By Jill Hayward
If you own a pet, be it a dog, cat, hamster, gerbil, guinea pig or fish you need to know that Barriere now has its very own pet store.
That’s right! No more long drives into Kamloops to get Fluffy’s favourite treat, or Rex’s special brand of dog food; because now there is a good chance you will find it on the shelves at Pets R Family 2.
The new store is situated directly across the highway from the Petro/A&W, and is in the corner unit (used to be Armour Mt Office Supplies) in the Purcha building, right next to Integrity Realty.
The brand new enterprise is a partnership between brothers Arnie and Henry Bowie, who both reside in the community of Chu Chua.
“We were born and raised here,” says Henry, “We’ve been here since 1978.”
“Yep, we are as local as they get,” laughed Arnie, while being interviewed during their grand opening last Sunday.
A steady stream of shoppers stopped in that day to check out the new store and make purchases, while the brothers told how they came to be opening up a pet store in Barriere.
Arnie told that after spending 22 years as a Natural Resource Technologist mapping out logging roads and cut blocks he was ready to change his career and do something different.
“I actually lost the passion for the job,” tells Arnie, “I liked it, but I fed plenty of mosquitoes and dodged plenty of bears while I was there! Maybe someday I’ll write a book about my adventures!”
The brothers say they were originally considering establishing an indoor golf facility because they felt it could be seasonally well supported. If their busy time for indoor golf was in the off season, they could then do their own golfing on the outdoor greens in the summertime.
However, when the pair started interviewing people in the community about what residents would like to see open up in Barriere, or if they would support an indoor golf venue, the brothers said they kept hearing the same comment.
“People would say “You know what Barriere really needs? A pet store!”, said Arnie, “And we heard that over and over again. It was the most requested business.
“We seriously looked at it, and we decided that if a pet store is what people really wanted we could give up the indoor golf,” said Arnie, “Pets are all year, not seasonal, and we love pets – we’ve always had our own dogs and cats.”
He says they came to realize that they themselves cared for their dogs and cats throughout their lives – and so do other people.
“It’s a lifelong commitment,” said Arnie, “We always knew people had plenty of pets but we had no idea there were so many!”
Many of the customers coming into the store asked if they could request special brands of pet food or other items – to which the brothers answered they would certainly look into all requests and try to provide for all of their customers if it was doable.
However, the store is already offering almost a dozen different brands of dog food (both wet and dry), and mostly brands not sold elsewhere in the community. It is the same in the cat food section where there are numerous brands and blends to choose from.
The pet treat department is loaded with just about everything you can imagine for the canine or feline in your life. And as in the pet food section, the treat section offers multiple brands, holistic, grain free, special blends for pets with allergies, and much more.
The dog and cat apparel department is huge, and the cat towers are impressive.
Plenty of food bowls, shampoos, flea collars and sprays, grooming supplies, and one very special section offering Skunk Odor Remover!
If you own or care for a pet, Pets R Family 2 is well worth the stop, it is also a great place to find that special gift for pet loving friends.
Although there are no actual pets available at the store, everything you need to own one is.
“We’ll see what our hours will be,” said Arnie, “And hopefully our business will grow and we can hire a part-time person – because we would like to golf once in awhile too!”
Pets R Family 2 will be open seven days a week for now from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. until the brothers “get a feel for the days and hours that are convenient for people to shop”.
The store is also set up to take Debit, Visa and MasterCard.
