Picture a charming, old-fashioned little shop in a friendly commercial area, but the puppy in the window is no overbred puppy-farm progeny. This puppy is from a local animal shelter, as are all the other dogs and cats available at this Adoption Pet Shop. The Shop is a permanent retail location, open regular business hours, but is a not-for-profit satellite adoption center. It brings the animals to the people in a pleasant, convenient setting. Running the shop might be:
• an independent rescue group, or the Humane Society, which may or may not house the animals in the shop, depending on the space; or,
• a group that is working in coordination with the local municipal or county animal department, in which case the dogs are likely housed in the shelter.

Other places in the US that have successfully run such shops are:

• In Pacific Grove, CA, a rescue group called Animal Friends Rescue Project has a storefront adoption center in the main commercial street of the small downtown area, at 560 Lighthouse Ave. in Pacific Grove between Grand Ave. and Forest Ave. The Center is open daily, with adoptable cats are on site at all times, and five to ten adoptable dogs are on site daily, but housed in foster care or at a boarding facility.

• In LA, an organization called Sante D’Or has a storefront adoption center since 2007 at 3165 Los Feliz Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90039. http://www.santedor.org Their goal is to “bridge the gap between rescued animals and their potential adopters.” They have one large room, with a small front entry space for merchandise (t-shirts and tote-bags) and literature, and then a small back room. They have one paid staff member, an Executive Director, who runs the facility full-time, and otherwise staffed by volunteers. They house the dogs in the facility. They have had more than 1400 adoptions since opening, and average around 8-10/month.

• In Salt Lake City, Best Friends/No More Homeless Pets in Utah has run Furburbia, one of the first retail-style pet adoption stores (if not the first such store) in the country, in Cottonwood Mall since 2000. It was followed by another mall adoption center in Park City, and this year has, in collaboration with Salt Lake County Animal Services, opened another location in Trolley Square near downtown Salt Lake City. They expect to place 500 pets from the Salt Lake County shelter, and the animals are already spayed or neutered, microchipped and vaccinated before arriving in the store. The organization has produced a document with details on how to put together such an adoption outlet, called “Taking the Animals to the People: The Furburbia Story.” An excerpt follows:

(from the PDF “Taking the Animals to the People: the Furburbia Story”
How Furburbia Works

Management. Two paid staff, a manager and an assistant manager, who report to No More Homeless Pets in Utah, are in charge of making Furburbia run smoothly and scheduling the Rescue Partners.

Policies. With input from each of the Rescue Partners, the managers determine the policies for all areas, including adoptions, cleaning and sanitation, merchandise, vaccinations, and responsibilities. It is the responsibility of each Rescue Partner to make sure their staff and volunteers understand and adhere to these policies.

Scheduling. The manager is in charge of scheduling Rescue Partners and creating the monthly schedule based on the needs of the partners. Because weekends are the busiest times (and when most partners can come), they are the most sought-after time slot. Weekend times are divided equally among groups so that they usually have either one Saturday or one Sunday a month. Each Rescue Partner is required to have staff or volunteers onsite during their shifts to do adoptions and care for the animals. The Humane Society of Utah is one of several groups fortunate enough to have a paid staff member. Because they have paid staff, the Humane Society routinely brings animals on weekdays, when other volunteer Rescue Partners are unavailable. It is very important to have adoptable animals at Furburbia during business hours. Without the Humane Society of Utah and animal control agencies bringing animals during the week, Furburbia would not be able to operate seven days a week.

Hours. Furburbia is open seven days a week from noon to 7 pm, Monday.Saturday, and noon to 5 pm on Sunday.

Funding. In addition to Maddie.s Fund, Furburbia is funded through merchandising, donations, and a share of all adoption fees, all of which offset operating costs. Furburbia keeps $7 from each adoption fee.