Small Business Loan Helps Memphis Groomer Open a Pet Spa

Brittany Givens has loved animals for as long as she can remember. At 18, that love led her to a job at a large corporate pet store, where she discovered pet grooming and found her calling. She liked getting her hands on the dogs, working out the mats, making them look and feel better. What she didn’t like was watching a corporate ledger decide how that work got done.

“I noticed a lot of corners being cut because everything was money-based, not truly about loving on the dogs,” Givens said. “It’s rough to do something based on money when you truly love it.”

She stepped away for a while to raise her family. When she came back to corporate grooming, nothing had changed.

Leaving Corporate Grooming Behind

“It conflicted with my personal values, how much I love animals,” she said. “I thought, ‘I could do this on my own.'”

It wasn’t a new idea. During the pandemic, Givens had already groomed clients out of her home. This time, she wanted to build something permanent.

The Search for a Lender Who Saw the Person, Not the Score

Funding was the first hurdle, and it looked a lot like what other small business owners run into: lenders offering high interest rates and little else.

“The hard part is finding somebody who’s still going to see you as a human, not a credit score, not student loans or medical debt or regular debt, but the person and the dream,” Givens said. 

A Loan Officer Who Backed the Plan Already in Motion

A Google search led her to Communities Unlimited (CU), where her application landed with Loan Officer Sabrina Edinburgh on the Lending Team. 

“She was the first person to just say, ‘Hey, we see you,'” Edinburgh said. “We see your dream. We believe in you.”

The loan came through with support from the Small Business Administration (SBA), covering the buildout of the storefront, furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FFE), advertising, inventory, insurance and permits, and the working capital to carry the business through its first months, part of Communities Unlimited’s small business lending work across the region.

Muttropawlis Pet Spa Takes Shape in Memphis

Construction is underway now in Memphis, Tennessee, on Muttropawlis Pet Spa, expected to open in September. Givens will run it solo at first. Once she’s settled, she plans to bring on a second groomer, especially with the holiday rush that fills the appointment book every year.

A Message to Other Entrepreneurs

Givens wants other entrepreneurs to know a predatory loan isn’t the only door available.

“I wish people knew you don’t have to be stuck in a predatory loan,” she said. “That’s not the only option out there. People do believe in you, and they will help you with your dream.”

Come September, that belief has an address: a full-service pet spa in Memphis, built on Givens’ own terms.

Brittany Givens stands inside her Muttropawlis Pet Spa storefront under construction in Memphis, Tennessee.