Business & Tech
Woodbury Loses a Buddy: My Buddy’s Place Closes Doors, Goes Online
The store, located at the Valley Creek Mall, has closed.
Luanne Fogelson enjoyed giving her customers choices, but she recently had to make a choice of her own.
Fogelson made the decision to close her pet food and supply store, My Buddy’s Place, in Woodbury.
“It’s the end of the year, so you’re looking at taxes and wrapping stuff up and it just didn’t make sense to keep going,” Fogelson told Patch. “You’re running at 95 percent and you just need to sell a little bit more, but it just wasn’t happening.”
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My Buddy’s Place was located in the Valley Creek Mall in between Ace Hardware and Subway for nearly two years.
The pet store provided food and treats that were made in North America and carried a four- or five-star rating. It also served as a host site for an adoption day, once a month, put on by Twin Cities Pet Rescue and low-cost spaying and neutering, twice a month, performed by Minnesota Spay Neuter Assistance Program.
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Fogelson said the driving force behind opening her shop was to offer healthier food options and educate area pet owners, but she admitted getting the word out was tough.
“It’s getting it out there that’s the hardest part and then it’s changing habits,” said Fogelson. “If your habit is to pick up whatever food is at the local store. That’s just what you do. And so it’s getting people to change that to say it’s a separate store, it’s a separate errand, it’s a separate place to go. But it’s better food.”
After the holidays, Fogelson plans to revamp her website and possibly add a blog to support her new venture: an online version of My Buddy’s Place.
“If you login you can choose the food you want, pay for it online and then orders placed by Noon that day will be delivered that same day,” said Fogelson, who will be the one gathering and delivering the pet food.
And while Fogelson revealed that an online store would not be the same as the daily interaction she had with her customers and their pets, she is not ruling out the possibility of trying out the brick and mortar shop again one day.
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