Modesto / California / United States
Tropical Haven was conceived in the winter of 1976. In March of 1977 a business license was obtained and a lease was signed. The original site was located at 1711 Prescott Road was made available July 4th 1977. After months of preparations Tropical Haven opened its doors September 19th and put an open sign up on September 21, 1977. The original store was 17 feet wide by 70 feet long. That was soon out grown and another 15 feet in width was added. After a few years the craft store closed and that location was also taken over. Ted Pino and Mike Warda were the original partners. Ted had a background in tropical fish and pet supplies that dated to 1962. Mike was a farmer and a very skilled handyman. Together they worked and prefabricated the aquarium stands in Mikes barn. In 1984 Mike had a heart attack and died at the young age of 31. His wife Valerie took over his share and sold out in 1985. Two other locations were opened, one on Coffee Road and another in Turlock. In 1991 on March 15 Tropical Haven Prescott moved to its present location 1707 Prescott Road at the former location of Carpet Town. On March 8, 1992 a fire burned down that location and it reopened in December in that same year. The fire was devastating to the business and the other locations were eventually sold. The original plan was to sell quality product very reasonable, then raise prices to the competition, then sell the business for a good profit. After a few months customers would come in and say they were so thankful that a pet store opened that had reasonable prices and they would not be able to afford pets if it were not for Tropical Haven. Prices have remained low ever since. Tropical Havens low prices are due to volume purchasing direct from manufacturers. Many items in the store are sold at or below regular wholesale prices. When the large pet chain stores came to Modesto nearly all the independent pet stores closed, but Tropical Haven increased in sales because of price awareness, quality products, and accurate information.
