a long long time ago in a galaxy far far far away.........

i got a dog, baby roo! at the magic pet shop. i distinctly remember going in there and buying her (i told my parents someone gave her to me and we couldn't abandon her). it was SO long ago, it was before the current owners were there


to this day, i still do an impression of the man sitting there talking to his bird (who most likely WAS NOT the bird in the photo) and saying GIVE ME A LITTLE KISS JOE JOE


i miss you baby roo


(i'd NEVER go to a pet store these days. i'd of course rescue a dog or a cat from a center)

Magic Pet Shop Closing After 50 Years, Ziggy The Parrot Jobless

 

By JANICE PODSADA, jpodsada@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Ziggy, a raucous tenor who's been serenading customers at the Magic Pet Shop for 20 years, is about to be out of a job.

The shop's owners Edward and Ellie Kinsella are closing the 50-year-old pet store at the end of the month, which means that Ziggy, a yellow-fronted Amazon parrot, will have to practice his wolf whistles and pop tunes including "Rolling in the Deep" elsewhere.
"Everything is for sale," said Edward Kinsella, 66, who put up a dozen handmade signs in Newington and Wethersfield to announce the store's closing.

A combination of the economic downturn and competition from big-box pet stores made the Kinsellas and their daughter Jen Lowy, 30, who works at the shop, decide to close the business.

"If it had only been one of the two, we could have survived," said Lowy. A year ago, in an effort to diversify, Lowy added fresh flower arrangements to the pet store's offerings. But it wasn't enough...........