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HANOVER TWP. — Village Pet Supplies & Gifts, known for its all-natural pet foods, is expanding.
The store, which has a location near Gerrity’s in the Hanover Mall on the Sans Souci Parkway in Hanover Twp., opened a second store near another Gerrity’s on Union Street in Luzerne.
The new store, which opened Saturday, formerly was the site of Fox Video, which closed and was empty for three years.
Both the Hanover Twp. and Luzerne stores are about 4,000 square feet.
“I like being in a shopping center that has a supermarket,” Bartlett said. “I went over to Luzerne, pulled in and fell in love with the spot. I knew it was for me the second I pulled into the parking lot.”
Village Pet Supplies employs eight people and is hiring another six, she said.
Bartlett said she has wanted to open another store since Village Pet Supplies & Gifts opened in Hanover Twp. 15 years ago.
The store was formerly in another location near Keyco Warehouse Outlet on Sans Souci Parkway and reopened in the Hanover Mall farther away from the Susquehanna River after flooding in 2011.
“I finally just felt solid enough here that I have the right professional staff that everything could run well with me being here half the week and there half the week,” Bartlett said. “I took that as my opportunity to start looking and boom, I found my spot sooner than I expected and was even planning and decided to move forward with it.”
Village Pet Supplies & Gifts specializes in human-grade holistic pet food.
People who were never in the store probably wouldn’t recognize the names of pet food and treats, Bartlett said.
Most of the food is “EU-certified,” which she said is equivalent and in some ways better than USDA organic.
“I’m terribly proud that none of our foods and none of our treats source a single ingredient from China,” she said. “I would be horribly embarrassed to place on my shelves anything that didn’t fit those standards.”
Bartlett said she also is proud of the amount of grilling she does with manufacturers before she decides whether or not to sell their products at her store.
“I have to feel proud of what is here,” she said. “It represents me and it represents my passion for pets and if it’s not going to represent me well, it can’t be on my shelves.”
She doesn’t see her store as a competitor to the big pet food chains because she said, “We do something so very different.”
“People who want commercial foods go there and buy commercial foods. People who don’t want to touch that come here,” she said. “You won’t find any of these foods in a big box store.”
Village Pet Supplies & Gifts also serves pets who have health problems such as diabetes and food allergies.
By fixing people’s pets who came in with chronic ear infections or chewing their paws, they tell friends, family members and co-workers about it and Bartlett said “that’s all it took to grow this business.”
“If you help people, they tell people,” she said.
The treats at Village Pet Supplies & Gifts meet the same criteria as the food, she said.
Nanticoke resident John Newman said he often shops in Village Pet Supplies & Gifts for natural treats for his two dogs and his cat.
“We understand from our veterinarians that it’s the way to go,” he said. “We buy our kitty litter here. We buy our cat food here. The food has been recommended and she does like it and she loves grain-free treats.”
Newman added that the service at Village Pet Supplies & Gifts also is great.
“We get what we like and what the animals need, smiles from clerks and we just like the store,” he said.
Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115, @CVAllabaugh on Twitter
