Sixty-seven years after first setting up shop, the owners of Pet City Mt Gravatt have decided to call it a day, with the shop now up for sale.
Opened by Evio Contenati and his brother-in-law Frank as Mt Gravatt Produce Agency in 1957, the store initially sold produce to corner stores, but in the 1960s it began selling dog food, which Contenati recalls thanks to TV ads on the Graham Kennedy show.
“The bird business came next. In those days they were racing pigeons, which soon became the biggest part of our business. We were also the first to sell clean, graded seeds. We were sending seed right up to Cairns and all the way down to Grafton. We were selling everything to do with pigeons,” explained Contenati.
In the 1970s, following the retirement of his brother-in-law, Contenati recognised a change in the area with more people were acquiring pets, and that’s when Pet City Mt Gravatt was born.
“I made up my mind that the pet business was the business. I stopped with the horse business, gave away all the garden and fertilizer and sprays and bought a new premise which is now known as Pet City Mt Gravatt.
“It was 1000sqm, with tenancies on the top floor. We were a destination shop. We still have people come in now whose grandparents shopped here.”
Kim Peries, current owner and Contenati’s daughter, started working at the shop when she was just 13 and is largely responsible for creating the store as a ‘destination’.
“We were the first to have a puppy pre-school in a pet store, at least in Queensland,” said Peries. “We were among the first to do a lot of charity work, bird conventions, repticon, and even a four-week training course for pet shops that sell reptiles.”
Recognition from the industry soon followed, with Pet City Mt Gravatt picking up the inaugural Kevin Blake’s award for best pet store in Australia, winning the title a few times before the award stopped.
The Pet Industry Association of Australia (PIAA) also recognised the contribution that Peries and Contenati had been made to the industry, awarding them both, on separate occasions, the Pioneer Award.
Looking ahead
Whoever the new owner is, they’ll certainly have big shoes to fill, with Contenati and Peries hoping the new owner can maintain the store as a destination store and keep those who’ve been visiting for generations returning.
“It’s been a family-owned business, and we hope it continues like that. It’s going to be very emotional telling our customers we’re selling, but maybe one of our customers will take it over and return it to its roots,” said Peries.
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