The greyhound has a long history of being incorporated into art, dating back 5,000 years in Western art.
Ashley Smiley’s pet greyhound, Cyrus, was the main inspiration for Dog House Cat, her new Richmond pet supply shop located at 5 W. Broad St. in the city’s arts district.
Smiley, 36, started shopping at independent pet shops because of him, and when it came time to open her own business, she had Cyrus in mind. “In a lot of ways, I try to honor the history of greyhounds and the current experience of a lot of dogs,” she says.
A Richmond native with an art history degree, Smiley explains that she wanted to avoid ‘sterile chain pet shops,’ so she designed Dog House Cat to be a modern space for people and pets to coexist in harmony. She researched pet stores in cities like Los Angeles and New York, where she saw a trend of stores being used for more than just pet food.
“I know that [Richmond] is a creative city, and I thought people [here] would appreciate having a store that was more of an experience for them and for their dogs,” Smiley says. “And cats. Can’t forget cats.”
After Smiley was laid off from her corporate job during COVID, she started working for an independent pet store where she’d buy her dog food. The owners of that store decided to retire and she saw it as an opportunity to open her own independent pet shop.
The Dog House Cat store opened in July. Between volunteering at kennels and obsessively flipping through Cat Fancy magazine, Smiley has always been passionate about animals; the store became an opportunity to make a career out of something she loves.
She says she has the support of her partner, her two greyhounds, kitten and three chickens.
“When we bring animals into our homes, we know that their lives are shorter than ours and going into it, we’re going to invest money and time and emotional resources. But we do it anyway,” Smiley points out. “Animals don’t ask to live with us … [but] we create these bonds, knowing that they’re going to be temporary. So I think that’s this uniquely human thing to do.”
Smiley also wants her store to change the stereotypical idea that boutique shops are only for one type of customer, or a certain income bracket.
“Everyone kind of deserves to have a shopping experience where the person they’re speaking to cares about them and their animals,” she adds.
The shop has educational resources for pet nutrition and behavior, as well as independent brands that one might not necessarily find at a big chain store.
So far, the community response to the store has been excellent, Smiley says. And she continues to encourage people to shop at small businesses, spread the word and come into the store.
Dog House Cat is located at 5 W. Broad St. For more information, visit the website. The shop’s hours are Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It closes every day for lunch from 2 to 3 p.m.
Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. She is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University graduating in December and a current intern at Style Weekly, while also leading VCU’s independent student newspaper The Commonwealth Times.
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