Roslindale residents join merchants to oppose Petco
![Lisa DiPietro of the Pet Cabaret in Roslindale](https://www.universalhub.com/files/styles/main_image/public/images/photos/petco-lisa.jpg?itok=FpdG7tJ6)
Pet Cabaret's Lisa DiPietro struck a defiant tone.
Roslindale residents joined with Roslindale Square merchants tonight to say they'll be damned if they're going to let a bunch of national chains turn their shopping area into a sterile Harvard Square.
In a crammed meeting room at the Roslindale Community Center, their immediate ire was focused on Petco Unleashed, which plans to move into the South Street space to be vacated by the JB Edwards uniform store when it moves to West Roxbury.
The room was packed:
![Crowd at anti-Petco meeting](http://www.universalhub.com/images/2014/petco-crowd.jpg)
City Councilor Tim McCarthy (Roslindale, Hyde Park and Mattapan) said he has no doubts that Petco would be followed by other national chains - imagine a small-sized CVS competing with Sullivan's or a "Home Depot Express" trying to do to Roslindale Hardware what the full-sized one in West Roxbury has failed to do.
Both McCarthy and Councilor Michelle Wu (at large) said they support a proposal by Roslindale Village Main Street, which called tonight's meeting, to develop a city ordinance that would let city officials limit the number of chain outlets in a neighborhood business district.
McCarthy said there may be no legal way to stop Petco - its proposed home is zoned for retail use - but that the city should be prepared for future chain incursions. A regional Petco official was invited to the meeting, but did not attend.
Steve Gag, president of RVMS, said a local real-estate agent has found two local merchants willing to rent the JB Edwards space.
Roslindale Hardware owner Joe Porteleki, who has survived the onslaught of both Home Depot and Lowe's, where Ashmont and NHD could not, said malls today are crumbling and retailers are looking to take advantage of 30 years of revitalization work by local merchants in such places as Roslindale Square by locally owned shops.
Porteleki said it's kind of outrageous given that national chains led to the near destruction of Roslindale Square 40 years ago by moving into the malls along Rte. 1 - and that now they are trying to glom onto the success of a neighborhood that managed to overcome that.
Several residents said the idea of the square's largely locally owned stores replaced by chains scares and angers them. They said they like that local stores are owned by local people, spend more of their money locally and provide a unique mix of offerings.
"You won't see 'Petco' on the back of a Little League jersey," McCarthy agreed.
Nearly 1,300 residents have signed Roslindale Village Main Street petitions against the proposed Petco Unleashed - a sharp contrast to the situation in Jamaica Plain, where residents largely supported a chain coffee shop on Centre Street opposed by the local merchants' association.
"We love it now and we want to keep it this way," Judy Coughlin, who moved to Roslindale some 30 years ago, said. "We don't want the Harvard Square-ization of Roslindale."
Ken Phillips said six years ago, he and his wife looked all over New England for a place to live on moving back to the US from Geneva. He said they chose Roslindale because of the farmer's market and the Arboretum - but especially because "it's a village in the city and that's really something special and unique."
Lisa DiPietro, a co-owner of the Pet Cabaret on Washington Street, refused to be cowed by the idea of a Petco down the street. "We are absolutely not afraid of a Petco opening," she said. "Not to be arrogant, but we know what we're doing." She said she's done some comparison shopping and found that Petco Unleashed prices are generally higher than what her store charges.
One resident did rise to support Petco. He said it's the only place that stocked the steps his elderly cat with hip problems could use to get up on his bed. Another resident noted there's a Petco in Dedham - just four miles down Washington Street.
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Comments
But
Where will the pets go?
In Performance At The Pet Cabaret?
Adorable
I watched the whole thing. Is there a contest where I can put in 25 words or less why I should get free tickets to the live show?
If this were jp and not
If this were jp and not roslindale it would have 73 snarky and unfunny comments
Errr ...
... "national chains led to the near destruction of Roslindale Square 40 years ago by ..." Really? I'm thinking it was a little more complicated than that.
I suppose there are certainly conversations to be had about big box retailers, and that there will undoubtedly be conversation about chain stores in general. Still, it seems like an unrealistic dichotomy with respect to quality of life anywhere in particular. Some of those 'locally owned' storefronts aren't hardly doing anything for neighborhoods.
I hope
Petco wins! These same folk wouldn't show up for a quality of life meeting for all Roslindale residents. It is good to have real issues to fight for in this world! Lol #beingwhiteornonminorityisgreat!
I disagree, TheGrovehaller. Here's why:
Petco is sort of the "WalMart" of the pet world, imho. Many of the pet products and toys are totally unsafe for pets, and, like WalMart, their products are often made in third-world countries, out of the cheapest materials, and in countries that really don't have their production techniques together, either. I've read a number of horror stories about people who've purchased toys, etc., for their pets, only to find that their pets have been seriously injured, or even killed by products that they'd purchased at Petco.
