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Pet Shelter finds success in Washington Square Mall
Among the chain businesses, anchor stores, churches, clubs, restaurants and kiosks at Washington Square Mall, retails Neighborhood Pet Place stands out as the place where animals are saved from being at risk in local shelters.
ReTails formed their headquarters in Greenfield in January 2010, with their adoption center in Washington Square Mall opening in October 2010.
“The goal of the store is to remove obstacles to pet adoption, so we make it easy, inexpensive and go where the people are, hence, the mall,” said Operations Manager of reTails, Inc. Sandy Kemp.
The company’s mission is to end the killing of adoptable animals in Central Indiana.
According to their website, reTails aims “to find happy homes for homeless pets and introduce people to the joy of animal companionship.” They also add that they redefine animal rescue by bringing in 100% rescued pets.
Unfortunately, those rescued pets were easily acquired.
“We just go down to Indianapolis Animal Care and Control and pull some of the approx 17,000 they take in every year,” said Kemp. “We also help owners rehome pets when someone dies, loses their home, finds a stray, etc.”
ReTails only euthanizes when an animal is suffering and they can’t help; they never euthanize for space. They have done more than 1250 adoptions out of Washington Square Mall since October 2010, and they plan to expand into a bigger facility in the mall in the near future.
“We have outgrown our current store quickly since we opened 15 months ago,” said Kemp. “Our new store will be in Washington Square Mall and will be four times the size of our current store.”
Their regular staff of approximately 35 is all volunteers, with a few that come and go. Right now, reTails doesn’t have a shelter and all of their pets live in foster homes.
Many purebred dogs and cats are available and donations are accepted via their website, retailsindy.org. They are currently seeking volunteers to work in the new adoption store, foster, install plumbing, do administrative work, fundraise and build dog kennels, cat condos and customer service area, according to Kemp. They also need a grant writer.
Kemp stresses that being in the mall gets them more traffic than being located somewhere more private and secluded.
“Better traffic means more adoptions and increased donations,” said Kemp. “Since we are funded entirely by donations, that’s very important. There is no advantage to us in going somewhere private and secluded, and a distinct disadvantage in making it harder for adopters to get to us.”
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