ESTEVAN — The Estevan business community welcomed a new member this summer.
Kristen Grays, whose background is in the pet industry, opened the Toe Bean Co Pet Supplies store in mid-July at 410 Fifth Avenue (former Southern Bolt Supply location) and said it's been going well since then.
"I'm very happy with the turnout. Estevan is very supportive, especially for new small businesses. I'm very, very happy so far, and now that everyone's back from holidays, back to school, I'm hoping … business will pick up a bit," Grays said.
After eight years of working at Rodeo Dawg, Grays felt she was ready to make the next step in her career and opening a pet store was just a natural next step.
"[The pet industry] was what I knew. When I found myself looking for the next big adventure, it made sense to me to go my own direction and own store," Grays shared. "This is what I love to do, and I felt I had grown enough that it was a good time to go into business for myself."
She noted the process of switching from being an employee to becoming an employer was "fairly easy", as everything just seemed to fall into place.
"I decided in April this year that I was opening a store, and that's what I wanted to do. And by July the doors were open," Grays said. "I had a lot of connections in the industry previous to that … so for me, the process was very smooth … Even the building, I had looked at the Southern Bolt location, and I didn't even look anywhere else. I saw it, I fell in love with it, I just said what's meant to be is meant to be, and it happened. So here we are."
The Toe Bean Co name came to Grays one night, she said, inspired by the pet industry and some Tik-Tok videos. She liked the idea, and so far, the feedback has been positive as well.
Toe Bean Co store offers a wide variety of supplies for cats and dogs, and some for small animals. Raw food is going to be their next big one to come in, as it's been requested a lot.
"I'm also very passionate about selling Canadian-made foods. So, all of our house brands, dog and cat foods, are made in Canada. And we also do our frequent feeder programs on all of our foods, they are buy 12 get one free," Grays said.
She added they plan on growing their assortment as they move forward.
"We're growing all the time, and we're always up to bringing in something new," Grays said.
The store is also currently fostering a couple of the Estevan Humane Society's cats, which are up for adoption.
The grand opening is slated for Sept. 15 and the community is invited to come check out the store, support the Estevan Humane Society's taco-in-a-bag fundraiser on location, enjoy some in-store sales with 20 per cent off toys and treats and also benefit from the launch of the loyalty program.
"When people come and shop, they gain loyalty points that they can redeem at later dates for specific treats or toys or gift cards. So, that's coming up this week, as well," Grays said.
The grand opening lunch will take place at the store from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
