SHANNON KELLY
Perspectives Editor
ANELA HOLCK/Photo Editor
It’s glitz, glam and good times at the Malibu hot spot where celebrities and locals come together to shop and check-out the latest trends.
Fur-lined leather coats, Von Dutch jerseys, pricey jewel-studded chokers and plush blankets fill the shelves and top-of-the-line handbags in every shape and size run on the high end at anywhere from $150 to $300. Trendsetters say they’re the latest craze in Hollywood, but you won’t catch Malibu’s pop princesses or super studs sporting these trendy accessories.
Instead, they purchase them for their pets at Pet Headquarters.
Gourmet pastries and cookies in a variety of flavors are the perfect treat. Ribbons, bows and studded hair clips, made to fit every dog’s taste are on display throughout the hair-care aisle. With so much variety and style, there is something for every dog.
This distinctive boutique caters to even the most high-maintenance canines with high-end salon products such as “John Paul” shampoo by famed hairstylist, Paul Mitchell set at $20 a bottle.
But at Malibu’s pet shop, price tags are irrelevant because most people don’t shop to buy. Regulars, who come with their friends or kids to catch up on some puppy-love, know that the store’s true appeal lies in the opportunity to spend time with one of the many puppies that warm the store’s atmosphere.
“Most people come in here just to see the dogs and play with them,” said employee Ben Ralston. “Those puppies never spend more than an hour in their pins.”
Students Melia Smith, Jubilee Stevens, Jonathon Stevens and Matt Gula are examples of the many Pepperdine visitors who keep the puppies company.
Second-year graduate student Matt Gula, who owns a yellow lab at home in Massachusetts visits once a week to play with a pup.
“I appreciate how nice the employees are at the pet store and that they are open to playing with the puppies,” Gula said. “This is how I get my fix.”
Gula added that it’s probably a good thing students aren’t allowed to have animals on campus or else he would have to buy one.
Junior Melia Smith baby-sits sisters Natalie, 10, and Sabrina Parra, 13, who visit the pet-store almost every day. Though they have two dogs, they would love to add one of the store’s Chihuaha pups, which they have named “Pluto,” to their pack.
Sophomore Jubilee and senior Jonathon Stevens, brother and sister at Seaver visit the pet store almost every day. They said they miss their Rat Terrier at home.
Wednesdays are the store’s busy days.
“Since we get new puppies every Wednesday, it usually gets pretty crowded in here that day,” Ralston said.
Eight new dogs, including a Pug, a Scottish Terrier and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever arrived at the store Jan. 18 but it was the 10-week-old bull dog that caught one little boy’s eye. A store employee picked up the puppy and carried him straight past the expensive doggy jackets and over to one of the play pens at the back of the store.
There, the little boy delighted in some one-on-one time with his dream dog. The pudgy pup’s skin wrinkled around her face when the boy struggled to hold her in his lap, but she licked his cheek anyways and seemed comfortable despite hanging half-way out of his arms.
“People always worry about the puppies not finding homes,” Ralston said. “We never have a problem with that though. These dogs always sell, and the one time I can think of when a dog didn’t sell, someone that works here bought him.”
Pet Headquarters doesn’t stop at pups. Bunnies, parakeets, guinea pigs and kittens add to the excitement and intrigue of this charming shop.
At the front of the store, two friends took turns holding a fuzzy, light brown kitten who instantly stole their hearts. Together, the girls picked out a simple blue collar and then left the store with their new pet.
After their visits, most pet-store patrons walked out the doors without high-priced doggy shampoo and costly canine attire. Still, they left smiling.
02-02-2006
