Global Pet Foods NB To Open Flagship Store In New Rothesay Plaza
SAINT JOHN — Global Pet Foods will be the anchor tenant in a new, $3 million commercial space being built at 82 Hampton Road in Rothesay.
The store, located at the new Rothesay Plaza, will open in March 2023, to be closer to their Rothesay and Quispamsis customers who currently have to make the trip to Saint John. The building itself is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“It’s going to be one of the biggest Global Pet Food stores in the country,” says store owner and Rothesay Plaza developer Kieran Kelly. “It will be a flagship store, and will have 20 freezers filled with a wide variety of frozen raw food.”
At nearly 6,050 square feet, it will be bigger than the current Saint John East location off McAllister Drive, which clocks in at 5,800 square feet.
That leaves 4,000 additional square feet available for lease in the rest of the plaza.
“There’s been interest,” says commercial sales and leasing representative for Colliers East, Christine Stanley, noting that she anticipates two to three additional tenants will be in the building. There are ongoing negotiations regarding some of the additional space available, but nothing is “set in stone” yet.
Kieran Kelly is picking up the new business with some advice and guidance from his father Jeff, who has been the owner of the Global Pet Foods New Brunswick franchise since 2011.
Global Pet Foods New Brunswick has nine locations across the province: three in Fredericton; one in Miramichi; one each in Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe; and Saint John East and West locations.
“Obviously, I love pets,” says Jeff Kelly of his venture into the business. “We had a friend who said it was a great business to be in. So we looked into it, and we thought it would be a great family business.”
With Kieran and sister Alison now taking the helm at the new Rothesay location, it is a family affair. But it’s also turned into a new opportunity to try their hands and commercial development.
Alison Kelly says the Rothesay store will have a unique natural frozen market featuring 20 freezer doors filled with a wide variety of Raw frozen foods.
Kieran Kieran notes “the thing that makes the biggest difference in our stores is our incredible staff who are so knowledgeable and passionate. They truly are there to find what’s best for the pets you love.”
He says the family had been looking for a site in the Rothesay area to develop for five years.
“The town of Rothesay has been really great to work with and they’ve given us some good ideas about how to improve the project,” he says, citing suggestions about the parking lot and the building entrances.
One of the major issues they wanted to be addressed in their own build was the ability for customers and suppliers to move goods into and out of the store with ease.
Stanley says bringing amenities like Global Pet Foods into bedroom communities like Rothesay is important.
“I live here and I have to travel into town for various reasons,” says Stanley, a Rothesay native. “Anything we can do to alleviate the need for us to go into town, saving driving time, fuel costs, emissions, I think all of it just increases the quality of life and attracts more people to the area.”
She says the development is expanding the already bustling commercial area along Hampton Road, further south towards the high school. A good location for a new development especially for newbies like the Kellys who have not developed a commercial building like this before.
“It also brings new jobs to the area, which is great!” she says.
In fact, Global Pet Foods is looking to fill a number of key positions in the new store, right now.
Stanley says she’s excited to work on this project with Jeff Kelly, who she knew from his days as the owner of Sounds Fantastic in Moncton. “I’ll do my best to get some good folks in there for him,” she jokes
Alex Graham is a Huddle reporter based in Saint John. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
