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Animals & Things in Woodbridge

Hawkeye

Hawkeye

For those of you in the Middlesex area - along with the usual grouping of postal junk mail, I saw this in the "2007/2008 community resource guide".

There is a listing on the third page under JJ Elek Reality Co.

The pic in the upper left hand corner shows what appears to be the parking lot of Animals & Things in Woodbridge.

Once in a lifetime opportunity
"A wonderfully constructed 24,000 sf building w/a business on nearly 2 acres of land in the center of Woodbridge Twp where routes 1 & 9 & 35 intersect. Tremendous value in land and building. Business grosses $5 million a year. Must be seen...
Asking $4,000,000 + inventory."

If it is indeed animal & things - then there's a possibility of the "going out of business" sale...especially if the buyer wants nothing to do with the business.

Just thought I'd post it up and see if anyone else has seen anything at the store since I haven't gone there in a long time.
 
J

jazzsam

phil519 said:
For those of you in the Middlesex area - along with the usual grouping of postal junk mail, I saw this in the "2007/2008 community resource guide".

There is a listing on the third page under JJ Elek Reality Co.

The pic in the upper left hand corner shows what appears to be the parking lot of Animals & Things in Woodbridge.

Once in a lifetime opportunity
"A wonderfully constructed 24,000 sf building w/a business on nearly 2 acres of land in the center of Woodbridge Twp where routes 1 & 9 & 35 intersect. Tremendous value in land and building. Business grosses $5 million a year. Must be seen...
Asking $4,000,000 + inventory."

If it is indeed animal & things - then there's a possibility of the "going out of business" sale...especially if the buyer wants nothing to do with the business.

Just thought I'd post it up and see if anyone else has seen anything at the store since I haven't gone there in a long time.
Click to expand...

I would love to buy them out and get a REAL store there!
 
MikeNapoli

MikeNapoli

I think it's been for sale for over a year now so I'm not sure how serious it is.

I say Will from A.O., Bill (blange3), and you Sam should talk him down to 1.5 million because it's not worth 4 mill and open up a good store.
 
blange3

blange3

Actually, it probably is worth close to that. They were doing over a million a year in the one store in Woodbridge Center back in the early 70's.

You don't know how many times I dreamed about buying them out!

Here comes the public confession of my secret life, drum roll........!

I worked for and managed stores for Animals & Things from 1972 until 1981 or so. That is where my wife and I met. She worked there into the mid 80's.

There is a lot of baggage attached to the Animals&Things name. Much of it deserved, some of it not. But one conclusion I came to a long time ago regarding my possible future in the pet business, I am NEVER selling dogs again! And dog livestock is their biggest draw and the cornerstone of doing $5 million a year. Take away the dog livestock and most of their dog and cat supply sales will jump right over to PetSmart.

I think I'll stay put aoon Will's couch for now!
 
blange3

blange3

Oh, and just a little side story from my A&T days.

I use to manage a store for them on 5th avenue and 14th, and Alice Cooper was our neighbor and customer.

I use to take care of the fish tank in the office. What a staff he had! ;D
 
R

ReeferNets

No one is dumb enough to buy this place. When they walk in they will see how its been taken care of and realize that its not worth it. Personally i think AQOB puts their tanks and live stock to shame. Bill knows how i feel about this place

I went there about a year ago and they has a 15 inch porcupine puffer in a small tank and the fish couldnt turn around without ripping skin off its body. Sadly it passed away after a week cause the owner refused to donate the fish.

Quote from owner "If you wanna buy the fish and donate it your more then welcome to"
Qoute from me " You can sell this thing no one will buy it, its too big"
Quote from owner "I dont care" I cant just give this thing away
Quote from my gf "You suck"

Then we left and i think i have been back once for cat toys for her kitten

Once again let me say I hate that place
 
J

jazzsam

I understand everyone hate for this place and that is why it would be fun for someone to buy them out, clean it up, and change the name. I have always wanted a pet store BUT I don't think I can come up with the 4 mill......
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
That place truly sucks. I have never seen any healthy fish in there and never bought any. I always felt the prices were high. I used to but fresh water fish from them but even those would die in a day or two. Never had this problem from other places including those pet store chains.

Mark
 
D

DeathMagnetic

Guys,

if i had 5 + Million... opening or buying a pet store would be the last thing i would think about doing !!!!!

and a puppy mill to boot :-[ :-[ :-[

just my 2 cents...

J
 
blange3

blange3

Too bad you weren't at our meeting last year at Jenkinsons with Bob Fenner.

During the after meeting beer and pizza Bob and I were chatting about our pet business backgrounds. I believe Bob scouted A&T as a possible Petco acquisition. In their heyday A&T had 5 or 6 stores in NJ and NY.

Anyway Bob said the quickest way to loose all your millions if you ever won the mega millions lottery, would be to go into the pet business! ;D
 
R

ReefBuilderNJ

hey blange3, how about we all do a group buy and aquire this place for njreefers..lol. i agree with all above, they're saltwater is a joke and how they keep that place is a crime.
 
blange3

blange3

ReefBuilderNJ said:
hey blange3, how about we all do a group buy and aquire this place for njreefers..lol. i agree with all above, they're saltwater is a joke and how they keep that place is a crime.
Click to expand...

well as I mentioned in another thread, I've learned that if I ever go back into the business, I don't want to do dog livestock. And without the draw of live puppies, A&T will never be big business.

And the quickest way to loose a lot of friends is to go into business with them! ;D
 
B

butrball12

selection of dry goods is pretty good, frozen food is its clear advantage over most LFS, and the prices arent super inflated. the live fish do make me sad though as does all livestock in the place. Service is ok but I did meet one younger guy who has helped me with my fish purchases everytime i go there and he's very knowledgeable and helpful.
 
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