About Rainforest Station
Jim and Marcia Hitchcock opened Rainforest Station in September of 2008 in Grand Rapids Michigan.
The whole thing started a couple years before, when we were attending a reptile expo to sell off some of our Bombina orientalis offspring. I was disappointed by the quality of the frogs being offered. They seemed to be an afterthought, sitting in a deli cup on a piece of paper towel that may have been wet at one point, on the corner of a vendor’s table. I turned to Marcia and said, “I think I could do this better than that.”
Marcia looked at me and said (and I’m sure there are times she wishes she hadn’t) “Then why don’t you?”
And so, Forest Frogs LLC was born. I began attending local reptile expos regularly as a vendor, specializing in tropical frogs and other amphibians. We quickly began to expand our inventory to include all the products needed to assemble a naturalistic vivarium. An appropriate substrate materian didn’t even exist in the form needed, so we began to manufacture our own Naturalistic Terrarium Substrate, based on the formula I hand-mixed for my own vivariums.
We also began culturing roaches and fruit flies and expanded our selection of amphibians to include poison dart frogs.
Soon, customers were calling us to purchase products between reptile expos. So, in January of 2007 we launched an on-line store to allow our customers to purchase from us at their convenience. This opened two new cans of worms, as we continually expanded our inventory: Sourcing products at wholesale was a problem, as we did not have a retail store, and most pet supplies distributors refused to do business with us; and soon, as I found alternate distribution channels, inventory started really piling up! We rented storage space, but even that wasn’t enough. We had to do something else.
Marcia and I began looking for warehouse space from which to run the business. There were plenty of warehouses available, but most were enormous. Then, while scouting property, I met a landlord who suggested a retail storefront instead of a warehouse. “If you’re going to rent space, you might as well have a front door for customers to walk in,” he said. And, he had the perfect spot. 
A 1600 square foot store with all glass on the front, located on the busiest street in Grand Rapids.
Soon, we were at work renovating it. My son and I ground the concrete smooth and put down a layer of epoxy paint. Marcia and her daughter painted the walls. We found some store fixtures at a large chain’s going-out-of-business sale. We ordered inventory, and soon, we had a store. We decided we needed a more inclusive name to represent the store, so, after a lot of brainstorming sessions, we settled on “Rainforest Station.” It seemed evocative and rolled easily off the tongue.
I forgot to mention, up to this point, this had been a side job. For my day job, I was the editor of a weekly newspaper in Battle Creek, Michigan. Now that everything was ready, I chucked my action-packed career in journalism, and opened the store.
We are within sight of our one year anniversary, and moments of shear terror notwithstanding, it has been the greatest adventure of our lives.
And, we hope to be here for many more years to serve your exotic pet needs.
Jim and Marcia Hitchcock
