Besides needing the space (you can buy or rent) you will need a lot of money, business/retail/sales tax license, insurance, an accountant, lawyer, and whatever license you would need to sell pets. And alot of knowlegde on everything you sell…people ask lots of questions.
I wouldn’t sell puppies and kittens….they all come from puppy mills and back yard breeders. No reputable breeder will sell to a pet shop, and if you sell someone a sick pet, you may wind up in court. (Do you really want that headache?)
I would see if you can work with the shelters in your area and keep some of the adoptables in your store (like they do in petsmart) IF there is a PetsMart or Petco in your area, it’s gonna be tough to have a good business going..like the other person said….they squash the mom and pop shops unfortunatly.
Check out and subscribe for their mag.(free last I knew). They have lots of info on there on where to buy supplies and all that good stuff.
There is another mag too.. Pet Product News (.com i think..otherwise just do a search) They also have a big “phone book” with nothing but distributors for retail and pet stuff. I think that subscription is free as well.

Good Luck :)

Good luck with that, with all the bigger chains( Petco, Petland etc. they run the “mom and pop” stores out of business.

first you need to get permission and find a place and i think you might need to take a class in taking care of animals things like this.

Start by going around the neigborhood looking at any small buildings for sale. Once you buy it, go to your local shelter and get some of the older pets. A suggestion is evey 3-4 months take the animals that will be put to death to sell in your shop. At the local retirement center make a deal saying that you bring the pets there to sell, and they alough the pets to be kept there if anyone wants to buy a old dog for company.