When Green Pet opened in the 300 block of North Bishop in 2008, it was on the southern edge of the district, and there was no streetlight.
Early on, when they were figuring out what their hours should be, co-owner Leslie McKay would stay late at night.
“I would walk out of the shop, and it would be pitch black,” she says.
After 11 years in the district, the shop is moving this month a few miles south to Tyler Station.
Increased property taxes led to higher rent, and Green Pet has been struggling for a couple of years, says McKay, who owns the shop with her business partner, Eloy Treviño.
“It’s not sustainable for us,” McKay says. “We want to continue this business, and we’re not willing or able to go into debt.”
She calls it “an effect of gentrification on steroids.” New construction has bumped up property values, affecting local businesses before they’re seeing the benefits of increased population and traffic.
McKay and Treviño both had experience in pet-related retail, and opening their own place in Bishop Arts was a “no-brainer” because “there was a total void of any kind of good pet food,” in Oak Cliff where they both live.
At Tyler Station, they’ll have a loading dock for accepting pallets of pet food that arrive every week, which ought to be a relief to their delivery drivers, McKay says.
They expect to be out of their space on Feb. 11 and reopen at Tyler Station on Feb. 14.
Green Pet will continue its free pet-food deliveries to Oak Cliff.
