Content area
Full text
Michael Hoffer finally sold enough flying squirrels and albino boas to build the store of his dreams.
Construction will begin in December on a 32,620-square-foot Hoffer's Tropic Life Pets store at 7313 N. 76th St., Milwaukee. Price tag: $1.65 million.
The shop will be larger and more expensive than most independent pet shops, which is a rarity for a store dealing in exotic pets, says Mike Maddox, legislative counsel for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council in Washington, D.C.
The size and cost of the new store are more for effect than out of necessity, Hoffer says.
"I like to blow people away right when they walk through the door," he says
The store will have pits dug into the sales floor to house some of his reptiles. Customers then will be able to observe the reptiles without a glass barrier, Hoffer says, but the animals will be too far away to escape or for customers to reach.
Outside the store, tropical fish and turtles will swim in a pond surrounded by Japanese plants.
Hoffer received a $500,000 loan from the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp. and $900,000 in bank loans to fund the construction. He will cover the remaining $250,000 something he couldnt have dreamed of doing when he started.
After his first daughter was born in 1973, Hoffer sold his Volkswagen and opened Hoffer's Tropic Life Pets in a 600square-foot space with $750 in capital and $250 worth of pets as inventory.
His current 12,000-square-foot store, across the street...