Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Last Thursday, Annie Grossman had no choice but to shutter School for the Dogs, the business she started in her East Village living room in 2011, with little to no warning to her longtime patrons and staff.
She said a potential sale to another local pet services operation fell through at the last minute, leaving her and the business in financial ruin.
As she wrote in an
Instagram post, "The reality is that there is the business owner you want to be, and then the business owner you sometimes end up having to be."
How did a beloved local business run by a lauded female entrepreneur reach this point?
I talked with Grossman over the past few days, and she discussed what led up to the painful decision.
She launched the dog-walking and training service from her living room on Third Avenue and immediately faced adversity when her home was destroyed in a fire.
After a successful fundraiser, Grossman opened a shop at 155 E. Second St., just east of Avenue A. As her business flourished, she moved to a larger space at 92 E. Seventh St. near First Avenue
in 2018. This space was double the size of the Second Street studio and included a yard, room for merchandise and a consultation room.
While the relocation increased her rent from $4,000 a month to $11,000, business was going well, and School for Dogs could handle the boost in rent and expenses.
"Even with the onset of COVID, we still did well," she said. "We were doing important work for people and dogs, helping people get excited about dog training and helping people and dogs to learn together. It was a labor of love."
There was "not a ton of margin, but [we were] still making it," Grossman said.
However, by 2022, the thin margins became problematic with unexpected expenses.
"You can only lose so much money. I took out loans, used my credit cards, and had decent advisers," Grossman said. "Then the A/C blew, and it was $12,000 to replace both the units in the space, and I had no more cushion."
Other expenses piled up, such as $20,000 in roof repairs that the landlord had her responsible for and money she didn't have.
Now carrying debt, Grossman discussed the situation with a fellow business owner in the pet services community. Grossman said the woman would take on most of the debt and negotiate the lease.
They agreed on a Nov. 30 closing date and that the new owner would still honor the previously purchased group classes, packages, and bookings.
According to Grossman, the potential new owner never showed up at the attorney meetings and ghosted her before she finally received a "typo-riddled email" that said, "In essence, we're no longer interested in the opportunity."
Grossman had no other backup plan. "I feel like I've been had; I feel like I've been left at the altar."
Problems online
Grossman was also battling on a second front. Her online business was sued for not conforming to ADA standards.
She said she was the victim of an "ADA shakedown" via a frivolous lawsuit that she needed to heed.
"Because this was pending litigation involved in the online shop," she could pay them to settle or shut down the site. She chose the latter and announced just before Christmas that the online store was closing to focus on School for the Dog's core business and "consolidate to create a tighter ship for the new owner."
By Jan. 2, without the new ownership in place, the Seventh Street storefront was dark as well.
In conversations over the weekend, Grossman said she has no assets and is completely out of money. She paid her staff through the current pay period but had nothing for severance.
She said she feels awful about the abrupt closure and how it affected her employees, trainers, and customers.
Grossman said she would love to have someone take over the business and is "completely open to any situation" that involves keeping School for the Dogs going.
"Start out doing something you love, end up doing something that doesn't speak to the skills that brought you there," she said.
Below is the Instagram message about the closure from Sunday...
