"Pet World is still here?! Sherry Emerson, howwww is this place still open?!"
That's what people who come back to visit always ask me, and sometimes I ask myself the same question.
Again and again, for nearly four decades now, we've discussed the reciprocal link between dedication, loyalty, and success in thriving small businesses. The harder employees work, the more employers invest in them, and the more they improve. The better employees get, the happier they become, and the more success they achieve. And when employees succeed, companies succeed, and then find themselves in a position to invest even more back into employees. AND reciprocity includes customers. In fact, it can’t work without customers -- especially loyal customers. Like the kind of customers who shop with you 30 or 40 years! Successful companies last because we take time to improve customers’ lives long term and, in return, customers support us. Our company focuses on improving our customers’ lives by improving the lives of their children and their pets. To support our mission, some of our customers still keep their business local. That investment extends to our community outreach which makes a positive difference in Lawrence. When the local community supports local business, local business invests in the local community. Everyone wins!
But at some point, we gotta face the facts that Tim and I can't keep doing this forever. And who would have guessed that consumer buying habits would drastically shift to online instead of local, even in Lawrence, Kansas. So it basically comes down to mutually beneficial sustainability.
July 12, 2026 marks Pet World's 38 year anniversary. Not long before the 2015 fire, after realizing Tim and I were answering more questions than asking, we thought it was time to step back and embrace our roles as mentors in the spirit of reciprocity. Our small business had thrived in the face of corporate and online competition and maybe other small businesses could use our help. We had a great staff in place and had just started branching out, expanding our online presence, publicly blogging, etc. and created this ridiculously huge web site. Then that God forsaken fire destroyed everything -- or so it seemed at the time. We had been repeatedly asked to mass market our staff training program, sell our store, expand Pet World, franchise, hit the public speaking circuit, offer seminars…you name it. But we passed, even when we had the chance. Tim spent years coaching sports, he'll probably mentor other store owners until he dies anyways, and he runs a successful multi-store buying cooperative. Plus he has built a thriving wholesale business. He doesn't want any limelight or attention. I have our sister company, The Nature Objective, and our nature camps for kids sell out fast, year after year. My dream job. I also teach, write, backpack, and we've both been in management our entire lives. We live simply and are gainfully employable, so it's not like we need to keep Pet World going for ourselves.
Running a rescue shelter inside of a full line pet store is no easy feat. Who are we kidding; it's exhausting. There's a reason we are the only business in the country who does what we do. So it did seem logical to call it quits in 2015, but we weren't ready to ease up back then. Pet World was as successful as it had ever been and experiencing growth every year so we rebuilt and reopened in eight months. Now, in 2026, we're 10 years out from the rebuild, we have survived a pandemic, the loss of local customers who now buy online, and yet another recession, our kids are grown and gone and the nest is empty, so it would make sense to retire now, wouldn't it? Sell the store, and "cash in" as they say, right? The thought is tempting. But here’s the thing -- for us, it’s not about what's easy. It's not about popularity or financial gain. It never was. It’s about responsible stewardship.
“From he whom much is given, much is expected.” Luke 12:48.
While retirement is tempting, we both enjoy working and we're not there yet. This original website is loaded with info that's no longer needed but we'll probably leave it up. Perhaps it’s financially unsound to offer up decades of free entrepreneurial wisdom to anyone with an internet connection. Maybe the info is safer in a book we can sell than a website someone can easily copy. But, frankly, we’re not concerned. It's already been done a time or two anyway. Since 1988 we’ve been trying to do what is right, making faith based, sound decisions no matter what, and this philosophy hasn’t failed us yet. I don’t think it will now.
We’ve learned that life isn’t about money and getting ahead at all cost. It’s about slow and steady organic growth, hard work, and active participation. It’s about being part of a team, something bigger than yourself. It's about trying, failing, but not quitting. It's about living beneath your means and working hard enough to always have extra to give back. Our society may not reinforce the importance of good work ethic and I'm as concerned as the next guy about this social media fallacy that life should be fair and easy. Whatever. A culture that reinforces a false sense of entitlement concerns me as much as it concerns other GenXers and I'm painfully aware of all the addiction and bad influence out there. Our young employees see friends under achieving, taking shortcuts to get ahead, trading principles and life skills for short sighted advancement. Plenty of businesses lack ethics and fail to understand the essence and importance of hard work and reciprocity. Shortcuts and scams are the new norm. I get all that. And after our 2015 decision to share freely to help others, our store burned down. So much for karma, a person with no faith might say. We could have walked away then and no one would have blamed us. We could walk away now and those online purchases would still arrive on your porch. Negativity and loss can really turn people off to perseverence and helping others. But that's exactly why we choose the high road of reciprocity, again and again, to finish what we start, utilize our gifts, and set the example of responsible stewardship. It's not just a job; it's our life's work. We hope young people will shape their life paths with big picture focus, risk failure, and understand that life is as much about the process as it is the end goal. If we help others succeed, others can help someone else succeed, and they can help more people succeed, and in the end, all who participated can succeed.
Reciprocity is about the trust, loyalty, hard work, and dedication of each person involved. It's about truly caring enough to improve each other's lives and our existence as a unit. Improve the parts; improve the whole. That’s how life works. It’s reciprocal. So maybe to some people keeping this giant, overloaded website and all our free, public articles seems like giving away the farm. That’s okay. Reading our free advice and actually implementing our philosophies are two very different things. And if businesses want to copy our model, we encourage that! Maybe some people think we should have cashed that insurance check in 2015, cut our losses, and hung it up after the fire, instead of straining our marriage to the last possible fiber, stressing out our family, going into temporary debt to rebuild bigger and better in record time, draining our savings to keep our staff employed, and bringing Pet World back to the community who loved and needed it. Maybe some think we should have bailed after the pandemic when consumer buying trends shifted so abruptly to online spending and most of the local community stopped spending locally. Yet others who really know us might be thinking it's about dang time we downsize PW and at least prepare for retirement. Now that one is true. We should. And we will, soon enough. But as for us, for now, we’re just being responsible stewards with what we have because that's all we know how to be and the most important part of our faith.
This PetWorldLawrence.com web site is bloated and outdated, we know. It took a big ol' back seat to real life and we might never bring it back up to speed now that we have PetWorldLawrenceOnline.com and TheNatureObjective.com. Retirement is coming soon enough, but not just yet. There's still too much to do and so much more to come, especially with a new location opening in the fall (or maybe late summer) of 2026. Who has time to retire? Our faith and customer family have carried us this far so we're not stopping now. We'll continue to foster our reciprocal relationship with Lawrence, Kansas for as long as it is sustainable. That’s been the Pet World way since day one. And, almost 40 years or not, fire or no fire, expansion or downsize, online shopping instead of local...no matter. We are who we are, we do what we do, and we’re not about to change course now.
~Sherry Emerson
