The Animal House is a family-owned business from the Damariscotta area that has now wagged its way onto Westbrook’s Main Street. The store is positioned as a holistic destination for pet lovers with only natural products and free nutritional consultations. I caught-up with the pet store owner and founder, Aubrey Martin, in her new Westbrook digs and got a closer look into what The Animal House is really all about.
Early Beginnings
The Animal House was born in 2005 as a small family business on the ground floor of Aubrey and Dan Martin’s quaint 18th century house in Newcastle, Maine. Aubrey and Dan, had been living in Portland, Oregon but decided to move back to small town Maine and settle into a slower pace of life closer to family. For Aubrey, opening a pet store seemed like a natural next step having been involved in the pet industry since she was a teenager. In addition, it allowed her and Dan to realize their dream of working together. Aubrey’s retail and pet industry experience, backed by Dan’s marketing and technical web expertise seemed like a perfect pairing for an entrepreneurial start-up.
Aubrey with furry friend Keeper. Courtesy Photo: of Becky and Mark Osborn.
When the couple arrived in Newcastle, the surrounding area had limited pet supply options, which consisted of big box hardware stores with basic pet sections. Aubrey wanted to offer the community a pet store with a healthy product range and this was well received by the locals in this “crunchy granola area” where the only other options had been online.
This little family pet business has grown steadily from it’s small cottage beginnings to a 4000 square foot full service store on nearby Main St, Damariscotta, with a loyal community following.
“Our customers are insanely loyal…they are my family, I pretty much know everyone who walks through the door,” said Aubrey.
A Family Affair
Aubrey and Dan’s own family has expanded since they drove from Oregon to Maine with their first fur-kid, Sadie, an aussie shepherd, beagle mix. In Aubrey’s mind, the Martins have six children counting their 3 fur-kids. Sadie was joined by Loki, a border collie/beagle mix, who at 20 pounds “is a little spitfire” and Buddha, who is a sweet-natured bluetick coonhound/Rottweiler rescue.
The Martin Family – The Animal House is a family love affair.
On the two-legged front, Atharv who is now eight was adopted from India at three and a half years of age and joined the Martin family 3 months after Aubrey gave birth to her son, Ryan. Annie, their daughter, is the youngest at 15 months. Aubrey is an active supporter of the March of Dimes having sadly lost her first-born son prematurely. Aubrey needed to be on a seven-month maternity bed rest for her pregnancies with Ryan and Annie. She attributes her ability to take this essential maternity leave to her husband, well-trained and dedicated staff, loyal customers and the autonomy of having her own business.
New Pet Store in Westbrook
The Animal House – 11 Main Street, Westbrook – next to US Cellular at Westbrook Crossing/Kohl’s Plaza | Hours: Monday – Saturday – 9am to 8pm and Sundays 10am to 4pm | 207-887-9638
Humphry the pup and Dante hanging at The Animal House in Westbrook. “When I grow up I want to be just like you.”
With the 10 year anniversary for The Animal House approaching, it seemed like a good time for further expansion. Aubrey was looking to grow her business, generate more income and independence. Whilst Dan is still involved behind the scenes of the family business, he is now working full-time as a web developer at Geiger in Lewiston. The new Main St store front, which opened on November 15th, is not as large as the Damariscotta mother store but its 2600 square foot paw-print allows for a diverse range of high-quality natural products. The focus is on foods, supplements and remedies for ailments but they also stock a broad range of collars, grooming products, toys, outdoor gear and other pet essentials; including many locally known New England favorites.
The naturally focused and health driven philosophy means The Animal House doesn’t stock any food related items from China and only carries foods that are “free of wheat, corn, soy, by-products, artificial colorings or preservatives”. The holistically driven store offers a broad range of healthy eating options across the different food categories from dry, to canned and treats. Their specialty is raw food diets with feeding options ranging from frozen, to freeze dried, to dehydrated and air-dryed. The full range of supplements help consumers who are looking to feed their dogs and cats nutritionally balanced homemade diets.
Animal House Staff Member, Peter Carrier, brings out Ted’s primal instinct.
“We are not vets and we are not here to diagnose.” said Aubrey. “We are here to help give advice and nutritional support through natural supplements and foods…I like to use nutrition to make animals feel as well as they can.”
Aubrey’s knowledge has come from her own research and by working closely with Holistic-minded, qualified vets. She credits the roots of her in-store holistic program to two key veterinary experts, Strobbe and Morrison, who helped her develop a comprehensive staff training program. All staff have to complete the training course and sit an exam. Aubrey’s degree and experience in higher education has been an asset in The Animal House’s staff training and development. Aubrey’s impressive track record of staff retention seems to attest to her dedication.
Animal House Westbrook Store Manager, Donna Lum, gives Ted a nutritional consult.
Aubrey loves the challenge of resolving health problems and recalls one of her many healing success stories like Emma Rose, a pit-bull mix, who belonged to the son of the director of the Underhound Railroad, Renee Coombes. When Aubrey first met Emma Rose, she was looking pretty woeful with fur loss, ear issues and inflamed skin.
After a month on the right Animal House prescribed food and supplement regime, “Emma Rose’s fur had grown back, her ears were clean, she was energetic. She was like a different dog…It’s so rewarding to see a dog that’s miserable become happy.” said Aubrey.
Community Minded
The Animal House is the new fur-kid on the block in the Greater Portland area but Aubrey’s years of active involvement through rescue groups has in many ways helped pave her way into this neck of the woods. Every other Saturday, local rescue groups are given the opportunity to hold in-store adoption events. On Black Friday, they’ll be offering deals and a new holiday pawspective with an adoption clinic with The Pixel fund combined with tastings from Nature’s Variety.
Bobby Silcott, Shelter Facilities Manager at Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland.
The Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland is excited to have The Animal House join them in Westbrook. An in-store converted popcorn cart will house cats looking for forever homes. To date, The Animal House in the Damariscotta area has helped place over 700 cats in new homes. Heading into the holidays, Aubrey will be introducing a favorite Animal House tradition to her Westbrook store,“The 12 Woofs of Christmas”. The furry goodwill program will place 12 photos of Animal Refuge League dogs and cats in-store. Customers can sponsor one of these furry friends with proceeds going to a personalized Animal House care package that gets delivered to the shelter on Christmas Eve. The happiest part of the furry tale is the successful adoptions resulting from this holiday awareness campaign.
Furry fans getting ready for cameos in the film shoot. Finn, in the middle, wants to play Richard Gere. Guess who’s hoping to play Marley?
As I finish up my in-store chat with Aubrey, a team of loyal wag fans are sniffing their way into the Westbrook store door for their cameo in an advertising film shoot with Channel 8.
“It’s all about health but I also feel very fortunate to be a part of peoples families…I have a wall of pug shots…I get Christmas cards from dogs…It’s a pet-store, it’s not a museum, it’s supposed to be fun – dogs pee on the floor – it happens.”
The legendary Roosevelt on his way to The Animal House in Westbrook’s ad party. Roosevelt was rescued by his Mom, Stephanie Fox, who gave him his happy wheels so he could overcome a front paw disability. The custom wheels act as his “front-wheel drive” that take him to all his happy places.