As you walk into Simply Grooming, you’ll find Danielle Witmer grooming a client’s dog. As the dog relaxed while it was being groomed, she discussed the time she decided to be a home groomer and then later started Simply Grooming. While she loved grooming, she originally didn’t see herself being able to grow from it.
“I learned how to groom from my sister-in-law when I was in my 20s and I absolutely loved it, but I didn’t see myself being able to grow from that. When you work for somebody, you kind of cap out at one certain price, like payment or income wise and it kind of dwindles from there,” Witmer said.
As a result, Witmer stopped her dog grooming business and went back to school for accounting, business and finance and became a certified public accountant (CPA). She later realized that being a CPA wasn’t fulfilling enough so she went back to school and received her business and finance degree so that she can run her own business one day. After finishing all of that, she opened up her dog grooming business in her backyard she-shed.
“It seemed to go very well, people loved it, they loved the one-on-one hands-on groomer and not the assembly line. We don’t take 15 dogs at a time and one person watches them, one person dries them, we all handle our own dog so that they have the continuity of care. They get used to us and then you rebuild trust with our dogs, that’s what I have to offer at Hammonton so continuity of care and they get the best of me every single day,” Witmer said.
Witmer’s she-shed wasn’t big enough for Simply Grooming, as it was only 100 square feet and only big enough to fit one dog, so after two and a half years, she moved the business’s location to White Horse Pike, next to the AtlantiCare buildings. The location was an upgrade as it was 1200 square feet and big enough for two dogs that Witmer and her nephew, Nick Witmer, can take on at a time.
“Initially, I only took small dogs because [the she-shed] was such a small space and then the big dogs started coming in and when you get a Bernese mountain dog and he takes up your whole tub and whole room, I just made a business choice to upgrade to something a little bigger and I wanted to be noticed a little more,” Whitmer said. “I do have a great client base, all my clients are awesome, their dogs are great and as you can see, they’re very patient and they’re just chill and we love it.”
As for Nick, Witmer considers him to be her other hand as they both started together at a local grooming shop when she was in her 20s and Nick was only nine years old. Nick would help out by sweeping up the dogs’ hairs, getting clients’ receipts ready and accepting payments. Eventually as Nick got older and turned 16 years old, he started washing and drying dogs. Now with Nick being 21, they both work together as a team to help keep the business run smoothly and help make the dogs’ experiences to be relaxing and peaceful.
Witmer believes Simply Grooming stands out from other dog grooming businesses since it isn’t a chain business as it is just both her and Nick. Simply Grooming doesn’t have kennels, they don’t cage dry since they do everything by hand and treats every dog as if it was her own.
“I groom them as if I was going to walk them down the street because I take so much pride in my job and work because grooming is kind of an art. You get to look at it and get to fix it and tweak it,” Whitmer said.
Nick added that what makes Simply Grooming also stand out is their patience compared to the other dog grooming businesses.
“I feel like with a lot of the new clients that we get, we have a lot more patience than the other businesses around here because a lot of people would be coming here and saying that other businesses will get aggravated or annoyed with how often they’re coming in or the groomers aren’t patient enough with the dogs and they don’t like the attitude or the way the owner went about like helping them,” Nick said.
While Whitmer loves grooming dogs and giving her clients a positive and relaxing experience, the best part about her job is meeting new people everyday and how friendly they are.
“Every single dog that comes here is treated as if it were our own and I think that’s what separates me and the money’s great, yeah awesome, but the clients, dogs, people, their kids like I get to watch them all grow and I don’t know, it’s stupid and sappy but it’s awesome,” Whitmer laughed.
Simply Grooming is located at 120 S White Horse Pike B1, next to the AtlantiCare building. They are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and it is closed on Sunday.