Business Profile: Cold Spring Pet Supply, Cold Spring
DAVID PROPPER PHOTO
Instead of tracking down a new pet store to buy all their pet items, Jamie and Ray Martinez decided to open up their own place instead.
Before the Martinez couple opened Cold Spring Pet Supply, they used to go to the same location to buy all their pet needs. But with Reigning Cats and Dogs II closing on Main Street, the couple was unsure where they could go outside the village to buy food and toys for their pets. That’s when they made a “spur of the moment decision,” as Jamie describes it, to keep a pet shop in Cold Spring.
“My husband and I just decided it’d be something fun to do,” Jamie said, noting they discussed it for only a couple of weeks before reaching a final verdict.
After some renovations and tinkering, the shop opened about a month ago, allowing residents in the area to continue to come to the same location under a different name and ownership. Though some pet goods were kept as holdovers like food and treats, Jamie said they did purchase a fair amount of new inventory and hopes to incorporate more locally made items.
Food and treats are the two items most regular customers buy, but the store also strives to be a one-stop shop offering toys, collars, beds, crates, bowls, shampoos, and clothes. Soon, the shop might be getting kittens for the display windows.
There is a grand opening this Friday starting at 6 p.m. and refreshments will be served.
“We really do, even though we’re obviously not as large as something like a PetSmart, try to offer what people really need,” Jamie said.
The Garrison residents moved from Atlanta almost a year ago and this is the first time they are owning a business. With Ray having an accounting background and Jamie an animal rescue background, the two have a perfect mix moving forward.
“I guess we do have experiences that are helpful for this,” Jamie, the owner of one dog and two cats, said.
In Atlanta, Jamie worked as an adoption/recue coordinator and then when they moved to New York, she started working at Mid-Hudson Animal Aid in Beacon as a shelter manager.
After the couple got their first dog, Jamie was motivated to volunteer with animal based programs before getting a paid position at one organization.
Jamie admits the fact that transitioning from one owner to the next in the same line of business made it doable for the couple, rather than starting a new business from scratch. Cold Spring Pet Supply already had a client base before it even opened the doors.
“There’s nothing else that’s in Philipstown,” Jamie said.
