Disney theme parks for pets

Robert Mullen loves Walt Disney. As a young man, the owner of the Canadian pet store chain Safari was crazy about the wonderful theme parks in the USA and enchanted by the fantastic characters and landscapes they featured. Mullen likes pets, too, and for a long time he made his money by breeding ornamental fish. And because he came into frequent contact with pet owners, hearing their opinions and learning what they wanted, he gradually developed the notion of creating pet stores designed along entirely new lines. To be precise, he came up with destination stores set in a fantasy backdrop that incorporated all the things that people find so captivating about the big Disney theme parks: adventure, imagination and fun. In-store adventure In Professor Green, Robert Mullen came up with a fictional character around which a story is woven in each of the nine Safari stores that have opened to date: Professor Green on the high seas, Professor Green in the jungle or on a desert island. A suitable backdrop to this is designed for each of his stores. Safari Dix 30 in Brossard, near Montreal, depicts a picturesque old Spanish village, for example. Set on the edge of the ocean, a pirate ship is in port. At one end there is an abandoned castle and stables, with an eerie waterfall at the other. Professor Green had to leave quickly as the pirates ransacked the village. In the two-storey store, shoppers come across the huge hull of a ship, the cavernous interior of which houses the fish tanks. In front of these is a pond teeming with large exotic fish. Imaginatively fashioned wooden shelves featuring skull emblems, a jeep laden with a variety of fixtures and fittings, facades in the style of a Spanish hacienda and overgrown plants turn a walk through the Safari store into a full-blown adventure. Kids and teens especially are thrilled by the Safari stores. That’s something that Robert Mullen has latched onto, which is why additional events aimed at young visitors in particular have been a regular feature of his outlets for many years. There’s even a separate area decorated to resemble a pirate hideout, which can be used for kids’ birthday parties. Two professional animators are on hand for the duration of the party and a guided 45-minute presentation on reptiles or furry friends is offered. Children’s parties The parties are popular, with twelve kids’ parties a month on average at Safari Dix 30, for instance, says Robert Mullen. Events like these have enabled Mullen to raise…