Kim Steen is putting down her clippers after 224 dog years at D & J Dog Grooming. Those clippers were picked up by new owner and former employee Jessica Jackson.
Steen recalled, with his bright smile, that he worked at Jim’s Poodle Parlor, a store owned by his father, Jim, in Santa Barbara, Calif. He started working while in junior high school and never looked back.
He recalled when the business was in California, many of the breeds it served were poodles and cocker spaniels.
“It’s interesting to see how popular dog breeds have changed over the years,” Steen said.
Paris Hilton popularized small dogs that could fit in a tote.
“Now doodles are the thing,” he said. “Lots of big dogs.”
The dog grooming business started when Jim Steen realized that the back room in his pet store that he rented to a groomer was getting a lot of traffic. He instructed his wife, Doris, Kim’s mother, to learn how to groom dogs.
Her mother began teaching her daughter grooming, though Kim’s focus was on bathing dogs rather than grooming. By high school the younger Steen was already learning grooming tricks.
When his parents decided to leave California in the late 1970s, they looked for a place to live that had a shortage of dog groomers. They chose Keizer and opened the store on River Road in the center of town.
The business flourished for 15 years before Kim bought it from his parents in 1992.
During his ownership, many family members worked in the business including his sons and his brothers.
After 30 years, he decided it was time to retire.
The work is “taxing your body,” he says. “It’s a physical job.”
There are elements of business that Steen will miss as he faces the world of retirement options. Steen hopes to get back to hiking and biking. He will miss meeting new clients (both two-legged and four-legged) and the relationships with the dogs. “I always pay attention to my interaction with dogs, because this is my whole life,” he explained.
Kim Steen left the family business in good hands when she sold it to longtime employee Jessica Jackson, a Keizer resident.
This is a true family business. J ackson’s mother-in-law worked at the salon for 10 years. Now Jackson’s children help from time to time.
J ackson started D & J in 2008, bathing dogs. For the past 16 years, Jackson has learned how to groom dogs from Steen.
“In the last few months I’ve started getting really excited about it (buying the business from Steen),” Jackson said.
The new owner says the most unusual cuts people ask for are mohawks and sweater cuts.
Jackson wants customers, old and new, to know that the business is here to help with their pets, including hoof care.
“We are always here to help,” he said.
D & J Dog Grooming is located at 689 Chemawa Rd. N.E. They can be reached at 503-393-7701. Hours are 8 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday.
Contact Publisher Lyndon Zaitz:
[email protected] or 503-390-1051
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