Meet Sherry Redwine and Michael Doan of Odyssey Pets

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sherry Redwine and Michael Doan.

In 2006, Bill & JoAnn Redwine, along with their daughter, Sherry, and her husband, Mike, began the adventure of their lives when they came together to create Odyssey Pets, LLC. Bill & JoAnn are life-long dog lovers and eventually found themselves showing Havanese in dog shows. While Sherry was working at a Dallas aquatic store, she met Mike Doan. Mike has worked in all aspects of the pet industry for over 30 years. After Sherry obtained a B.A. in Marketing, Mike realized the perfect partnership for his long dreamt of pet store had come true. Together they have created a family business that has become a staple in the North Dallas community.

From humble beginnings in a 2,400 square foot space which soon became 4,000 square feet, Odyssey endured two location moves in the next 8 years as well as two expansions. In 2011, they moved to their second 8,900 square foot location. After three years, new landlords decided to demolish the building and Odyssey was forced to move again in September 2014. Throughout these moves, they learned from the past and were able to improve the store. Their current 10,365 square foot facility accommodates boarding, grooming, and training services. They were even able to install a 65’x20’ outdoor run to play the dogs. This is very rare in an urban area where they are located. In addition to these dog-related services they offer an amazing selection of saltwater and freshwater fish and aquarium service and installation.

They only carry cutting-edge, top-notch products. They include as many local or Texas-made products as possible. For consumables, they do not stock anything from China or that has corn, wheat gluten, or by-products in the ingredients. Their employees provide excellent customer service. They want to provide information to customers about nutrition, basic training, and overall care for their pets. A healthy pet is a happy pet. If they wouldn’t use it for their dogs, they wouldn’t sell it to yours.

In 2014, they won the Pet Business Retailer Excellence Award for Best Multi-Service Retailer as well as Pet Product News’ Retailer of the Year Award for Outstanding Business Management. In 2015, Odyssey Pets was honored with Pet Business’ Best Overall Single-Unit Retailer as well as Pet Product News’ Retailer of the Year for Outstanding Retail Development. Then, in 2016 Pet Product News awarded Odyssey the Tough Market Competitor Retailer of the Year Award.

They believe they have continued to be on the leading edge of this industry by staying informed, creating lasting relationships within the community, and evolving as a business and as a family.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There is no way it has been a smooth road, nor will it be for anyone. There are too many pitfalls to count. The way we overcame those pitfalls was through honesty and transparency and the willingness to do whatever it takes to move a situation forward in a positive way.

We have overcome having to move our store into now what is our 3rd location due to circumstances beyond our control. We have dealt with countless employee disappointments. And we have overcome customers’ ideas that don’t align with ours with regards to animal care.

And, competition always rears its ugly head whether it be online or brick and mortar moving in across the street. But, through it all we were able to shift with the changes and have stayed true to our mission.

Please tell us about Odyssey Pets.
Odyssey Pets specializes in dog and cat nutrition and knowledge. Michael has been in the industry for a very long time…from the time you could sell a puppy in the window to now, where there are protesters outside if a store even attempted to sell a puppy. The pet industry has changed dramatically. We do not carry any foods that contain fillers like corn, wheat gluten, by-product, etc. One of our catchphrases is “If we wouldn’t feed is to our dogs, we wouldn’t sell it to yours. As far as aquatics, we have sourced many tropical fish responsibly collected or captive bred.

Sherry, Michael’s wife, uses her expertise in design and inventory management to merchandise and stock the store with unique, functional products.

We are proud to offer the best possible pet products at competitive prices. We want to help educate our community on the best, cutting edge, healthy practices for their pets.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
We would’ve expanded more services and food more quickly. We started in 2006 with carrying one brand of food. But, customers need variety and not every food is suited for every pet. We also started out just offering grooming services. We did not offer boarding or daycare until our sixth year of business. Services drive a brick and mortar business like ours because products can be bought online, but grooming, boarding, daycare, and training services cannot. The services bring people into the store.

We are currently working on our online store. In hindsight, we should’ve had one running a long time ago.

Pricing:

• We have toys that start at pricing of $1.99
• We have corals in our fish room starting at $19.99

Contact Info:

• Address: 14999 Preston Rd. #400A
• Website: www.odysseypets.com
• Phone: 972-407-1166
• Email: info@odysseypets.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/odysseypets/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/odysseypets/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/odyssey-pets-dallas

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.