HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Village Pet Supplies and Gifts in Hanover Township prides itself on providing solutions to its customers.
"The only store that really, like, just is here to solve your problems and help keep your pet the healthiest for as long as possible," said owner Brenda Bartlett.
Over the past four years, Barlett says she's been dealing with problems of her own at a shopping center on the Sans Souci Parkway, problems she can't solve.
"It's been a kind of a downward spiral for a couple of years now. This was just the most tremendous location. And then, all of a sudden, within the last couple of years, there seems to be a demographic change happening. We see countless drug deals take place in the parking lot. We see open drug usage in the parking lot."
Bartlett says she has added signage and cameras and even changed operating hours to try to curb issues she says have made their way from the parking lot of the shopping center into her store.
"It's just been a gradual demise over two and a half years, and I don't see it reversing."
The Hanover Township Police Department tells Newswatch 16 that since 2018, they are aware of three incidents of retail theft at Village Pet Supplies in the Hanover Mall. The chief of police says that while there has been a recent uptick in crime in Hanover Township, the Hanover Mall is not one of those locations.
But Bartlett says it's crimes she feels she cannot report that is the problem.
"You know, the drug deals, they took place like that; you can't call the police. You start dialing 911 to say, 'Oh, there's a drug deal happening in front of my store.' Like, it's over in 30 seconds. They haven't even answered the phone yet, much less found out your location. It's not a call-the-police scenario. It's just an overall change of the quality of person that's being attracted to this shopping center."
Bartlett says that is ultimately leading to fewer customers at this store, forcing her to close the business on August 1.
The store's workers will still be employed at the Village Pet Supplies and Gifts Luzerne location, about seven and a half miles away.
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