Opening a new store in La Conner has truly been a pet project for Tracy McCain.
For the better part of a year, McCain planned transitioning from her career in software to opening La Conner Pets, a one-stop outlet for pet food and supplies, grooming services, and a variety of La Conner-themed pet toys and treats.
Local pet owners and channel fishers, for instance, will appreciate the ample stock of freeze-dried smelt at La Conner Pets.
McCain and Randy Ayers, whom she fondly refers to as the store’s all-purpose facilities director, opened the business — fittingly enough — on Feb. 20, National Love Your Pet Day.
The location is equally noteworthy. La Conner Pets occupies 2,500 square feet of the former Key Bank branch office on East Morris near the roundabout.
“There’s still a vault,” McCain said. “We’re talking with our neighbor, Scott Price of Edward Jones, about it. They’d like to have the vault.”
Still, McCain and Ayers, motivated as much by service as profit, are banking on the local market to support their unique undertaking.
“I was sitting by the front window at La Conner Brewery one day,” explained McCain, a resident here for nearly a decade, “and saw all kinds of people walk by with dogs on leashes. That, plus seeing all the social media posts of people with their cats, convinced me that a pet store could work in La Conner.”
Ayers alluded to the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on the rising numbers of pet owners here and elsewhere.
“Quite a few people got dogs during the pandemic,” Ayers said.
The freeze-dried smelt, which McCain said helps answer the oft-asked question of what happened to the small, silvery fish that used to draw countless jiggers to Swinomish Channel, is just one of many special features at La Conner Pets.
At the drive-through window, the old bank service bell serves to alert McCain and Ayers that a customer has pulled up for a “pup cup.” The pup cups are whipped cream given to motorists with pooches riding shotgun.
La Conner Pets also offers pet owners a way to immortalize their furry friends at the store’s self-serve pet photography studio.
Then, there’s the La Conner Pets “Supper Club” delivery rig. It’s not just any vehicle, either. Deliveries of pet meals to Supper Club members are made in a striking 1998 Daihatsu Midget II, which can be seen stationed in front of the store when it’s not out on a delivery.
“It just popped up on Facebook Marketplace last year,” McCain said of the rare Japanese-made microvan. “My marketing instinct said he was worth the dollars to be the mobile ambassador for a local pet store.”
She and Ayers have dubbed the vehicle “Boop” because the spare tire on the front looks a lot like a dog’s nose.
The store is designed to be very pet friendly, McCain and Ayers said.
“We encourage people to bring their dogs in on leashes,” McCain said. “In fact, we’ve already had our first pee on the floor. We’re having a lot of firsts this week.”
La Conner Pets is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. An official Grand Opening ceremony is scheduled for April 5 following the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival on First Street.
