A dedicated entre­preneur

An enthusiastic aquarist and pet lover, Marko Levstek established his wholesale company Vetpet on 14 July 1993. His aim was to bring products into the country that hitherto could only be found infrequently and purchased only via a roundabout route. Hill's was one of the first brands imported, followed by Hagen, Juwel, Tetra.The company supplied Slovenian pet product dealers and vets, which was fine to start with, but the charismatic entrepreneur quickly reached his limits in the pet supplies segment. "All the shops had only a small retail area and a very limited range, without any possibility of expansion," says Marko Levstek of the early days. Compared with the expanding pet product sector in neighbouring Austria, the Slovenian market was in a very poor position. 

By the start of the new millennium, it was clear to Levstek that the situation had to change. He wanted to expand, but the shortage of pet stores made this impossible. Without further ado Levstek established a subsidiary, Alfapet, and in 2001 opened his first 150 m² pet store, Zootic, in a shopping centre in Nova Gorica.Shopping centres were a focal point for Marko Levstek from the outset, and still are. He experienced problems initially in getting into the shopping malls. "The shopping centre operators were previously only aware of pet shops as small and often very smelly stores," says Marko Levstek with a smile. This perception only changed when Levstek opened his first store in Kamnik, and other stores quickly followed in new shopping centres that were opening. Customers also enjoyed shopping for their pets in this way: they liked the extensive product range, the advice given and the services offered.

Marko Levstek regards the 22 stores currently operating across Slovenia with retail areas of up to 300 m² as the maximum capacity possible at the moment. 120 people are employed in the stores, which have been undergoing a process of modernisation over the last four years. Marko Levstek is constantly introducing new features that he has discovered on his visits to pet supplies retailers abroad.Successful wholesale business
The development of the wholesale business has been no less impressive. Vetpet's portfolio includes over 30 brands to date, including a number of…