CdM I Heart Puppies Store To Close
by Amy Senk, reposted from Corona del Mar Today
Read online here:
posted: February 24th, 2012 12:33 pm |11Comments
UPDATED with comment from store owner and from an animal rights activist who had investigated the store.
Eight months after its opening drew thousands of protesters to Corona del Mar, I Heart Puppies is closing its retail shop at 2801 East Coast Highway, according to a sign in the shop’s window.
“I Heart Puppies would like to thank the community of CdM for their kindness, generosity, and support. Sadly, we are closing our store front,” the sign states. “I Heart Puppies will continue to provide the same quality puppies for sale on our website, where we will be able to offer a larger variety of breeds. We take pride in offering puppies from our reputable breeders; we personally visit our breeders and their kennels and continue to monitor them to maintain the highest level off quality. We look forward to providing you with professional, quality one one one service in selecting your future puppy.”
The store opened on July 1 at 2801 East Coast Highway, selling $1,500 puppies, food and accessories; read our story here. But the shop soon drew scrutiny from animal rights activists, who said the owners bought their dogs from inhumane Midwestern puppy mills, and protesters began picketing the shop in August; read our story here. Protesters also attended several City Council meetings, asking that Newport Beach consider a ban on puppy sales, but Council did not respond to those requests.
The store’s owners, Brooke Bradford, Suzanne Bradford and Summer Gorjian, defended their puppies and said they visited the kennels and breeders personally and did not buy from puppy mills — although animal rights activists challenge their claim.
In an email today, Carole Raphaelle Davis, West Coast director of the Companion Animal Protection Society, said the store’s closure was not the “victory we hoped for.”
“We wanted IHP to thrive as a ‘rescue only’ store like so many other pet shops we have converted to the humane business model,” she said. “We investigated and exposed evidence of the horrific puppy mills they were buying from and then we staged the largest animal rights protests in NB history. No store selling factory-bred pets has ever been able to withstand our formula of investigations and protracted protests by local activists…They could have made money AND saved lives of OC homeless pets desperately in need of homes.”
She added that many protesters continue to hope that the Newport Beach City Council would ban the sale of puppy mill animals.
“The public loves dogs and hates puppy mills and it is time for an ordinance in Newport Beach,” she said.
Protests and pressure from animal rights groups were not the reason for closing the shop, but rather high overhead and economic factors, owner Suzanne Bradford said today in an email.
“We are closing our store front and just doing Internet sales, with our same quality puppies,” she said. “We are planning a breeder tour to visit our breeders and look for some larger breed breeders. We are revamping our website (iheartpuppiesca.com) will have videos of available puppies, parents, the breeder and their kennels.”
All puppies have been sold, she added.
A sign in the shop’s window says the final days will be Saturday and Sunday, when all merchandise will be 75 percent off. The shop was closed earlier today, and no puppies were in the cages in the window. The shop also has a Craigslist listing that says beds, toys, harnesses shampoo and other items will be discounted because the shop is closing.
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