An Allentown specialty retailer is expanding and honing its
focus with a new store in Saucon Valley – with plans to add three to five or
even more locations.
Chaar, which has a 20,000-square-foot store on Airport Road
in East Allentown, specializes in pet supplies, equestrian products and
apparel.
A.J. ElChaar, vice president of marketing, said the store is
one of the largest brick-and-mortar retailers of cowboy boots in the
mid-Atlantic.
“But if you’re just looking to buy dog food … you want
something more convenient,” he said.
Convenience is the goal of the new store, which will be
branded Chaar Pet and located in a former Blockbuster Video store on Route 378.
It will concentrate specifically on food, accessories and grooming for dogs,
cats and small animals. ElChaar said it also may carry chicks, ducks and
wild-bird supplies because those are popular items at the original location.
ElChaar said the goal of the family owned store is to offer
an alternative to the large corporate pet stores that have been gradually
acquiring and taking over the smaller, locally owned pet stores.
“I think we’ll be different not just because we’re locally
owned, but because of the unique products we sell and in the way we do business
and our customer service,” ElChaar said. “We will carry different things. We
will do different things.”
ElChaar said the first location was chosen because that
section of Saucon Valley is underserved in the pet store market.
The new store won’t be the last, he said. The goal is to
open an additional three to five Chaar Pet stores in the Greater Lehigh Valley,
with the East Allentown store serving as the flagship location.
If the local expansion goes as planned, the ultimate goal is
to expand throughout the mid-Atlantic with similar flagship/satellite store models,
and maybe someday be a national chain.
Source: LVB.com
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