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Dog groomer gets creative with marketing strategy

Town of Qualicum Beach says her painted rocks are illegal signage
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It’s not easy for a small business to market itself — it can be an expensive and time consuming process. That’s why a Qualicum Beach dog groomer decided to get a little creative with her strategy.

Colleen Christensen owns Ruff ‘N Stuff Dog Grooming in Qualicum Beach. The business is still establishing itself in the community and she recently came up with a unique way to market her skills to would-be clients.

Christensen told The NEWS that every night after she closes the shop for the day, she and her three-year-old dog Copper go for a walk through town.

“Every single night, without fail, he picks up a rock,” Christensen said.

In the beginning, Christensen said, she wondered what she was going to do with the rocks.

“I don’t know what made me think of painting them,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to paint rocks — you know, the really creative, nice rocks — I thought, ‘Well, why not paint them. Put Ruff ’N Stuff Dog Grooming with my phone number and just kind of put them in places around town.”

So, Christensen did just that. She also said she made a Facebook post telling people if they were to bring the rocks back, they could get a discount on dog grooming.

However, the Town of Qualicum Beach doesn’t agree with Christensen’s idea and has issued her a number of bylaw tickets.

It turns out Qualicum Beach doesn’t allow off-site business signage and Christenen’s rocks have been deemed illegal. The municipality also says her marketing technique presents a potential safety hazard for pedestrians or motorists if one of her rocks gets moved onto a path or road.

Each of the bylaw tickets being issued comes with a $100-fine and the matter could end up finding its way to court.

Luke Sales, the town’s director of planning, said the rocks were brought to the town’s attention by a complaint from the public, asking why the rocks were being placed around town and what was the town’s position.

Christensen said since putting the rocks out, she had one request from a business owner to not place the rocks in front of his store.

“He was worried with kids getting out of school that somebody might take a rock and throw it through his window… I respected his wishes, and actually, we stopped putting them in town for that exact reason,” she said.

Christensen said she was called by Sales to say several were found in town, adding that the rocks are essentially signage and can also pose a hazard to those walking around.

“If anything, they’re safer now because Copper picked them up throughout town. These are rocks that he’s picked up and found in town usually on sidewalks,” she said.

Sales said when he initally called Christensen, it was with the intention of working something out and informing her of the town’s bylaws.

“In essence, the enforcement of this bylaw has nothing to do with judgement of her or her business,” Sales said. “If these rocks said McDonald’s on them, we would have the same response.”

Since that phone call, Christensen said she has been visted by the bylaw officer twice, and received three bylaw tickets. Christensen added that the bylaw officer told her he hadn’t personally seen the rocks.

“I’ll admit it, I was confrontational. I got my back up,” said Christensen, adding that she told the bylaw officer she wanted something in writing.

“Unless I have something in writing, I have nothing to fight. Give me a letter or something, so I know this is legitimate and I have something to fight,” she said.

Christensen said she formally filed a dispute with the town on July 6 with the intention of going to court.

Sales said this isn’t the ideal situation for the town, and they would “much prefer to work it out.”

“From the town’s perspective — from our bylaw enforcement perspective — the ideal outcome would be that we get compliance and she wold agree to meet the town’s bylaws and we would get rid of the tickets,” he said.