Anne Nutter has a new leash on life, several hundred thousand leashes, actually. She also has dog collars and halters and almost any other doggy décor product you can dream up.
Nutter has latched onto the rapidly growing pet supply industry, one of the only markets growing during these tough economic times. Bloomberg Reports says in 2009, Americans spent $41 billion on their pets, $45 billion in 2010, and are expected to spend $50 billion this year.
No one goes to college saying, “When I graduate, I am going to create dog collars, leashes and halters.” No one. Except maybe Anne Nutter.
How the former jewelry industry executive from Columbus, Ohio came to be the creator and designer of dog collars in Greenville is one of those fun stories that makes you smile, and think, “She followed her dream and she let it take her where it wanted.”
“I was in the jewelry business for 10 years,” says Nutter. “I had a very successful career that let me travel all over the country and live in several cities. I was on the fast track. However, my passion was to own my own business and be the master of my own destiny.”
That destiny brought Nutter and her husband to Greenville, purely by happenstance. “My husband and I had been vacationing in Charleston and thought we might want to live there sometime. He traveled down for a business trip. Somehow he ended up jumping on Highway 26 and headed towards Greenville. He called me in Ohio that same day and said, ‘I found our new home, Greenville, South Carolina.’ The tree lined streets and beautiful downtown had stolen his heart.”
She continues, “I flew down the next day and I was in love as well! This was where I was going to start Paw Paws, USA.”
Nutter is the founder and creator of the company. Her inspiration is her dog, Peanut. “She was a very shy pound puppy and she became my muse,” says Nutter.
Before moving to Greenville, Nutter was earning her degree in business administration at Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. “Since I was attending business school and had to write a business plan that involved a product, I wanted to incorporate my dog somehow. I started with Peanut’s dog collar. After shopping several of the big box stores and noticing a lack of unique designs, I thought I might have (found) a niche market. So I searched for ribbons that would represent my individual style.” Thus was born the dog collar, leash and halter business, Paw Paws, USA.
To this day, Peanut comes to work every day at Nutter’s office/store on Main Street. Peanut has to earn her kibbles, after all. “She has a corner office built to suit her needs, complete with a view of Main Street.” Nutter explains, “Peanut is a popular attraction for passersby who look forward to seeing her wagging tail and her perky personality. She promotes Paw Paws.
One of the perks of her job is that she is head of product testing. Her best friend, Willie Praytor (a Boykin Spaniel) and head of security at Praytor Gallery, which sells all of our products, agrees and says ‘without a doubt, Paw Paws USA is the best product line ever to decorate his neck.’”
Nutter says when it comes to Paw Paws’ products, “The sky’s the limit. Tell us what you need and we’ll make it. We specialize in dog collars, but we also have dog bedding, market bags, duty (use your imagination here) bags, key fobs and wristlets.”
Nutter designs and oversees product development and quality control, as well as marketing and customer service. “My drive is to expand my business internationally and I have great pride that my business was created here in South Carolina,” Nutter says. “We set ourselves apart by our unique cutting edge designs. There is nothing else like it in the pet product industry. For example, we find materials that can’t be found by other manufacturers. Being located in South Carolina puts Paw Paws in a unique position to obtain the highest quality materials.”