Creature comforts

Creepy-crawlies and sharp-clawed critters.

Not the stuff of high consumer demand? It all depends upon the presentation.

When Anicia Beckwith, owner of Animal Discovery Center at the Park Lane Mall, opened her doors, 1,000 people paid $1 each on the first weekend to come in and gawk at about 80 different creatures that creep, crawl, slither and skitter.

Admission generates 80 percent of the store's revenues, and a mere dollar a head covers the rent and utilities, she says.

Surprisingly, 40 percent of the walk-in traffic is childless.

And, some adults simply like to come in with a computer and a coffee to hang out on the cushy leather couch in the back, tap into the Wi-Fi net and surf the web.

The admission fee lets visitors stay as long as they like.

Soon those couch critters will be able to buy a bite to compliment their cuppa.

Beckwith is firing up the retail side of the business, which already sells sour-cream-and-onionflavored crickets, along with scorpion pops a real scorpion abides inside each treat.

Feeding the menagerie isn't cheap, says Beckwith.

Plus, it cost $5,000 to acquire the living inventory.None of it is for sale; the focus is strictly educational.

And she's packaged the product to teach life science.

Half of the 2,400-square-foot space is devoted to animal displays chameleons to centipedes while the other half is an art and science center.

Parents pay $5 to bring a child to play in the art room,where a variety of animal projects can be made.

It's also the site of birthday parties: $10 a child,with a 10- child minimum.A two-hour party includes a scavenger hunt, art project, and decorate-a-gift project.

The center is also a field trip destination for public schools and private clubs; fees are charged on a sliding scale.Another customer base is the home-schooling community.

There are 1,000 homeschoolers in Washoe County, says Beckwith,who had 100 of them enrolled in a science program to learn about animals.

The brains behind the business holds a degree in general biology with a substitute teacher certificate.

She subbed at public schools for two years, learning classroom management skills, but says,"It wasn't my niche."

The Animal Discovery

Center doubles as a classroom that features one animal a week: for instance, the gecko.That week, students will go on a scavenger hunt to find and answer questions about the gecko.

"They learn at their own pace," she says.

"Some are slow and meticulous, while others race through it; they think it's a competition." Beckwith,who works 85 hours a week, says,"I don't pay myself."

Rather, she plows all profit back into the business, buying microscopes and other science equipment.

"A microscope costs $1,200," she says,"I need 10 of those."

She does pay two part time employees, one a mother and the other a high school student, who work 32 and 25 hours a week.

"In a year, I may pay myself," she says.

Until then, she says, she relies on her husband,who is supportive of the endeavor.

The location, Park Lane Mall, is family oriented, says Beckwith.

"Many of the businesses here are kid friendly," she says."Tourists find this mall, too, situated between the downtown and the south Virginia Street casinos."

While all tenants are required to hold a $1 million insurance policy, the animal museum required no special liability risk charges.

Future plans: Beckwith wants to franchise the concept.Her lawyers are working on copyrights and trademarks, but she says, they found nothing like her concept: less of a zoo,more of a science center.

A year from now, she hopes to triple the staff and science supplies."I would love a toprated science lab in the back along with the art center." Beckwith recently got her first corporate sponsorship, an open-ended grant from Windermere Real Estate.

She says the center needs quality science equipment because the public schools can't afford to provide it.

The most enjoyable part of the job, she says, is working with both children and animals.

The most challenging? Those grueling retail work hours: 10 a.m.

to 8 p.m.weekdays, plus weekends.

And with the holiday shopping season on the horizon, she's firing up the retail, offering funariums creatively outfitted cages.

Plus stockings with stuffers passes to the art center, trinkets, and of course, those tasty bug treats.