LITTLE CURRENT – If you are looking for a new newt you might want to drop by Little Current’s latest business, Pets Galore, which is located on the corner Highway 6 (Manitowaning Road) and Vankoughnet Street.
The new pet store not only offers a wide selection of pet foods and toys, but you can get just about anything you want in the way of pets except cats and dogs. Rabbits and Guinea pigs have been hopping out the doors in droves, while love birds, canaries, finches and other birds of a feather have flown the coop and the hermit crabs are hiding out in their tank. It’s an eclectic menagerie, but if they don’t have it, and it’s legal (so no cane toads, but all sorts of other varieties can be ordered in), Pets Galore can likely source your new family member.
Owner Darlene Drayton said she welcomes special orders and that all pets are welcome to visit the store with their owners. “Lizards, crickets, snakes, rats, toads, you name it, a lot of toads—there are people on the Island who collect toads, believe it or not.”
Ms. Drayton has always enjoyed people and animals, making the store just about the perfect solution for someone not yet ready to retire. “It really is the best part,” she said, “meeting people and their pets really makes my day. This is kind of my semi-retirement. Pet store seemed like a good fit, Little Current needed one. I have had a lot of positive response.”
Ms. Drayton hopes to be adding grooming services to the store’s mix sometime in August, but the escalating renovation costs due to the pandemic is proving a bit of a challenge, as is trying to launch a new business during COVID restrictions. “I am pretty sure we will be able to offer those sometime in August,” she said.
In addition to all kinds of pet foods for all kinds of critters, Ms. Drayton has doggie lifejackets, collars and many other items. Some items have been difficult to source. “Getting shipments in has been the biggest challenge, but it is the same for all retailers. You wouldn’t believe it, but bird gravel has become really scarce—strange things like that. But the trucking industry is ramping up again and things are getting better.”
The store is located on the corner Highway 6 (Manitowaning Road) and Vankoughnet Street and open Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm and orders can be placed by phone at 705-370-9477.
