Sunday, January 17, 2010
A different kind of pet store
Pet City's exotic creatures -- such as a capuchin monkey and weather-forecasting parrots -- are some of the things that draws people to Roanoke's only locally owned pet seller.
Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times
Jennifer Masker cleans puppy cages at Pet City before the store opened on a recent morning.
Pet City owner Denise Spangler pets an iguana named Goliath at the Roanoke store.
Charlie Harvey, semi-retired founder of Pet City, brings McDonald's biscuits for Winky, a capuchin monkey who has delighted visitors for years.
Pet City owner Denise Spangler talks with a special needs volunteer at her store. She makes a point to hire people with disabilities.
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For Michael Knick and 8-year-old son Jakob, the 90-minute trip from Covington to see a Roanoke dentist always involves a side trip to see Winky.
The 44-year-old white-faced capuchin monkey draws fans to Pet City, a family-run pet shop on Williamson Road. Though it sells a variety of pets and supplies, the Roanoke business is known for the more than half-dozen creatures such as Winky that are on display for visitors to see.
"Is this the same monkey they've had forever?" Knick asked one November afternoon. Winky has ruled the roost at Pet City for more than two decades.
"Wow! That's cool," Jakob said.
Winky's sidekicks include a newly adopted iguana, a family of ring-tailed lemurs and a trio of weather-forecasting parrots. Perhaps the least exotic of the bunch is the store's cat, Baxter.
The store sells puppies, kittens, hamsters, mice, reptiles, fish and birds.
"My mom brought me here when I was a kid, so I wanted to bring [Jakob]," Knick said.
That's exactly what leads store owner Denise Spangler to keep animals such as Winky.
"We want our store to be different," she said. "We want it to be a place that people can bring their children and they can see things and enjoy that they wouldn't see in other places."
One of a kind
Spangler's father, Charlie Harvey, opened Pet City in March 1982. Originally located up the road where Bank of America now sits, the store remains as the only locally owned pet seller in Roanoke.
Harvey was working in restaurant management when he decided he needed a change of pace.
"I just wanted to branch out," he said. "So I decided to open this."
The business opened and was soon a success, Harvey said.
Now 67, Harvey has since retired, though he and Spangler, 44, are quick to point out that's a relative term. Harvey is still at the store many days by 8 a.m. and is often back to take care of assorted tasks long after dark.
"I just can't imagine waking up one morning and not having a Pet City to come to, and I've been retired three years," he said.
Winky's world
On any given day, Winky has free reign of the joint before and after business hours.
"I think with him being out, it breaks up the boredom," Spangler said.
Harvey acquired the pet primate from a Myrtle Beach street performer who used Winky to collect money.
These days, Winky likes to fish out of the store's aquariums after hours; mollies are his favorite snack, though he's been known to devour a pricey beta or two. And like many monkey seniors his age, he enjoys walking laps around the building and long afternoons of people-watching.
Spangler said she's been criticized for letting Winky out in the store, but she believes the freedom has added to his longevity. At 44 years old, he's at least four years above the expected lifespan of a capuchin. The monkey's black and white hair is balding, but his wide eyes shine up at visitors with a toddler-like curiosity that belies his geriatric status.
"I'm always cautious when people and primates interact," said Dave Orndorff, director and general curator of the Mill Mountain Zoo, who has himself raised monkeys. "It's still a wild animal. You never know what the animal could do."
But, Orndoff said, "They're obviously doing something right. The animal has lived a long life."
Spangler maintains a U.S. Department of Agriculture license that allows her to exhibit the animals.
Winky previously was allowed out when customers were in the store, but Harvey said after some employees were bitten he decided to keep the animal separated from customers during the day. The elderly monkey now resides in a closet-sized room with windows facing into the store so that customers can see in and the primate can see out.
Winky shares the limelight with several creatures. The latest addition is a newborn, unnamed lemur. There's Goliath, a 4-foot long iguana with the temperament of a dog (he likes to be stroked on his head and neck). Finally there are three parrots: Zeus, Phoenix and Meago (they're known for becoming more and more silent when stormy weather approaches).
Commitment to the disabled
Spangler makes it a point to hire employees with disabilities, including those with autism and attention hyperactivity disorders.
"It's just something I believe strongly about," she said. "I believe everybody deserves a right to be able to try to work."
She recently partnered with Stand Up Inc., a company that works through Roanoke County schools to give students with disabilities experience at local businesses such as Kroger, Marshalls and Golden Corral.
"They like their other job sites," said Jamie Holland, an employee with Stand Up Inc. "But they love it here. These kids have gone from not coming to school to coming to school."
Jennifer Masker, 29, has worked part time at Pet City for three years, though not with the school program. She spent Thanksgiving with Harvey, Spangler and her children.
"They're the only family I have," Masker said. "They've helped me become less distracted."
Masker cleans cages, feeds birds and takes care of Goliath the iguana, whom she calls her "son."
Her favorite thing about working in the pet shop? "Being with Charlie and Denise."
Chain competition
Though Spangler admits sales over the past few years have been "very unpredictable," she said business remained steady toward the end of 2009. Sales overall were down, but purchases of fish and birds helped. She declined to release specific figures. The recent fire at PetSmart in Roanoke sent a surge of customers looking for supplies to Pet City, and families home for the holidays stopped by to see Winky and the other notable animals.
Spangler is keeping an eye on the upcoming opening of chain PetCo at Towers Shopping Center but said her store's model helps her feel comfortable about the competition.
"Independents are more concerned about what we do," she said. "We're hands-on. I might not know all my customers' names, but I know you have a rabbit or a dog or a tokay or a bearded dragon. I know what you come in for."
