Snapshot: inside a mobile dog groomer

Plenty of bricks-and-mortar businesses were forced to pivot because of Covid-19 – including some that have gone mobile. Harlem Doggie Day Spa was one of them.

‘The future of the pet grooming industry is mobile,’ says Brian Taylor, founder of Harlem Doggie Day Spa, who tapped into the idea of a parlour on wheels when he was forced to close his bricks-and-mortar salon in early 2020.

‘My business was going through turmoil,’ the self-proclaimed Dogfather of Harlem continues.

‘With everyone at home spending time with their pets, there was no need for my dog-boarding or grooming services, and I lost 80% of my custom.’

So Brian established the Pandemic Pup Relief Fund, raising money to take him across the country, enlist other black dog groomers, and offer free grooming services to more than 600 dogs whose owners were struggling.

Brian says that pivoting has hugely benefited his business and allowed Harlem Doggie Day Spa to raise its daily number of clients by almost 50%.

‘In the salon, we can groom around 15 dogs a day, and now while other groomers tend to the store, I use the van to deliver our business to people who can’t come to us.’