Spotlight: Park Pet Supply of Atlanta - Local POV

Spotlight: Park Pet Supply of Atlanta - Local POV

Park Pet Supply, a longtime pillar of the pet-lover society, continues its commitment to natural pet health and pet rescue.

We love our furbabies in the ATL. As pets have become considered more as family members than as four-legged home accessories, the pet industry has expanded to include a vast array of foods, treats, supplements, and services. This expansion includes Atlanta, which now boasts quite a few independent pet stores to augment big box ones such as Petco and Pet Supermarket, as well as veterinarians, mobile pet services, pet sitters, and dog-washing stations.

Victoria Park, owner of Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

Atlanta native Victoria Park, owner and founder of Park Pet Supply, started her store out of the love of her dog, Harley. When she moved to East Atlanta in 1996, Harley had been plagued with various skin ailments and ear infections since 1990. Expensive visits to the vet yielded no true reason for Harley’s health issues and only treatments for the symptoms themselves.

Victoria’s concern for Harley encouraged her to research pet nutrition. She figured out that Harley had food allergies and nutritional deficiencies; like most pet owners, Victoria had never been educated on the ins and out of pet foods and just picked up what was available at the grocery store.

She looked into natural pet supplements and the few pet food companies that, at that time, were getting away from the traditional soy- and grain-based foods. Once she changed Harley’s diet, she noticed an immediate change in his health and was able to discontinue the steroid-based treatments and antibiotics for his symptoms. Harley went on to live a robust life and died of old age.

Pet nutritional supplements and grooming products at Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

Victoria recalled the difficulty in finding healthier foods for Harley. “I had not heard about the raw diet at that time, and was still purchasing kibble. Living in East Atlanta in 1996, ’97, ’98, it was hard to find high-quality dog food and I had to travel a long distance to find the type of dog food I was looking for.” She fed Harley Innova dog food, a pioneering natural pet food brand that was sold to Procter & Gamble (which makes Tide laundry detergent and Dawn dish detergent) in 2010 and is now owned by Mars, Inc. (the company that makes M&Ms and Snickers candies).

After working for years in the travel industry, Victoria decided to make a career change. She worked in the shops of some friends who had opened in the changing East Atlanta Village neighborhood, and she noticed that many of the shop spaces were becoming available for rent. She made her move in 1999 and opened the original Park Pet Supply in a much smaller space five doors down from the current location.

A selection of pet items at Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

“We got started with the products that I wanted to sell, and the neighborhood was starting to revitalize with great, cool, progressive folks were here already, or moving in, and were also looking for good, quality products for their pets. So it took off. It was obviously a needed business for this area.”

Though Park Pet Supply is taken from Victoria’s last name, the store also services the Grant Park, Ormewood Park, Brownwood Park, and other “park” neighborhoods in Atlanta. “We service everyone,” Victoria laughed. “There weren’t as many pet stores in each neighborhood as there are now, so we basically served southeast Atlanta for that time.” Five years later, in 2004, the store’s current location became available and Park Pet Supply expanded.

Interior of Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

Fur Side Pet Grooming. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

“We got the larger space, with the back door for delivery, and the self-serve dog wash. We partnered with a groomer in the back, and with Fur Side to share the space next door so that we could both do our thing. Mary [McKissick, the current owner of Fur Side] runs the back–she’s great–and I run the self-serve dog wash, and we share the utilities and the laundry. It works out great because we can offer more services.”

While the concept of a self-serve dog wash can seem like a blessing to pet owners who don’t want to deal with escape-artist pets and pet hair clogging the bathtub drain, it can be overwhelming at first. “We try to give extra attention to first-time dog wash folks. We show them where everything is, help get the dog in the tub; they may just need help working the nozzles in the tub.”

Two-legged and four-legged Park Pet Supply customers. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

In an age of not only mass retail pet store chains and deeply discounted prices on the Internet, Park Pet Supply has survived and thrived for 17 years due to one thing: excellent customer service. “I am fortunate to have an amazing staff. They are very dedicated, helpful, conscientious folks and they really care about what’s very best for your pet. They take regular training classes on pet diet nutrition and are committed to finding the best thing and the alternative to something harmful. They really do their homework.”

Park Pet Supply employees. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

“If I’m back here and see them busy, I’ll jump up and help out, because that’s what it’s all about,” Victoria states. “My number-one thing is offering good customer service, convenient hours, and knowledgeable sales folks that can talk about pet nutrition, different supplements, and things like that.”

