By Ben Shanahan

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

A ribbon-cutting ceremony by the BG Chamber of Commerce makes 19-year-old Sydney Craig’s business venture official in Bowling Green’s Downtown.

The inspiration and the business name — Olivers & Max — ended up going hand in hand, explained owner Craig, who got grooming start with her own dog, Oliver. Caring for him led to her falling in love with pet grooming.

“In the beginning, I did not expect to be here at all, but I knew I wanted to work with animals and could not do needles or blood. So I found pet grooming when I got my Oliver, and he needed grooming ever since then. I started messing around with it, and now we are here,” Craig said.

After finding her passion, the next step was how to make it a business. She said she studied how to become a business owner for a year before opening up shop.

“I have always wanted to make this into a business since high school, and my mom found this place and told me ‘Sydney, this is a good opportunity, to check it out.’ So from there, I sat down and did a bunch of research on owning my own business and dog grooming, so with all that and all our own efforts, we built this place from the ground up to what it is today,” Craig said.

Her number one supporter during this whole process was her mother, Jodi, who got emotional talking about how proud she was of her daughter during Tuesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony.

“This was a plan that Sydney came to me with about a year ago, and I said, ‘You are crazy; you are only 18; we cannot do this; how would we do this?’ She sat, took notes, and researched. She amazes me every day with her hard work because she is truly a great girl,” Jodi said.

Bowling Green Councilman Jeff Dennis had the honor of cutting the ribbon for the ceremony and congratulating the new business for all the hard work put in so far.

“What a great business this will be in downtown Bowling Green,” Dennis said. “I have a 140-pound dog at home, so I know I will be a frequent customer. What a great addition this is for our city, allowing people to drop their pets off, stop walking around, and check out other great Bowling Green businesses.”

Now that the doors are open for Olivers & Max, the next step for the groomer is getting an established clientele.

“The next step will be just getting some more clients in and out of there, maybe getting a bigger place than we have now, and maybe even adding another groomer,” Craig said.