For years, I had my eye on trying to open a sailfin pet shop in Charleston. I thought it was a perfect project for a former marine tech who is now involved with the Charleston SC sailing community. As I was researching the area and the history of sailfins, I discovered that in fact, sailfin pet shops have existed on the west coast and in Florida for generations.
Charleston’s pet shop is actually a shipwrecks museum, but there are two separate owners, one from New Orleans and one from San Francisco. The New Orleans one was founded in 1882, the San Francisco one is new.
In fact, the two owners of the San Francisco shop are the same as the two owners of the Charleston shop because the history of sailfin pet shops in the US is much older than the history of sailfin pet shops in the UK.
I was going to say the history of sailfin pet shops in the US is much older, but that’s probably not a fair statement. They have existed in many locations in the US and in a few locations in UK. But they have always been rare, and the ones I’ve seen have been rare because they are rare. The Charleston store has been open for more than 100 years and it still does business from that particular day.
My first pet shop was in Charleston, South Carolina. I bought a pet called a sailfin in 1884, but I think the pet was a molluscan. I believe he was a black rat. At any rate, he died that day. The next day I moved to Charleston, and the pet shop was moved to a smaller location across the street from the original one.
My last pet shop was in Charleston, South Carolina. I sold my first cat, a cat named Bessy, in 1997. After that I sold my first fish, a fish named Billy, in 1999. I sold my last fish, a fish named T-Shirt, in 2007.
Yep, it’s a pet shop and a pet shop is basically a business. In order for us to survive, for ourselves and for our pets, we need to operate within some regulations. For example, we can’t be in business unless we have a license.
Thats right. We cant be in business unless we have a license. Which means our businesses need to be registered and approved by the state. If you dont have a license, then you cant sell cats and dogs.
We have to register with the city of the location we want to open. Which means we need to get a business permit, and we need to get our business license. If we have dogs, then we need to get a rabies certificate (a certificate that proves you are not in danger of being infected with rabies) and a dog license. A cat license isnt necessary, because cats can live forever.
The best way to get the permit to sell pets is to get a certificate that tells the city where you are selling your dog or cat. Thats what we do. We get our business permit. We get our license to sell cats and dogs. We get our rabies certificate. Then we go to the city. I am not sure why, but I think you should be able to sell dogs and cats on your own without needing a business license.
