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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Prospect Heights Pet Supply Shop Celebrates 30 Years in Business

 Lefty, the store dog at ACME Pet Food in Prospect Heights, greets customers from behind the counter of the 30-year-old pet supply store.
Lefty, the store dog at ACME Pet Food in Prospect Heights, greets customers from behind the counter of the 30-year-old pet supply store.
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DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A lot of things have changed on Vanderbilt Avenue since ACME Pet Foods opened there in 1985.

Rent, for one, has gone up from the $975-per-month owners Brian Conneally and Tommy Kurahara paid 30 years ago for their 900-square-foot store at 628 Vanderbilt Ave.

Many of their former workers — young people from the neighborhood who stocked shelves and kept the place clean — have moved out of the area with their families, they said. And a staple of the pet food business, Figaro Tuna, has mostly gone by the wayside.

But most obviously to the longtime pet experts — who are celebrating their three-decade business anniversary this weekend — is the major change in the kind of pets they now see in Prospect Heights.

“It was very seldom that you saw a small dog and, over here, not that many cats,” said Kurahara, standing amid his floor-to-ceiling stock of toys, treats, leashes and pet food. “It was mostly big dogs. If you didn’t have a big dog over here, you got robbed.”

ACME Pet Food co-owner Brian Conneally, left, helps a customer at his Vanderbilt Avenue store. Tommy Kurahara, right, stocks cat food at the 900-square-foot shop. The pair have run the pet supply business on Vanderbilt Avenue for 30 years. (Photo credit: DNAinfo/Rachel Holliday Smith)

Now, the Brooklyn natives still carry a few studded collars and some protective gear used for guard dogs, but they do more business with other products. Special orders for organic and raw pet food in particular have become more popular with customers in recent years, they said.

“They just wanted something special for their pet to spoil them,” Conneally said.

The co-owners are aiming to spoil their customers for their 30-year commemoration. All weekend from Nov. 20 to 22, the pair is giving a 10 percent discount on all food, litter and treats and 20 percent off accessories including pet beds, toys and leashes.

The resident store cats at ACME Pet Food, Sonny (right) and Louie (left), pose in the shop they call home.

They’ll also have product representatives on hand on all three days giving away freebies. The Weruva brand will stop by Friday; Primal is giving out samples of frozen and raw food on Saturday and on Sunday, Wellness Trufood will raffle off a six-month supply of cat or dog food to one lucky customer.

It took about three years for the pet supply store to become profitable when it first opened, the co-owners said. But business has been good since then, as evidenced by the half a dozen customers who came through ACME’s doors in a half hour on a drizzly weekday afternoon before the anniversary weekend.

But the pair remain thoroughly modest on that point.

The owners of ACME Pet Food pose in front of their Vanderbilt Avenue store on its opening 30 years ago. (Photo credit: Brian Conneally)

“We’re still trying to figure it out,” Kurahara joked.

“Yeah, the judgment is still out on that one,” Conneally added, laughing.

ACME Pet Food Inc. is located at 628 Vanderbilt Ave. in Prospect Heights. The 30th-anniversary weekend celebration begins on Nov. 20. For more information, visit the Facebook page