Cat lovers scratch out business with condos

Ten years ago Reno-resident and cat owner Karol Garliepp started making so-called cat condos during what she calls her poor days.

"They were too expensive so I had to make them for myself," says Garliepp.

Garliepp did a great job, so a friend suggested she try selling them to local stores.

Garliepp did that for a while, but like a lot of spontaneously established businesses, the work soon petered out.

That is until August 2002, when Garliepp teamed up with Jeri Costa and launched the business again out of Costa's garage.

There the pair made the structures and sold them through friends and word of mouth, cat shows and events, and advertisements in Pet Folio, a monthly newspaper distributed locally for free.

By March 2003, the business was outgrowing Costa's garage so the pair leased space on Reno's Wells Avenue and named the shop Carefree Cat Condos and Accessories.

Recently they moved again, a few doors down, to a 1,000-square-foot store on the corner of Wells and Taylor Street.

"It's a good corner spot with lots of windows," says Garliepp.

There Garliepp and Costa are selling a variety of pet accessories, such as cat toys and sculptures bought from wholesalers, as well as homemade cat condos made by them in the store's backroom.

Cat condos? Most cat owners know them, but for the uninitiated they're those tall, carpeted jungle gyms used to entertain cooperative cats.

Garliepp's right: Cat condos can cost upwards of $100 in most pet stores and animal catalogues.

She and Costa sell ones for close to half that by working on what Garliepp calls a shoestring budget.

The store is equipped with a small shop consisting of a chop saw, drill press, pneumatic staple gun and nailer, among other tools.

Garliepp and Costa build the structures using leftover heavy-duty cardboard paper rolls bought from the Reno Gazette Journal.

They carpet them with remnants bought from Washburn Floors, a local carpet store.

And the bases are made of wood acquired in trade from the owner of a local lumber company whose wife wanted a cat condo for Christmas.

Costa says the average cat condo takes between two to six hours to build, and requires about 4 yards of carpeting.

Most of the work is custom done.

Garliepp estimates that 90 percent of the condos are made to order.

And they're not only ordered for the pampered cat.

Garliepp and Costa also make miniature couches for both cats and dogs, carpeted stairs used by canines to climb into tall beds, and ferret-sized condos for, well, ferrets.

"We made one condo for [an owner's] cats and Chihuahua," said Garliepp.

They've even made a carpeted cardboard throne for a customer's 4-year old son.

The partners have been able to build business by word of mouth, advertising and through other retail venues such as the Sparks Farmer's Market, where they leased a booth last year.

They don't rely on foot traffic on the busy but not particularly pedestrian friendly Wells Avenue Instead, customers come from as far away as Yerington, based on the store's reputation.

Next up, the pair hopes to add to their store shelves more accessories for cats and other pets, and to possibly start selling some of their products on eBay.

In the long term, they've offered to build the cat playrooms for the new animal shelter being built in Washoe County.

"We donate a lot to the SPCA," said Garliepp.

"We're hoping to design the playrooms and we'll donate it all."