The people in Charlestown opposed a Petco, and they won. There's a Petco store within walking distance of where I live, and, as the owner of a 4.5 year old pet Congo African Grey, there's NO WAY that i'll ever purchase ANYTHING from Petco for Aziza!
Charlestown
There's a Petco Unleashed in Bunker Hill Plaza. Neighborhood has its problems, but that ain't one.
(There's also a small, non-chain pet store down the street.)
Yes, social equality/equity issues are important
And, yes, last night's attendees on average rated pretty high on the pale-o-meter when compared to Roslindale's overall demographics.
Still, of the three RVMS people running the meeting last night, one was Hispanic (co-owner of El Chavo, which is about as far from white bread as you're going to get). And one of the more impassioned pleas against chains came from another Hispanic business owner in the Square (the guy who own's Romano's).
I think this was a poorly
I think this was a poorly phrased reply.
You are defining diversity as Mexican-Americans who prepare food for European-Americans. That's like saying there was diversity in the antebellum South since there were Black folk on the plantations.
Roslindale is a quite a diverse community. We don't want to see a polarization where Hyde Park Ave and American Legion Highway are where the Latinos shop, and the Square is limited to upper middle class college educated Caucasians.
I think the original poster made a fair observation about the attendees. Hispanics are pet owners too. Where do they shop for their pet products?
Romano's, yes
But El Chavo is really more of a store for Mexicans to pick up stuff from home.
In any case, yes, you're right, the folks who live between the Square and Forest Hills were not really represented at the meeting. For that matter, neither was Archdale or Washington-Beech. My point was just to say the meeting was not quite as pale as Ivory soap. But as RVMS begins work on its proposed chain-limiting ordinance, it would be good to try to include them in the discussions.
Little League?
My kid's Parkway soccer team a few years back was sponsored by Burger King, but I guess technically McCarthy might be correct.
I'm glad to see people passionate about their neighborhood. It seems to be a very specific group of people at these meetings though, the folks who dine in the courtyard and not the folks who shop at Family Dollar, the people who eat at Fornax not at Las Palmas - i.e. middle class white people, roughly 1/2 the population of Roslindale.
Look at the list of towns which have this Formula Business Ordinace already - Carmel, CA, Nantucket, Port Townsend WA, Port Washington NY, Pacific Grove CA etc... these are largely affluent white towns - nothing like the diverse community we live in. Maybe this can work here and maybe it's worth all the fuss, but it feels like this energy could be better spend elsewhere.
agreed
I agree. I've been pretty silent on this thread today, especially after my comments yesterday. I read the article this morning and lets just say I feel that I wasn't far off base.
What gets me is, people are all up and arms about a Petco.... and yes I totally understand their viewpoint. But you know when we have things like Ferguson, homelessness, people losing their homes and jobs, but no one cares. Yet people come out in droves to protest against a Petco.
Like I said, and I'll say it again, I understand their viewpoints and why they don't want this. I just think energies like this could be spent far better than protesting a silly Petco. Especially when McCarthy said it all...
*shrug* What can you do then? Not much...
There's so much more I want to say because some of the comments are pretty funny but eh.. don't care today, and frankly my afternoon is about to fill up with meetings.
People with pets have ample reason to be up in arms,
People with pets, imho, have ample reason to be up in arms about a Petco store coming into their area. As a pet owner myself, if I lived in either Roslindale or Charlestown, or any other community in opposition to a Petco store coming to their area, I would've been at the meetings they had to oppose that. That being said, for a number of reasons that I've posted on another post, even though I don't live in either of those two communities, I tend to go along with the nay-sayers on this matter.
People with pets, imho, are directly affected, and it's something that would affect their communities directly if a Petco went in, so there's just as much reason to protest, imho.
If Petco is so bad
Pet owners shoudn't shop there. If the tide turns against them, they will go out of business. Someone will come along and do it better. That's how the free market works.
But let's say this is not about Petco coming to the Square. Let's just concede that this is to forever allow the pharmacy to be a monopoly in the Square by keeping CVS out. If current businesses are dong a good job, like the owners of Pet Cabaret claim (I'm not a pet owner, so I won't say either way), competition won't be a bother. Wapo Taco has withstood the rise of Romano's,so why worry about anyone else.
The Pet Cabaret does in fact
The Pet Cabaret does in fact do a great business and an amazing job. It's also a small business owned by women. They give their customers their full attention, time and knowledge. They give a lot to animals shelters as well.
I was at the meeting and it would have been great if a) even more people came, b) more ppl who were for it came so we could hear their views and c)the Petco ppl that supposedly care about the community bothered to show up. That shows you how much they do care.
