What Petland's Top Store Did in Year Two That Most Franchises Miss

You buy a 25-year-old pet store. You attend your first franchise trade show as the new owner. You fly home and decide to rebuild the operation from the ground up.

A year later, you win Store of the Year.

Fort Myers takes Store of the Year in year two

Petland named its Fort Myers, Florida franchise the 2026 Store of the Year at the company's annual awards banquet in Orlando. The recognition goes to the top performer across nine categories: sales increases compared to the prior year, profit margins, how the books are kept, how the store runs day to day, what customers say in reviews, whether staff attend training sessions, how well the location uses corporate marketing materials and house-brand offerings, and how active the store is in its local area.

The timing makes it notable: Tom, Camille, and Brad Popplewell took over the store just over a year before the award, making this their second year as Petland franchisees. The store has served Southwest Florida for more than 25 years, but the new ownership achieved a 21% year-over-year sales increase while scoring across every evaluation metric.

The changes stuck

Fort Myers posted a 21% sales increase and won across all nine scoring categories in the year following the ownership transition, which means the Popplewells made decisions fast and the changes stuck.

Petland's scoring system is worth paying attention to even if you don't run a franchise. The nine categories the company uses cover the fundamentals: how much revenue grew versus last year, whether the store made money, whether financial records are current and accurate, whether daily operations run smoothly, what reviews say, whether the team shows up for training, whether the location promotes corporate campaigns and stocks private label SKUs, and whether the store participates in local events.

The company's COO, Steve Steele, called it "what can happen when outstanding leadership is combined with a dedicated team and a commitment to continual improvement." That reads like boilerplate until you realize Fort Myers won the award in only its second year under the new owners.

The move list is the playbook

For the store owner: The Popplewells' move list after their first trade show is the playbook: expanded store hours, enhanced sales training, leadership development investment, and a focus on customer experience. None of those require franchise support or a corporate playbook. If you're running a single location and wondering what levers actually move the number, that's the short list.

For the buyer: Petland's scoring system includes training participation and private-label program support as two of the nine categories. If your reps are pitching training materials or exclusive SKUs and you're waving them off, the top stores in systems like this are saying yes.

Post-acquisition execution speed

The story Petland is telling here is about post-acquisition execution speed. The Popplewells came back from one trade show and rebuilt the operation. That's either confidence or recklessness, and a 21% sales lift suggests it was the former.

What's interesting is what the scoring system emphasizes: operations, people, customer reviews, financial reporting, and local reputation. You can win without changing everything if you run the store well and the community trusts you.

The other signal: the source names three runner-up locations. The Texas store in Frisco is run by Jake and Arti Patel. Alaina Markel owns the Novi, Michigan location. The Lake Saint Louis, Missouri store is owned by Tom and Mary Killmade along with Jeff Hartmann. Fort Myers won in only its second year under new ownership.

"When they announced our name, my first thought was all the hard work that went into this," Tom Popplewell said, according to the company. "It represents the dedication of our entire team. Everyone has embraced a mindset of continuous improvement, and this recognition belongs to every member of our staff."

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Compare sales by day-part to your hours

1. If you just bought a store or took over a category... pull the last 12 months of sales by day-part and compare to your current hours. The Popplewells expanded hours as one of their first moves.

2. If you send your team to a trade show or distributor event... block two hours the week you get back to list every operational change you're committing to in the next 90 days. Fort Myers didn't let the trade show insights sit in a notebook.

3. If you're weighing a training program a vendor is offering... say yes to one this quarter. Petland includes training participation as one of its nine scoring categories.

4. If you haven't audited your customer review presence in six months... do it this week. It's a scored category for Petland's top performers, which means it moves the business. Read the last 20, fix the one thing that shows up three times.

5. If you're running a mature store and growth has flattened... ask whether you've stopped improving because the business doesn't need it or because you've gotten comfortable. Fort Myers won in year two under new ownership.

21% growth from work most operators defer

Fort Myers won Store of the Year in year two by doing the work most operators put off: longer hours, better training, stronger leadership, tighter customer experience. The 21% sales growth came from execution, not luck.

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