Today we’d like to introduce you to Zoe Kimball.
Hi Zoe, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve spent more than 15 years working in the animal care industry, from dog daycares and animal shelters to veterinary offices and eventually management. Animals have really been the common thread throughout my entire career, but owning a pet supply store wasn’t always the plan.
Over the years, especially as I moved further into management, I started thinking more about what I wanted long term. I knew I wanted to stay connected to animals and the pet industry, but I also wanted to build something of my own. I had become really interested in pet nutrition, enrichment, and the products we use with our animals every day. All of those interests eventually came together in what would become Fern & Fur Pet Supply.
I also knew I wanted Fern & Fur to incorporate another thing I love: plants. As a pet owner and plant lover myself, I’ve always had to be conscious of which plants I bring into my home because so many common houseplants can be toxic to dogs and cats. I loved the idea of bringing those two worlds together and creating a place where pet owners could shop for both their animals and their homes without having to stand in the middle of a nursery Googling whether every plant they picked up was safe.
More than anything, I wanted to create the kind of pet store I would personally want to shop at: smaller, thoughtfully curated, welcoming, and somewhere you could actually talk to a person about your pet instead of feeling overwhelmed by aisles and aisles of products.
I opened Fern & Fur in Portland’s South Waterfront in April 2026. I went into it with years of experience in the pet industry and managing businesses, but absolutely no experience actually owning one, so this has been a completely new chapter for me.
We’re still very new, and I think I’m still very much in the “how I got to where I am today” part of the story. But getting to unlock the doors every morning to something that started as an idea in my head and is now a real place in my neighborhood is pretty surreal.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not! I don’t think anything could have fully prepared me for how much goes into opening and running a brick-and-mortar business.
I had a lot of experience managing businesses for other people, but being the owner is completely different. Suddenly every decision is yours. I had to learn about commercial leases, construction, permitting, inventory, accounting, marketing, purchasing, merchandising and a million other things I had never really needed to understand at this level before.
Opening the physical space was a journey in itself. There are so many moving pieces involved in taking an idea and turning it into an actual storefront, and most of that world was completely new to me. I truly don’t think I could have done it without my design team at Wise Design and my contractors at Owen Gabbert LLC here in Portland. They helped me through every inch of the process and cared about getting the details right just as much as I did. Having people around me who understood what I was trying to create and could help turn that vision into an actual physical space made such a huge difference.
Then you finally open the doors and realize opening the business was only the first step.
There are also just really long days. When you own a small business, especially in the beginning, you wear every hat. I’m the buyer, marketer, social media manager, event planner, customer service person, merchandiser, janitor and whatever else needs to be done that day. It can be difficult to ever completely turn your brain off because there is always another idea, problem or task waiting for you.
One of the biggest things I’ve had to learn is that not everything is going to work. You can spend hours planning an event or bringing in a product you’re convinced people will love and sometimes it just doesn’t connect. Other times, something you barely expected to take off becomes a customer favorite. You have to be willing to pay attention, adjust and not take every setback personally.
I’ve learned an incredible amount in a very short period of time. I’m learning to be okay with not knowing everything, to ask for help when I need it, and to accept that building something takes time. It has definitely not been a smooth road, but I think that makes seeing the store grow even more meaningful.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Fern & Fur is an independent, woman-owned pet supply and pet-safe plant store in Portland’s South Waterfront. We carry food, treats, chews, toys, supplements, supplies, houseplants and plenty of fun things that you probably didn’t know your pet needed until you walked in.
One of the biggest things that sets us apart is how intentionally the store is curated. I don’t want to carry something simply because a distributor has it or because it’s popular. I spend a lot of time researching products, ingredients and brands and deciding whether something actually makes sense for our store and our customers.
Nutrition and overall wellness are a big part of what we do. We carry traditional dry and canned foods alongside frozen raw, freeze-dried raw and gently cooked options, and I really enjoy helping people explore different ways of feeding their pets. At the same time, I never want someone to feel judged for how they feed or care for their animal. The goal is to meet people where they are, answer questions and help them find something that works for their individual pet.
That focus on wellness is also exactly why our plants are such an important part of Fern & Fur. Every plant we sell is selected to be considered non-toxic to dogs and cats. There are so many popular houseplants that can be harmful to pets, and the effects of exposure can range from stomach upset and irritation to much more serious illness depending on the plant and the amount consumed.
For me, it simply wouldn’t make sense to build a pet store around nutrition, wellness and helping people make thoughtful choices for their animals, and then turn around and sell them a plant that could make their pet sick.
I also know how frustrating it can be as a pet owner who loves plants. You find something beautiful at a nursery and immediately have to pull out your phone and figure out whether it can safely coexist with your animals. I wanted Fern & Fur to be somewhere that takes some of that worry away. You can pick out a plant you love knowing that pet safety was already part of the decision to bring it into the store.
The plants have also become a huge part of the feeling of Fern & Fur. I never wanted it to look or feel like a traditional pet store. I wanted it to feel warm, welcoming, green and a little unexpected.
Community is equally important to me. We host neighborhood walks, nail trim events, educational events and other opportunities for people and their pets to get out and meet each other. I want Fern & Fur to feel like somewhere you can stop in even if you don’t need to buy anything. If your dog wants to come in for a cookie, come in. If you’re walking by and just want to say hi, please do.
Brand-wise, that is probably what I’m most proud of. Fern & Fur has only been open for a few months, but it already feels like it has its own little community and personality. We joke that we’re “the store pets drag their owners into,” and seeing dogs recognize the store and start pulling their people toward our door might be the best indication that we’re creating what I hoped we would.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Animals, obviously! They’ve been such a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember, both personally and professionally.
But one of the things that makes me happiest right now is seeing relationships form because of Fern & Fur. I love when a dog comes running through the door because they know exactly where the treats are. I love when someone comes back and tells me that the food, treat or product we talked about worked for their pet.
I also love watching our regular customers get to know each other. People meet in the store and end up taking their dogs on playdates, or stand around discussing the very specific attitudes and personalities of their cats. Those little conversations happen all the time, and they’re some of my favorite moments.
There’s something really special about realizing that this place I created has become part of someone else’s routine. Sometimes I’ll see the same dog several times a day because they’ve decided Fern & Fur is now a required stop on their walk, and I genuinely never get tired of that.
I think what makes me happiest is feeling connected to animals and to people who love their animals as much as I love mine. That has been a constant throughout my career, and now I get to create a space centered around it every day.
Pricing:
- OHSU employees and students receive 10% off regular-priced merchandise. Exclusions apply to dry, freeze-dried, and frozen pet food.
- Many of our community events are free to attend.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fernandfurpet.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernandfurpetsupply/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fernandfurpetsupply
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@fernandfurpetsupply
