When I learned that our corner CVS and Ace Hardware didn’t prohibit customers from bringing their dogs along while shopping, I switched to these stores.
Now, instead of purchasing drugs and odds and ends from online sellers, as I had previously done, I patronize my neighborhood establishments.
If other outlets, like supermarkets or department stores, were to turn a blind eye or post a welcome pooches sign, I’d do the same maneuver. And I believe other dog owners would follow my lead. Consider the uptick in revenue for these local businesses.
While overall retail sales still surpass e-commerce, the rate of growth of each sector tells a different story: In 2020, retail sales rose 6.9%, while e-commerce rose 32.1%.
One charge against animals in the aisles is that they shouldn’t be anywhere near fresh fruit and vegetable bins. Protesters claim sanitation or disruption.
Has anyone watched a child zoom through the aisles grabbing cereal or juice boxes? What about adult customers, pawing peaches then rejecting and replacing them for the next person to peruse?
How about Macy’s? The department store chain has been closing stores across the country. My solution: Fire all the consultants and in their next promotion tout, “We love and welcome dogs!”
I contend that most dogs are better behaved than some children and adults. Dog owners who I know hold onto their dog with a fist curled and cemented to the leash. The pooch parents would never permit their pet to become unbound or be out of sight.
Consider distracted parents — you’ve seen them in many movies and TV shows where the child wanders off unnoticed. The mother is spinning around. She screams, Tommy! The store’s loudspeaker announces: A 6-year-old boy wearing a Disney T-shirt has been lost. Please bring him to the office.
Never have I seen a similar scenario for Bailey or Sadie.
I point to the pandemic with pairing people with their pups. You remember, shelters across the country were wiped clean of animals. If the populace were ordered to stay home, it would be better tolerated with animal companions.
When the general public is queried on their position in the debate, the results are about half and half. It’s not hard to figure out which part of the scale dog owners deepen.
Many folks, and perhaps even some dog owners, or my friends, would counter, what’s the big deal with leaving Doris alone for an hour or two?
Evidently, these questioners have never seen my dog award me an actual smile when she accompanies me to friends’ homes, the CVS, Ace Hardware or other places she feels welcome.
Certainly, Doris can stay alone. Our apartment will be as I had left it. Nothing will be out of place. She will be pasted to a pillow until she hears the front door open and my size 5 feet cross the threshold.
Then it’s a leap from her post and a rush to sniff and assure that I am the beloved person who has returned from who-knows-where and for who-knows-how-long. Contrast that with her relaxed glee when she’s with me out and about.
If bricks-and-mortar stores were to welcome pets it could be a challenge to online shopping. Corner stores, supermarkets and department chains have to think creatively to fight the advantages that shopping at home grants.
You likely enjoy the benefits of being able to shop around-the-clock, not worrying about driving, parking or public transit, saving time and avoiding crowds. A simple way to counter that: welcome dogs.
My 3-year-old rescue is not a service companion, but her presence reduces my anxiety as competently as my morning dose of Lexapro.
If I wanted to, I could register Doris as an emotional support animal. But I abstain from this action because my anxiety does not rise to the level that could justify the designation. Deriving comfort from Doris doesn’t entitle me to special treatment. Official ESAs are intended to aid those who suffer only from depression or anxiety’s most debilitating manifestation.
Would dog owners and their pets overwhelm establishments that are more hospitable to this twosome? I doubt it. Not everyone is like me, or others, who consider their dogs palliative, but not essential, pets.
In the mid-’40s, I remember Marshall Field’s announcing on the fourth floor of Chicago's State Street store, “Mothers can bring their children … and let them romp in a large playroom while they shop.”
Substitute “mothers” and “children” for customers and dogs, and watch revenues climb.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Elaine Soloway is a Chicago-based writer.
