City officials, dog lovers, and excited shoppers joined the brand-new crew of Petco last Saturday to celebrate the store’s grand opening in Merced with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The special moment not only brings more options for shoppers and increases the availability of specialized services for pets, but it also marks a major milestone along the way to a fully revitalized shopping center at the old Sears location of the former Merced Mall. Petco can be found at 3156 R St., near Olive.
Shortly after the ribbon cutting, the Times spoke with Amanda Haubrich, a Petco store manager, who happily shared her love and care for the company, saying, “I’ve been working for Petco for 8 years. It’s a really great job to have with the animals, and even more exciting to be in this town because I grew up here. It’s awesome to see the businesses over here growing, and I’m really excited to be a part of the community again.”
When asked about what she is most excited to offer the community, she said, “I’m really excited to actually partner with our adoption/rescue groups that are here in Merced. We’ve been having a lot of adoptions, and the animals are getting adopted the same day, which is awesome. And, being able to share our knowledge with the customers and help them with their needs.”
Notably, Haubrich went on to explain that Petco makes sure to partner and support local organization and pet resources. So, remarkably, when you make the generous decision to donate, the funds are staying here in the local community.
During opening day, one enthusiastic shopper, Jennifer Parsley, showed up with her well-known companion “Patrice” the dog, who can be found on Instagram at @patrice_thebluedaniff. While Patrice was busy sniffing around and didn’t have much to say, Parsley was glad to share some of her feelings about the new Petco.
“Obviously I’m a huge dog lover because I’m a dog mom — so, any place that we can take our dogs, and it’s something that’s actually for them, is fantastic,” Parsley said. “And with Petco, they have a lot of fantastic, high quality treats and products — which is what we’d like to get for our dogs. So this is probably going to be our new main store.”
She added, “It’s actually pretty nice because I think Merced is becoming a more pet friendly town and it’s really awesome to see. … We take our dogs everywhere, and this is just another fun place to bring her.”