Kent native enterprise Hutch Pet Store closes after 50 years in operation
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Patrick Flaningan’s love of animals began early.
“I had been protecting fish since I used to be like seven-and-a-half,” Patrick mentioned. “I used to be an early member of the Cleveland Aquarium Society means again when.”
He figures he was the youngest particular person there, but it surely was nonetheless a welcoming group.
“They had been sort of fascinated at my fascination with fish,” he mentioned.
Patrick and his spouse, Danita, personal Hutch Pet Store. On Sept. 15 they will shutter the Kent pet store that for therefore lengthy has offered prospects their animal companions.
They’re providing a lot of gross sales as they shut the shop, together with a purchase one at full value, get one for a penny sale on tropical fish. Among the show aquariums can be found at a steep low cost as effectively.
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To start with, they ran the enterprise out of a constructing at 149 S. Water St. for 9 months earlier than buying the storefront on 103 Lake St. that they are at now. The Flaningans are celebrating their fiftieth marriage ceremony anniversary subsequent February, and Patrick mentioned it is time for them to maneuver on to the subsequent part of their lives. They’ve some journey plans to kick off their retirement.
“We will a marriage on the West Coast,” mentioned Patrick. “It is going to be in later seasons, proper on the sting of winter.”
Offering pets to folks for half a century has been great, in line with Danita. It is a sentiment her husband echoes.
“It is enjoyable to look at the folks are available and decide up kittens,” Danita mentioned.
Patrick mentioned he is loved beginning kids out with fish, serving to them to study and develop their pastime.
How Hutch’s kitchen adoption program received began
Kittens have been a spotlight of Hutch’s that each Danita and Patrick get pleasure from.
By Patrick’s recollection, 28 or 29 years in the past they began working with the Graham Highway Animal Hospital to facilitate a kitten adoption program. He and Danita had been out getting provides in Cleveland when Danita noticed a kitten chasing a dump truck up a driveway. Patrick knew that the little animal would not make it lengthy by itself.
“So she received out of the automotive and grabbed it up, introduced it down, and put it in our retailer to get it adopted,” Patrick mentioned.
Simply previous the entrance desk are a lot of cages with kittens inside. A small white kitten was clinging to its cage, utilizing the grating to climb up in direction of the highest of the enclosure, intent to flee. They’re the final group that Hutch’s will undertake out to loving houses, and virtually all of them are already spoken for.
The previous 50 years have generally been troublesome, Patrick mentioned, mingling heartbreak with pleasure. Generally, although nobody’s fault, an animal simply is not destined to dwell very lengthy.
“The die is solid earlier than you ever get the animal,” Patrick mentioned.
The flip facet is that he and Danita get to listen to tales from prospects about how a lot they look after and luxuriate in their pets.
What’s taking place to the Hutch Pet Store location in Kent?
Although Hutch Pet Store is closing, the constructing can be repurposed and the Flaningans will retain possession. Patrick, who has a ardour for watercolor portray, mentioned he’ll offer courses to these concerned with studying the artwork.
“I am most likely additionally going to show younger folks,” Patrick mentioned. He is undecided but what the precise format or curriculum can be, however there’s a need for his companies.
“I do know a number of dad and mom have spoken to me,” he mentioned “One simply the opposite night time, she mentioned, my daughter’s 13 and she or he actually desires to learn to paint watercolor.”
When the brand new endeavor will get underway, nonetheless, depends on what they will do with the area. He and Danita are nonetheless within the throes of cleansing out the shop, whisking away the final remnants of a 50-year profession.
Along with lacking the kittens they so usually get to look after, Danita mentioned she’s going to overlook a few of their longtime prospects.
“We’re seeing people who got here as kids come as grandparents with their grandparents,” Danita mentioned. “A number of the children that went to high school right here cease again in as soon as in awhile.”
Each the Flaningans lament the dearth of small pet outlets within the space. The large field pet shops, Danita mentioned, usually do not have the sort of information that she and her husband have accrued. Patrick mentioned he hopes his regulars are capable of finding somebody to fill the hole left by his retailer’s closing.
“Now we have received particular people who I’ve handed out my [business card] to, however ultimately the primary quantity can be shut off,” he mentioned.
There’s one story that Patrick tells that is demonstrative of his clientele’s fondness for Hutch Pet Store.
One couple purchased a kitten from him once they had been going to high school at Kent State. Ultimately they graduated, received married,and moved to Columbus. Their cat, Patrick mentioned, lived an extended life — 17 years — with them however sadly handed away.
“They got here into the shop and mentioned, ‘Properly, we’re in for a brand new kitten’,” Patrick mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘They haven’t any in Columbus?’ And her quote was, ‘They’ve cats in Columbus, we’re in search of a kitten.'”
Contact Reporter Derek Kreider at [email protected]