Freeport’s Meadows Mall is about to become home to another new business.
Pet Supplies Plus will be the third brand new store to open in the newly remodeled mall in the past year.
“Meadows is getting a face-lift and coming back to life,” said Matt Fischer, regional operations leader for Pet Supplies Plus. “We want to be part of the return to life. Sounds like a good opportunity.”
Pet Supplies Plus will open for a soft opening on October 13 and hold their grand opening on October 28.
“I’m really excited to see how it’s done,” said Nicole Stewart, the store team leader at Freeport. “We don’t have pet stores here. Everyone has pets around, and now they don’t have to go to Rockford.”
More: The Meadows in Freeport will be home to new brand name stores after an $11M investment
Pet Supplies Plus offers supplies for common household pets as well as a dog park, self-service dog washing station, small animal adoptions, and grooming services provided. of Muddy Paws.
“They’ll groom whatever you bring them, so we’ll see an iguana that needs a nail trim every now and then,” Fischer said.
Pet Supplies Plus purchased Muddy Paws about a year ago to complement the pet store. Since the purchase, Muddy Paws, soon to rebrand as Pet Supplies Plus, has expanded their business to include two more full-time groomers and will be adding a third in a few weeks.
“Because the growth is there, we want to help that growth continue,” Fischer said. “When they have a pet store attached, they’re going to put out more.”
Pet Supplies Plus is now hiring sales associates and four shift leads who want to reach out to their neighbors about their pets.
So far, over 100 people have applied in less than a week.
“The challenge of all retail right now is the staffing piece which I don’t care about at this point,” Fischer said. “The number of applications just tells you how excited the community is. So we have high expectations for this store.”
Prior to working at Pet Supplies Plus, Stewart worked for 20 years at McDonalds where he started as a crew member and worked his way up to Assistant General Manager.
Stewart is excited to move from fast food to retail. “It’s uncharted territory and I have a lot to learn, but I think I’ve got it pretty good and it can only go up from here.”
Stewart, a pet lover who owns two dogs, hopes October will be busy and give people a positive first impression of her store.
“There was a lot of buzz around town,” Fischer said. “You can feel it even though I’ve only been in town a little bit, so we’re excited to open the store.”
Pet Supplies Plus is open 9 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday and 9 am to 7 pm Sunday. Grooming appointments can be booked on the Muddy Paw website.
Jena Kleindl is a freelance writer.