I was also charmed by the fact that Petco was so happy about having the Muni lot to use.
Also, for the person that commented that all of the white ppl there only eat at Fornax, the Couryard and don't shop at family dollar I say to you that we eat at all the places in the area. Whether it is the Courtyard, Fornax, the Dominican and Hispanic restaurants and yes, I have also shopped at Family Dollar.
Large corporation stores do not care about you or the community. They just don't.
If an actual free market
If an actual free market existed, then sure. But we know that a company like Petco can simply undercut any local business price-wise in this location and absorb a loss for a period time to put those businesses out. We've seen this all over the country. It's not as simple as you're making it. Not to keep focusing on solely one business, but it doesn't mean a Pet Cabaret can't survive with Petco there - my guess is they would given their loyal customer base. But they'll take a hit at minimum I would imagine. Either way let's not pretend it's a level playing field.
I'm a pet owner--the owner of a Congo African Grey Parrot.
So that's why I am concerned. I've read/heard enough horror stories about people having purchased birds' toys from PetCo that were totally unsafe, without realizing it until their bird(s) either died or were seriously enough injured by such toys to require emergency veterinary care.
But you're pro PetCo?
I mean, the issue is chains in the Square, so the Roslindalers would theoretically be okay with a PetCo on American Legion Highway (and may secretly shop there.)
I have no love of PetCo, but I also have neither fear nor loathing of chains overall. Again, it is BS that this is about PetCo. This is CVS when Family Dollar decides to leave.
The trouble with a lot of these chains stores is that
for starters, they seem to be far more prevalent today than they were in the past. Also, far too many cities and towns these days have far too many of them located in their communities, and they seem to have pretty much taken the place of the (mostly) long-gone independent mom-and-pop businesses that used to populate so many communities.
Also, many (although certainly not all) chain stores have this sort of antiseptic look and quality about them that the independent mom-and-pop businesses of the past didn't seem to have. There was something much more rustic about these mom-amd-pop businesses that evoked a special charm that so many chain stores fail to elicit these days.
Here's a short history of the Square
Back in the 1970s, Family Dollar was a Kresge's, and across the street was a Brighams. Where Village Sushi is was a Cummings. Chains all of them. Oh, and part of Village Market was Rix, a pharmacy chain.
Chains aren't new. My wife remembers when Starbucks was a single location in Seattle.
You want indies, support them. My bet is that at least one place where you regularly conduct commerce is a multiple location business, aka a chain. My issue is the government deciding who can sell me things.
There are always going to be
There are always going to be huge problems in the world - that doesn't mean everyone should stop caring about smaller issues. Also, irony in using an online forum to tell people to channel their energy into a more productive direction?
I'm not
I'm not telling anyone to do anything. I'm just stating my opinion that's all. Isn't that the point of this website, to express your opinions?
It's silly to protest a pet store when so many other issues have a far greater reach than whether a Petco opens or not. Hell, next door in W Rox, they are protesting a gas pipeline. This is something to come out in droves for, not protesting a pet store IMHO.
And No I didn't say stop caring either about the small stuff. But its like voting.. general mid-term elections... crickets at the polls. Give away free iPads at BestBuy on Black Friday, the line would be down the block. Its all about people's misguided priorities.
Again all in my opinion folks.. take it with a grain of salt.
Petco Light?
Would this be a small Petco similar to what they have now in the South End? Does it go by a slightly different name? The Petco in the South End replaced a 7-Eleven so there wasn't much controversy over it (except by those who regretted losing the opportunity to buy ice cream late at night).
"...an ordinance to limit the number of chain stores in a neighborhood..."
WTFFFFFF
agreed again
agreed again..
This was one of the comments that made me laugh. Like this will ever see any fruition other than a lot of talk.
I also loved the "scared" comment. Big scary chain stores.. You may walk by and one may just eat you up and force you to buy something at a chain store... seriously?!?!?
Most ironic commenter
Was the real estate agent who had a whole tirade about the evil private equity firm that owned Petco.
I wonder if he refused to accept commissions paid for by BoA or Countywide issued mortgages. I suspect those evil corporations are just fine.
Nearly 1,3000 residents have
I don't suppose anyone actually checked those signatures with city residency lists. The idea that 1300 people in Roslindale give a shit about a pet store is laughable.
Typo fixed
Yes, 1,300 residents, not 13,000 (or 1,3000 as I wrote). But you don't think 1,300 out of roughly 30,000 residents is possible?
