Tropical Oasis

In March or so of 1998 I was living in Eau Claire Wisconsin and working as an assitant plant manager at Midwest Manufacturing.  I had finished my degree in Biology/Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire but I had decided that teaching was not for me.  One night I received a telephone call from my brother in law, who was living in Milwaukee at the time, and he told me that Tropical Oasis, the pet shop in Salem Wisconsin where he purchased a lot of his salt water fish, was for sale.  After a quick visit to discuss the details I became a small business owner.

I had always had an interest in animals but I don’t think my mom would have ever let me keep a snake in the house growing up.  As soon as I got to college however,  I made up for lost time.  I made friends with Ed Lopez who owned The Serpents Lair in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin and I think I became his best customer.  Soon parts of my house began looking like a zoo.  Fortunately it was, for the most part, contained to a small porch that I had converted to a reptile room.  Nonetheless, the wheels had been  set in motion.  Whenever I went to a new shop one of the things I did was to take the shop apart in my mind and try to figure out what I would do differently it it were mine.  I had visited my sister and brother in law sometime in December of 1997 and we had visited Tropical Oasis at that time.  Like any other shop  I was soon rearranging cages and shelving in my mind.  That one phone call in march was all it took to move me from my imagination to reality.  I took over ownership of Tropical Oasis on August 1st, 1998.

Now, only a short 11 years later, I find myself staring at a new chapter in my life as a pet shop owner and if it doesn’t drive me crazy first I hope to have a website built that will not only be informational but fun as well.  Check back often as I hope changes and additions will be frequent.

Steve Schindler

Owner

Tropical Oasis