After a Month Layoff, Beloved Pet Shop Reopens in Belmont

For Stan Fox, the end was more than near.

It was staring him in the face.

Fox, owner of local pet store Dolly’s Treasures, saw his small business in early February, as the combination of expensive loans and the struggling economy became too much for Fox to handle.

But as the saying goes, what a difference 28 days can make.

Less than a month later, Fox and his wife Karen, along with their pup Dolly, a rat-terrier and German Shepherd mix whom Fox refers to as “the store’s real owner,” reopened their beloved pet store at 1020 Sixth Ave. in Belmont.

“At one point, we were just going to shut down the store for a little while, maybe relocate to the South Bay, but we just got so much positive feedback from customers that we thought maybe we could find some place a little more affordable and stick it out,” Fox said.

Fox said that he got the idea to find a new location in Belmont from one of the many customers who, upon getting word of the store’s closing, came in and offered their advice on how to save the pet shop.

“A customer came by and said there was a place on Sixth Avenue and that we should go check it out, see if it works for us,” Fox explained. “So we came down and took a look at it. It’s a little smaller than the other place, but it’s a little more open. We rearranged some things to make it a little more inviting.”

Dolly’s Treasures, which opened six years ago, was previously stationed in the Carlmont Shopping Center, quite a different venue from the street location the store occupies now.

Although the store doesn’t incur the mall foot traffic it is used to, Fox maintains that being out in the open provides opportunities for the store to be spotted by pedestrians as well as those in their cars.

“There’s obviously less foot traffic here because in the shopping mall, you just have people walking around,” Fox said. “Here, there is a lot less of that, but there is more street exposure with people driving by.”

Dolly’s Treasures officially reopened on April 2, a reopening that Fox was not sure he would see happen.

Fox commented that the outcry from the community was tremendous, but financially, reopening the store seemed far-fetched.

“Dealing with the financial stuff,” said Fox when asked what was the most difficult hurdle when it came to reopening the pet shop. “Trying to make sure if we did the move that we could actually stay here for a long enough period of time to actually get us over the hump.”

“We were closed for a month, so there’s no revenue in that month. Then the layout for the move and the storage and remodeling this place, the cost was fairly significant.”

But due to the support of the community and store-regulars, Fox decided to go out on a limb and begin looking for a new location.

And upon finding his current location, it was not necessarily all Fox hoped for.

“When we first came in, it looked like a railroad tunnel,” Fox said with a laugh. “There were no lights at all. The floor was blue, green carpet tile and the walls were mustard yellow. So we tried to recreate the color scheme the same as the other store.”

Today, after having been up and running for a few months now, the store is back to form. Pictures of Dolly outline the wall behind the register, dog treats and clothing flood the display racks, and Dolly even has her own den in the rear of the store.

“There’s a lot of emotional connection to the community,” Fox said. “We’re a part of the community. We were there for over six years. The regulars that come in become friends. When we were shutting down, it was like leaving our family and letting them down a little bit. We’re here to service the community.”

“We pushed through it, Fox added. “It’s still a little bit of a struggle but we’re getting there.”