Neighborhood Pet Shoppe provides new options for pet owners

MATTIE POWERS student writer

A new pet store called Neighborhood Pet Shoppe has come to Searcy, offering various goods and services for animals.

The store sells all kinds of animals, such as birds, snakes, mice, chinchillas, tortoises, hedgehogs and much more. Neighborhood Pet Shoppe general manager Gavin Jones said the shop is the largest family-owned and operated pet store in the tri-state area and has been in business for about 22 years with the store owners starting another business called Safari Pets in the early 2000s.

The store provides many services for customers and their pets, including areas where customers can pet the animals for sale, a full-service grooming salon, and a birthday party room that can be used for a person or an animal. The Neighborhood Pet Shoppe also plans to host free freshwater and saltwater fish classes for the public in March this year. Jones talked about the specialties the store offers.

“We focus on education, and we’re not so much just sell, sell, sell, sell, sell,” Jones said. “We’re more of, ‘Hey, let me show you how to take care of that so it’ll live