Dog groomer opens storefront behind Smith's

RIO RANCHO — Sherry’s K9 Creations Grooming, nestled just behind Smith’s, is open for business8.

Owner Sherry Clark is very happy to be a mom-and-pop option for people.

Clark was working at PetSmart as a nail tech, wanting to go full time, but the only full-time position available was grooming.

“I had been on nail tech for 15 years. Never once did I want to do hair, and here I go doing dog hair. It’s so weird,” she said.

After a while, she wanted to do her own thing.

“I left PetSmart, and I just couldn’t find where I wanted to be. And so my husband said, ‘We’ll make the spare bedroom into your little shop,’” she said.

She was working out of her home for three years, but it got to be too much to be a home business. She opened the shop behind Smith’s in October.

“It’s been going great. My full-time groomer, she’s starting to get real busy. Of course, it’s starting to [pick up] with the holidays and stuff. People keep referring me, so I keep getting more and more customers, which was one of the problems at the house,” she said.

Clark is also working with the doggy day care across the street, which has been sending people over. However, one challenge is having enough people to keep her groomers busy.

“I want to get my groomers busy. I have that part-time groomer that wants to move over to full time, but I need to get busy,” she said.

She also has a lot of ideas for the place that can’t quite happen yet. For now, her goal is to keep the shop more of a boutique than feeling like a chain business.

“I want it to be more personal. I know some places, they don’t even let the groomers talk to the customers. How are you gonna know what haircut they want? I don’t understand that. I’m all about personal, face-to-face. You come and talk to your customer, you know?” she said.

Clark also makes sure to have someone at the front desk.

“Answering the phone, that was so stressful for us. ... I didn’t want them to have to stop what they’re doing to answer the phone, make appointments and stuff and then go back and go, ‘What was I doing?’” she said.

She also didn’t want dogs to be at her shop for several hours.

“I don’t like it, and neither does anybody else. So I have them groom their dog straight through. And I think people appreciate that. I’ve been listening to my customers and what they say. ‘I came to you from here because they did this,’ you know? I’m learning from them and also what I would want for my dog,” she said.

The shop has been a family enterprise in its early days. Her daughter has taken up the receptionist position, and her husband has helped her with a lot of the upkeep and beautification of the location.

In time, Clark plans on having some small items for sale in the store part of the shop. She also has a station where owners can get photos of their dog.

Needless to say, she’s ready for customers.