The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Puppy Love: Portraits of the mascot as a young dog adorn the pages of Willow Glen Kitchen and Bath's award-winning Web site.

Publicity hound is bath store's secret weapon

And now store mascot Gator the Rottweiler has his own Web site

By Michelle Ku

Willow Glen Kitchen and Bath owner Randi Fredericks' top salesperson is a 135-pound Rottweiler named Gator. Not only does Gator bring in the floor sales, but he promotes bathtubs and kitchen sinks over the Internet.

Now that he's receiving emails from around the world, the Net-savvy pup has developed a bit of an attitude.

"He was much more humble and dog-like then. He's much more demanding now," Fredericks says.

Gator has been in the public eye since May 1994, when he was featured in Kitchen Bath and Business, a national kitchen and bath remodeling magazine, but his fame in the area skyrocketed last year when Gator went online with his own home page.

"People will come in and I'll ask, 'How did you hear about us?' and they'll say they saw our Web site or they saw Gator's," Fredericks says.

"We do get people who come in who want to meet Gator based on his Web site. People will actually bring in their friends and animals to see Gator," Fredericks says. "It personalizes the business."

His Web site is also an award-winner, receiving two Web page awards from national organizations, the Rottie Ring's Hawk Award and Stone Fort's Rott N Kid Award for Home Page Excellence.

A little more than a year ago, Fredericks decided to create and design the Web site for Willow Glen Kitchen and Bath instead of hiring someone to do it. She created a site of about 80 pages, but it took serious work to get information about kitchens, baths and remodeling onto the Web.

"I spent a ridiculous amount of time doing it, and one day I decided I needed to do something fun," Fredericks says. "I thought I'd do a page on my Rottweiler."

The Web site is also entertaining people in other parts of the world. More than 8,600 people have visited Gator's site, and he receives email from people around the globe.

"Not only does he get a lot of email from people, but he gets a lot from other animals. People will write pretending to be other animals, and Gator will answer. He answers his own email personally. I read it to him, and then he tells me what to write. We're psychically linked," says Fredericks about her adopted canine son.

One time, a person from Australia wrote to Gator saying he was a Rottweiler as well and that Gator was very cool in having his own Web site. Gator responded to the email, saying that the Rottweiler needed to get his mother to make him a cool Web site too.

Gator has proved a public-relations hound for Willow Glen Kitchen and Bath. Fredericks has designed a T-shirt with Gator wearing sunglasses on the front and the Kitchen and Bath's logo on the back. And every year, Gator has an annual pool party at the home of Fredericks and her husband, Paul Cullen, co-owner of the Kitchen and Bath. Fredericks and Cullen put up fliers and invite their customers.

Fans can schmooze with Gator at Willow Glen Kitchen and Bath from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. His Web site can be visited at www.willowglen.com/gator.htm.

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