Aug
30
PJ’s Paws and Claws
There may not be a “B” in the title, but peanut butter and jelly play an interesting role in the story behind this Magnolia business. It begins with local proprietress Patti Howell as a “dawg” herself, graduating from the University of Washington. She then honed her business skills at a few larger Seattle companies, including Eddie Bauer and Starbucks, where she found herself traveling constantly and missing the companionship of an animal at home.
On one fateful executive retreat, Patti stumbled across a cat in an alley with its poor little head stuck in a peanut butter jar. After rescuing him, he followed her home and reminded Patti of an important priority. “The last few years with all that travel I couldn’t have a pet, and I realized it was missing in my life,” said Patti. She left the corporate world to open up her own shop based on the things she couldn’t live without. “I like coffee,” she said, “but I’m more passionate about animals.” She named her adopted friend Jif and, along with a later feline addition to the family appropriately named Jelly, they make up the “J” of PJ’s Paws and Claws. You can find Jelly lounging around the store on most days and Patti added, “she’s ended up being mostly customer service around here. She’s very popular – she get’s more visitors than I do!”
Patti calls Magnolia, “a really wonderful little area,” and very pet-friendly, which has proven to be a perfect fit for the store and grooming salon. Within five minutes of our sitting down on a bench near the store, neighbors and their dogs were waving and stopping to chat. “I like the neighborhood, I like the sense of community,” Patti explained, “also, it has a parking lot, which is important to someone picking up a thirty or forty pound bag of dog food!” The support of the community has been instrumental in keeping business running, particularly since the neighborhood is more of a destination. As Patti explains, “You can be passing through Ballard or passing through Queen Anne, but you don’t pass through Magnolia.” Still, people have managed to find both the physical location and her online store, allowing them to celebrate their eighth anniversary in April 2010.
Patti is committed to giving back to animals who aren’t blessed with the owners that keep her store in business. The store donates 5% of all profits to animal rescue and adoption agencies, including annual events to support the Seattle Animal Selter’s “Help the Animals” fund. They hold an anniversary raffle every April, a Furry 5K in June, a pet parade and costume contest each summer, a holiday raffle in December, and at the time of our interview they were collecting for a pet food drive for the Humane Society.
Patti recently joined the social media community, creating a PJ’s Paws and Claws Facebook fan page in April, which is steadily approaching 100 “likes”. She uses it to post information about clearance sales, a reminder of the last night for extended summer hours, or their monthly newsletter, in addition to the ongoing stream of adorable photo ops that come with the pet business. “The whole Facebook thing has been a lot of fun,” Patti admitted. “I thought it was going to be a lot of work.” And although she does appreciate the reach and accessibility of doing business online, Patti recognizes the value of a personal connection. “The internet is an interesting thing,” she said. “We get people who thank us for how quickly we got it out to them or that we help them fit it on the phone or whatever they needed. You don’t always get that when you buy on the internet.”
PJ’s Paws and Claws
3320 W. McGraw St. #3
Seattle, WA, 98199
206-281-WOOF (9663)
Retail Store: http://pjspawsandclaws.homestead.com/
Online Store: www.pjspawsandclaws.com
Facebook: PJ’s Paws and Claws
Story and photos by Auburn Scallon
