The K9 Shop specializing in raw dog food opens new location in Massapequa
Anya Tucker co-owns The K9 Shop with her husband, selling raw food and supplements for dogs and cats. Credit: The K9 Shop
The loss of a pet spurred Anya Tucker and her husband, Robert, to open a doggy grocery store of sorts. After their English bulldog, Georgia, died at age 7 in 2016, due to several health issues, the couple embarked on a journey to better pet health.
They discussed the quality of pet food with neighbors, who began swapping their dogs’ kibble and wet food for raw diets — a balance of meat, bones and other ingredients tailored for dogs. Seeing what she says were positive results, the Tuckers opened The K9 Shop as a home business in 2017, selling raw meat pet food brands with human-grade meat out of a massive freezer in their garage in Bay Shore. When the Tuckers got two new dogs, Ginger, now 10, and Ember, 8, they were put on raw diets.
The Tuckers now have Massapequa and Bohemia stores and independent franchisee locations in East Northport, Lynbrook, Manorville and Greenville, South Carolina. In March, they moved their Massapequa operation to a new storefront. The shop is twice as big, allowing them to hold seminars and carry more brands of raw meat mixes, bones and treats like yak milk chews.
“Who would have thought that I was simply looking for better food for my dogs, and it would snowball into this,” says Tucker, who also works as an art teacher in Brooklyn. “It makes me feel good knowing that my work is benefiting the health of so many dogs and cats.”
The shops also carry raw food for cats, a growing segment of her business.
“Mother Nature provides what an animal is supposed to eat on its own,” Tucker says.
Tucker spends afternoons and weekends at her stores listening to customers’ descriptions of their pets’ ailments and recommending foods that might help.
Nutrition-wise, Tucker takes after her mother, who grinds her own meat instead of buying meat already ground so she knows what’s in her food.
“I always try to eat clean,” she says. “What changed was I wanted to feed my pets the same way we ate.”
The K9 Shop, 1073 N. Broadway, Massapequa, thek9shop.com, 516-400-3729