Petition Signatures
I have been tracking the signatures coming in through the on-line petition site (689) and the handwritten petition signatures (616) for a total of 1,305 signatures as of today (Wednesday, 12/3). I deleted 210 on-line signatures that were from out of the area (these signatures are not part of the 689). I have hard copies of all of the petitions and will be sending them to the Petco CEO within the next few days. We had about 15 people collecting signatures over four weeks and several stores had the petitions on their counters. 525 people forwarded the on-line petition through Facebook. You can see the on-line petition (and sign it if you would like) at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/239/625/249/petition-to-oppose-petco-from...
Failed On-Line Petition
The on-line petition is signed by people from all over the USA since the on-line medium has that impact. In fact if you go look at it, it even has people signing from foreign nations. I'd guess only a small percentage can be actually validated as being Roslindale-centric people. Maybe exchange students from the School of Modern Languages? I don't think so. That petition reads more like a referendum against Petco as a business and big box stores and corporate America in general.
The real story should be that RVMS has been skimming the on-line medium including neighborhood social media and even UH to see what people are bitching about and formulated their Q&A FAQ based greatly on that. Very effective use of the medium. Kudos. Big Brother (sister?) is watching indeed.
I still found many of the questions and the answers to be politically correct and equally as politically evasive. Their own on-line pin map shows about 9 stores vacant in Roslindale. Of that about 4-6 are real, yet they remain vacant. How long is too long for a store front to remain vacant because the "right fit" cannot be found? Vacancies leave the area without commerce, jobs, and business foot traffic. At what point does holding out for the right fit become detrimental to the cause and a negative to RVMS mission.
Many questions, no answers. Please save the evasive PC replies.
This is insane
Wow, thank God that business is owned by a white person because the community would not care otherwise. Example: the city council hearing on Uber. Literally a billion dollar, multi-national, Wall Street-backed corporation which the police made very clear was breaking the law has the "support" from the community when they're destroying the incomes if thousands of minority owned small businesses. Shame on this city!
Let's not get carried away with the cabs
Yes, there are a lot of minority cab drivers. The majority of medallions, however, are concentrated in, what, three or four companies?
There's some confusion
Nope. The radio associations don't correlate with the owner of the vehicle or medallion, except for Boston Cab Association. About 25% of Boston cabs are owner operated. The decal on the doors of the vehicle are put there by the radio association which gets paid a weekly fee by the owner of the vehicle to provide radio calls to whoever is driving the cab.
It's more complicated than I though.
Just walk me through the difference
Roslindale residents against Petco.
South End residents against Dunkin Donuts.
Different? Same?
Same in the abstract
But also different, since Dunks is a local cultural institution. We have two in Roslindale, what neighborhood wouldn't?
Dunkin
Also keep in mind that many chain restaurants are owned by local businessmen.
Dunkin Donuts is know for this. Very few are corporate stores. Most are franchises.
For example, the DiAeillo Group owns 10 dunkin donuts across boston. By definition its still a small business except it's a national chain. Do they still qualify as a small business since everything about it (except nameplate) is a local small biz?
This was one of my many points.. who decides what is 'small biz' and what is not? This is a grey area that can slide out of control very quickly.
Same is true for Domino's
And yet...
Which actually raises a point worth revisiting. I think the opposition to Domino's in the square made sense because it was a store not designed for walk-in business. The Domino's model doesn't work well in the square, and therefore would have prevented the sort of business that does from opening. I don't think the same argument can be made regarding Petco Unleashed.
Well put
My support for Dominos in the Square was more knee jerk reactionary thought, since the lack of parking is bad. As I note, I still walk the mile with some pies about once a month, though.
I can't say the same for Petco. There's the municipal lot right there, and it could bring some more foot traffic to the Square.
Where were the 1300 people a few years ago?
I wish those 1300 residents were signing a petition when a much larger chain store with over 8000 stores opened on Corinth Street several years ago! Every Monday the Family Dollar 18 wheel behemoth truck pulls up and blocks the sidewalk with their delivery ramp for 2-4 hours forcing pedestrians to walk out in the Street to pass by. The BTD posted sign says it is a loading zone Mondays only from 6am-12 noon with a 30 minute limit. The City has been notified of this safety issue dozens upon dozens of times and for some strange reason chooses not to enforce the issue. I guess its not a Pet Peeve of theirs!
Simple answer
Who was JAX's competitors? Who is Family Dollar's competitors? Whose business did they take away from?
My feeling is that this has more to do with protecting existing businesses than chain versus indies. Those who value indies greatly are pawns in this.
Did you have issues with JAX too?
I was not pleased when Family
I was not pleased when Family Dollar went in. Not because of who shops there (b/c I sometimes do as well) but because of what a shithole it is. Within the first month the paint on the front was peeling and they never did anything about it.
Part of the issue is that landlords aren't held accountable either. They can leave a store empty and decaying for decades and get a nice fat tax break.
It is what it is
Are you claiming that JAX was somehow cleaner?
Myself, I can't wait until CVS moves into the space. Oh, wait...