If you’re like me, you probably cringe when you see cats for sale at pet shops. But there’s one pet shop where you don’t have to feel bad if you want to take a cat home.
Found Animals Foundation opened Adopt & Shop, a combination retail pet supply store and showcase for animals in need of families, at the Lakewood Mall in Lakewood, California, just over a year ago. Since then, more than 800 animals have found their forever homes.
Adopt & Shop carries everything a pet caretaker could need including food, leashes, toys, flea control products, litterboxes, collars, and tags.
The animals at Adopt & Shop are brought directly from the Southeast Area Animal Control shelter, whose goal is to reduce shelter euthanasia through this program and retail outlet.
Adopt & Shop’s reviews on Yelp are universally positive. Anne B. wrote, “I love Adopt & Shop, and I love the concept of it. Sure, it’s a pet store; but instead of selling puppies and kitties from mills or breeders, they’re adopting out homeless animals from Downey’s SEACCA shelter! I definitely recommend adopting from here.”
Because the store is in a mall, I’m sure thousands of retail-hypnotized shoppers stop in every day and check out not just the merchandise but the sweet cats (and dogs) up for adoption.
With that kind of foot traffic, you can’t help but get a huge bump in adoption numbers.
In fact, the outlet has been so successful that Found Animals Foundation is planning to open two more stores in other California malls this year.
