A Chicago couple, one an electrical engineer, the other a nephrologist, turned a lifelong love of animals into one of La Grange’s newest businesses.
Ame and April Kennedy launched a Pet Supplies Plus franchise at 15 N. La Grange Road, with a soft opening in March and a formal grand opening on April 30.
The store is the presenting sponsor for the 2023 La Grange Pet Parade, the iconic event that began in 1947.
Pet Supplies Plus is a Michigan-based company with 640 stores in 41 states, making it one of the top pet supply companies in the country.
“We have everything for any kind of pet you have,” said April Kennedy, showing off the space that was once home to Pier 1 Imports.
The store also partners with CatNap from the Heart, a La Grange Park nonprofit that cares for abandoned cats and helps place them with adoptive families. Several cats available for adoption are displayed near the front entrance.
A tour of the store revealed shelves full of pet food, pet accessories, pet toys, pet shelters, aviaries, aquariums and habitats for small animals. creatures like rabbits.
Dog food is particularly plentiful. The store stocks food for both small and large pets as well as bird shelters, dog collars and litter boxes.
Live pets, including ferrets, guinea pigs, several snakes and reptiles, sit alongside parakeets, crickets and mealworms. Ame Kennedy recently made an emergency run to get crickets, because they were in short supply.
“Crickets sell big for people who have lizards,” April explains.
Ame said the lizard is a popular pet.
“There are many people in this area who own bearded dragons and leopard geckos,” he said. “That’s their main diet.”
But dog food is the store’s biggest seller, he said, with three aisles of dog food and more than 100 brands.
Kennedy said the pet food industry is changing a lot, with manufacturers making dog food specifically for pets with sensitive stomachs, weight problems and allergies.
The Kennedys, both from the south suburbs of Chicago, told how they were high school sweethearts, although they attended separate schools.
April lived in University Park and attended Crete-Monee High School, while Ame was raised in Chicago Heights and attended Bloom High School.
They met, started dating and attended prom together before graduating and heading off to college, April to New Orleans and Ame to Southern Illinois University.
But his love for animals was not lost on him.
“I always liked pets, anything like horses, dogs, cats,” she said.
He wanted to be a veterinarian when he was younger, but he said when he got older he decided he wanted to be “a human doctor.” He attended medical school at the University of Chicago, and practices nephrology at Olympia Fields and on Chicago’s South Side.
“The first pet I ever had was dogs, we’re a dog family,” April said. “I know Ame is a cat family.”
But even as they progressed and prospered in their careers, the Kennedys both had a desire to own their own business.
“We both want to be entrepreneurs,” April said, “and we’re looking at businesses in the pet industry.”
They spent about 18 months researching the best fit, and say they decided on Pet Supplies Plus because it’s not a small, exclusive boutique operation, but also not so big that it has a big-box, impersonal feel.
April said the store is off to a good start, hiring its 15 employees mostly from the La Grange area, and said they will likely hire more staff.
For more information about the Pet Supplies Plus store in La Grange, go to petsuppliesplus.com
