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Petz Unleashed focused on family, reptiles & all-natural products
College students love to have pets. Some of them are quite interesting.Locally owned Petz Unleashed is a full-line pet store specializing in reptiles and all-natural products.Since first opening on South College Street in 2010, the store has been owned and operated by the Halls, a family native to Auburn.Stacey Hall, current owner of Petz Unleashed, has maintained the exotic shop along with her husband, Kyle, and their four children for the past two years. The couple plans to continue running the store until their oldest daughter, Heather, takes over within the next year.“I’ve been involved with the store ever since we opened,” said Heather Hall, age 20. “I enjoy being here and working with the animals. I definitely have the desire to run it.” Snakes, geckos, iguanas, fish, rabbits and spiders are just a few of the many critters for sale at Petz Unleashed, and the store receives new animals about once a week.Though known for specializing in reptiles, Heather said the most commonly purchased animals are the rabbits.“Once we had three rabbits jump out of the corral at the same time. Me, my dad and three customers had to chase them around the store before we could catch them,” Heather said. “The other rabbits were standing on top of their hides watching us the entire time.”The majority of the animals in Petz Unleashed are from private breeders, but Heather said they will adopt or rescue any animals excluding cats and dogs.However, not every creature is for sale. Many of the animals that come into the Hall’s shop become part of the family, or a store mascot. Rose, a female bearded dragon, is one of those special family members.“Rose was in the previous store, Tiger Pets, and was already 4-years-old,” Heather said. “I fell in love with her sweet personality, and she came home with us soon after. When we opened Petz Unleashed, she became one of our mascots.”Approximately 60-70 percent of their customers are college students, Heather said, and other than Petz Unleashed, the only other pet store in the Auburn-Opelika area is Petco in Tigertown.“We carry what we believe in, including natural dog and cat food, certain brands of small animal food and other things,” Heather said. “Most of the animals are handled on a daily basis so they are accustomed to being around people,” Heather said.“Being a small business, we can have personal relationships with our customers,” Heather said, “Though, there are drawbacks. One of them is that we can’t have a lot of items in stock, but can special order for people."Petz Unleashed is open Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.For more information, visit the Petz Unleashed Auburn Facebook page or call the store at 334-444-3281. Interested in attending Auburn University? Please visit the Future Students page. Also, consider visiting Auburn for a Tour. We want you to join the Auburn Family … so Apply Now. See More