|
ACTION: Santa Cruz SPCAExpands to a Retail Mall to Increase Adoptions!
By Mandi Hart, Development Coordinator of the Santa Cruz SPCA Photos courtesy of Santa Cruz SPCA On November 15, 2011, tails will be wagging as the new Santa Cruz SPCA store opens its doors inside of the Capitola Mall located in Santa Cruz County. The 5,000-square-foot retail space will be open five days a week, offering dog and cat adoptions as well as the sale of jewelry, t-shirts, greeting cards, and other SPCA merchandise. Instead of renting space to a pet store that offers puppy/kitty mill animals with thousand-dollar price tags, the Capitola Mall invited the Santa Cruz SPCA into their high-traffic shopping center and donated the store space to the nonprofit, no-kill rescue. One-day adoption events have been held at the Capitola Mall in the past, but nothing quite like this. “We feel absolutely privileged to have been given this amazing opportunity and plan to put as much effort into it as possible,” said Lisa Carter, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz SPCA. Having this opportunity to showcase adoptable animals while interacting with the public on a large scale is a wonderful and welcome change for the rescue. The current SPCA shelter is small and tucked away in an industrial area so if you’re not looking for it, you probably won’t find it. “We look forward to being more accessible to the public and for our orphaned animals to have a greater amount of exposure. Running this store in such a well-known retail space will help us really show people who we are as an organization,” said Carter. Adoption policies and procedures will be followed as normal and the original shelter will continue to run as usual. The Santa Cruz SPCA recently purchased a plot of land for the construction of a new shelter, which is currently in the design process. Aside from puppies, kittens, dogs and cats, visitors can also expect to see award-winning Santa Cruz photographer Portia Shao at the new store offering pet portraiture for new adopters as well as the public and their pets. One-of-a-kind, www.MyFavoriteCouture.com canine garments, made by local designer Anastasia Torres-Gil, will be on display for sale. The days of “no dogs allowed” seem to be coming to an end as retail spaces all over the nation are saying yes to pets. It’s the decade of dog acceptance; dogs are being thought of as family members more and more and as simple pets less and less. Many indoor and outdoor malls from California and Colorado to Florida and Georgia are catching the four-legged fever as well, much to the delight of their patrons. Aside from the world of malls, it’s not uncommon to see jars of dog biscuits at the desks of bank tellers, hotels, and lunchtime cafés… it’s pawsitively a pet-idemic! With the retail store and home shelter running simultaneously, the Santa Cruz SPCA aims to greatly increase the number of adoptions they do each month and, in turn, be able to rescue more animals from high-kill shelters all over California. As pet lovers, we are excited to see the world continue to lean in the animal-friendly direction, with big business providing animal organizations and owners alike opportunities directly benefiting their pets.
For more information or to make a donation: Santa Cruz SPCA
|
GREAT OPPORTUNITY
Special Promotion
Subscribe
START A MAGAZINE
New Product
