Mandy Marshall and Justin Harris view their dogs Hemingway and London as family. They created Hounds Lounge Pet Resort and Spa with their own canines in mind.
“Justin and I have always loved animals. We do not have children, and our fur family means everything to us,” said Marshall.
Open since March, the new Hounds Lounge at 7422 North Hills Blvd. in North Little Rock is the couple’s second location.
More than a kennel, Hounds Lounge offers indoor and outdoor play space, off-leash doggie daycare, overnight boarding, a full range of grooming services and a do-it-yourself dog wash. Dogs that stay the night enjoy “custom luxury pet suites, not cages,” according to Marshall.
The first Hounds Lounge in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood opened in 2016. The response from customers – both two- and four-legged – led Marshall and Harris to expand north.
The couple credited the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for assisting them with following their dreams.
“ASBTDC helped us a lot with consulting one-on-one from the start and continues to do so with our new projects,” Marshall said.
They began working with the center when Hounds Lounge was still in the idea stage.
ASBTDC’s market research confirmed that other pet parents wanted a place for their dogs to play and stay and helped them zero in on Riverdale for their first location. When Marshall and Harris decided to add a second location, the center’s consultants helped them with financial projections necessary to get a business loan while providing insightful market research such as Esri Tapestry customer data.
“They worked with us not only on the market research, demographics and Tapestry but also on preparing the cash flow statement and income statement for lenders,” Marshall said. “This was a crucial step for us.”
One of the most challenging parts of adding a location was “access to capital and the time frame with financial institutions and lenders,” said Marshall. In addition to investing their own money in the project, the couple received Small Business Administration-guaranteed financing through Arvest Bank.
With two sites in operation and 26 full- and part-time staff, the young entrepreneurs have learned to expect the unexpected.
“When you open a business, there are a lot of unexpected curve balls. For example, for the first location, we had to hire sound engineers to prove the decibel volume from the dog noises would not disturb neighbors,” Marshall said.
As they did in Riverdale, Marshall and Harris worked with a commercial realtor to find the right spot in North Little Rock. “This was certainly not an easy one, but we worked really hard to make it happen in a successful manner for all the parties involved,” she said.
They have purchased land for a third Hounds Lounge in Northwest Arkansas and continue to consult with ASBTDC on marketing and business planning.
