Old Dog, New Tricks: Petland

By Lisa Loewen
Photos by Brian Peters

“When God opens a door, you walk through it.”

For Staci Williams, owner of Petland in Topeka’s West Ridge Mall, that belief has guided both her personal and professional life. The revitalization of West Ridge Mall has given Staci a new door to walk through, and this one leads to something she has been working toward for decades.

As construction gets underway throughout much of the mall, Staci has architects hard at work designing a suite of businesses that will include Petland, a doggy day care that can house up to 60 dogs and a veterinary clinic.

“It has always been my dream to be able to provide pet owners with comprehensive pet care, from helping them find the perfect pet to offering quality medical care,” Staci said.

MORE ROOM TO ROAM

With the expansion, the new doggy day care will take over the space currently occupied by Petland. The day care, which will be open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., will offer both indoor and outdoor recreation spaces and individual dog suites with live cameras, so owners can check on their pets in real time. Several of the doggy day care spaces will be allocated as lower-cost care for nonprofits such as Street Dog Coalition and PANT.

“I can give back to those in need,” Staci said. “That means helping people with their animals as well.”

The veterinary clinic will fill the space next to the doggy day care, giving pet owners a convenient one-stop option for pet care. While the clinic will offer veterinary services at standard costs, it will also provide care through a potential collaboration with the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Shelter Medicine program, which would allow the clinic to offer low-cost wellness, preventive medicine and surgical services for those who qualify.

Petland will then move to the other side of the vet clinic, going from 5,800 to 8,500 square feet and incorporating the dog training area, which is currently in a separate location. The store will also add more puppy playrooms to better accommodate the volume of visitors who come through the doors on busy Saturdays.

“We can have as many as 1,800 people come through the store on a Saturday,” Staci said. “The larger space will give us a little breathing room.”

WALKING THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR

When former Petland owner Chris Hamilton offered to sell Staci the store in 2009, she had no money, no credit and no collateral. What she did have was drive, determination and a belief that if this was what she was meant to do, the right opportunity would come.

That first opening came through a banker Staci met at a Rotary meeting, who agreed to set up an SBA loan if she could come up with $150,000.

“I had no idea where I would come up with the money, but I said, ‘Lord, it’s your turn,’” Staci said.

She asked one of her consulting clients, who happened to be a preacher, to pray with her. Three weeks later, he and his wife offered to lend her the money she needed.

Staci was elated when she purchased Petland, but found that along with the store came unexpected competition, staffing issues and bad publicity.

“It was a really rough start for me,” Staci said. “But God had put me there for a reason, so I had to trust it was all part of His plan.”

A year later, Simon Property Group approached Staci about moving Petland into West Ridge Mall. It seemed like a promising opportunity for increased foot traffic, so she started negotiations. The mall insisted that Staci pay for the buildout costs to renovate the space. She initially agreed, but the bank was uncomfortable with the reimbursement arrangement and declined, so Petland stayed in Fairlawn Plaza.

Two years later, West Ridge Mall approached Petland again. This time, Staci opened negotiations by insisting the mall pay for the buildout. They agreed, and Petland moved into its current location in 2014.

While the new location offered high visibility, foot traffic began to fall as the mall declined over the next decade.

“I considered moving out of the mall several times during that period,” Staci said. “But nothing seemed like a great alternative, so we stayed.”

When the mall went up for auction, Staci and a group of investors placed a bid to purchase it. When no one met the bid limit, its future was uncertain. Staci negotiated a selling price with the owner, then approached Advisors Excel, which had also bid on the mall, to see if they still wanted to purchase the property.

Advisors Excel purchased West Ridge Mall in 2023 and brought Staci in as the leasing manager to help fill the available space.

“I love this city and wanted to make sure our mall was purchased by a local person who is invested in the community,” Staci said, explaining that her first call was to Cody Foster, co-founder of Advisors Excel. “He was the first person who came to mind.”

“Who better to lease up the mall than a tenant who knows the history and sees the positives coming in the future?” Cody said.

With much of the mall under construction for the Advisors Excel headquarters, she says they are taking their time setting up new lease agreements because they are still determining what the remaining mall space will look like once those renovations are complete.

“All I will say is that we have some great companies interested in moving into the mall, which will become a destination for recreation, retail and restaurants,” Staci said.

GIVING SECOND CHANCES

Staci credits her faith for her success and says the best way to honor that is to pay it forward.

She has hired numerous convicted felons who struggled to find work after serving their time and needed someone to give them a chance. She has employed people recovering from substance use who may have had a hard time holding down a job in the past. She has also hired people with special needs who just need someone to believe in their abilities.

“I feel like God gave me a second chance when He gave me Petland,” Staci said. “So I make it a point to hire people who also need second chances.”