Natural food selection at Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

Natural food selection (one of the back freezers) at Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

Park Pet Supply prides itself on its significant selection of natural pet foods and supplements. “We try to stay ahead of the curve on pet nutrition and as the industry changes, we change right along with it. Most of our kibbles are grain-free, we have kibbles now that are lightly cooked, similar to raw. We have lots of raw diets, which are preferred.”

The store stocks popular raw food names such as Primal Pet Foods and Stella and Chewy’s, as well as local raw food purveyors. The store also carries highly rated kibbles and canned foods that include Acana, Orijen, and Merrick.   Park Pet Supply also carries dehydrated and freeze-dried pet food, such as The Honest Kitchen and Stella and Chewy’s. “When I look at bringing in new products, I look at: is it good for the environment? Is it good for the pet? Is it good for [food company] longevity? So I try to look at all of those factors. We try to protect our customers and our pets, number one.”

Dehydrated and freeze-dried food may sound more suitable for astronauts than pets, but it can actually be beneficial. “Some dogs can eat kibble their whole lives and be just fine. But as our food industry changes–both for us and our pets–some animals are very sensitive to the things going on with our current food supply. We try to offer a lot of different options to just kibble. If a dog has some sort of digestive issues…we try to offer a lot of different types of feeding for different dogs.”

Natural food selection at Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

The changing demographics of the Atlanta area, thanks to the burgeoning film industry, makes Park Pet Supply and other like-minded pet stores a priority for some pet owners. “New folks are moving here from California and other places for the film industry, and they are coming from a place where folks aren’t even feeding their pets kibble anymore; they’re feeding raw.”

Despite the demand for raw food, Victoria doesn’t see kibble as a pet food preference going away. “Most of us here [at Park Pet Supply] personally prefer a raw diet, or dehydrated or freeze-dried diet, over kibble. But a lot of our customers like the convenience of kibble. So we try to offer something for everyone. The good thing about being a small business is that we can change with the times.”  Indeed, if you can’t find a specific product or brand at Park Pet Supply, they will try their best to special order it for you (they were able to order a brand of natural cat treat for me that they did not carry in the store).

Changing with the times includes the acknowledgment that everyone doesn’t keep a dog or cat as a pet. Park Pet Supply stocks food, supplements, and supplies for small animals such as birds, hamsters, gerbils, and rabbits as well–and even aquarium fish.

Small animal supplies at Park Pet Supply. Photo credit: Tiffany M. Davis for Local POV.

Park Pet Supply is not only an advocate for natural pet health and nutrition, but also pet rescue and animal advocacy. Victoria is connected to city- and statewide pet rescue groups and animal shelters. “In 1996, when I moved to East Atlanta, there were literally stray animals running in every direction. We would prop the door open at our old location when the weather was nice, and dogs and cats used to literally walk through the door.”

Victoria, along with three other neighborhood women, saw that the stray animal problems (and subsequent animal mistreatment) was getting worse and decided to do something about it. “There were not the rescue and no-kill organizations that we have now.  So we decided that we’re going to do this; we’re going to make a difference.” The four women started fostering dogs and cats, getting them spayed and neutered, and harnessed the power of the relatively new Internet to get on the “Access Atlanta” section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  They also handed out fliers promoting pet adoption through Park Pet Supply.

“Between the four of us, we rescued over 500 animals over a five-to-six-year span. We started getting dogs and cats off the street, and it made a huge difference in this neighborhood. ‘Adopt, don’t shop’ is our motto. I understand purebred dogs are attractive, because they come with a standard set of qualities that are supposed to be in the breed–but not always.”

There are now more neighborhood people fostering pets and taking a more active role in pet rescue, which helped ease the burden on Victoria and her compatriots. Victoria (and her current terrier mix, Darla) continues her pet advocacy in a more limited role and donates food, money, and supplies to local animal rescue groups and organizations such as Shelter Angels Pit Bull Rescue . “I try to support those rescue folks around me now as much as I can. That’s a huge part of rescue, needing money for vet care, supplies, and food.”

Park Pet Supply is your one-stop shop for all of your pet needs, from food to leashes to toys. Customers not only enjoy learning about and providing the best for their furbabies, but they also become part of a close-knit community that takes care of its pets and each other.

Park Pet Supply

479 Flat Shoals Rd. SE (East Atlanta Village), Atlanta, GA 30316

PHONE: (404) 588-0140

HOURS: Monday-Saturday 10 am – 9 pm; Sunday 11 am- 6 pm.

Free parking in the rear of the store , on the street, and in the adjacent lot half a block down.