South suburbs natives open pet supply franchise in La Grange

A Chicago couple, one an electrical engineer, the other a nephrologist, has turned a lifelong love of animals into one of the newest businesses in La Grange.

Ame and April Kennedy launched a franchise of Pet Supplies Plus at 15 N. La Grange Road, with a soft opening in March and a formal grand opening April 30.

The store was the presenting sponsor for the 2023 La Grange Pet Parade, the iconic event that began in 1947.

Pet Supplies Plus is a Michigan-based company with 640 stores in 41 states, making it one of the top pet supply companies in the country.

"We’ve got everything for whatever kind of pet you have," April Kennedy said, showcasing the space that was formerly home to Pier 1 Imports.

The store also partners with CatNap from the Heart, a La Grange Park nonprofit that cares for abandoned cats and helps to place them with adoptive families. Several cats available for adoption are displayed near the front entrance.

A tour of the store showed shelves stocked with pet food, pet accessories, pet toys, pet habitats, bird cages, aquariums and habitats for small critters like rabbits.

Dog food was particularly plentiful. The store stocks food for both small and large pets as well as habitats for birds, dog collars and litter boxes.

Live pets, including ferrets, guinea pigs, some snakes and reptiles, sit next to parakeets, crickets and mealworms. Ame Kennedy recently made an emergency run to obtain crickets, as they had run short.

"Crickets sell big for people who have lizards," April explained.

Ame said lizards are a popular pet.

"There's a lot of people in this area who own bearded dragons and leopard geckos," he said. "That's their primary diet."

But dog food is the store's biggest seller, he said, with three aisles of dog food and more than 100 brands.

Kennedy said the pet food industry had changed significantly, with manufactures producing dog food specifically for pets with sensitive stomachs, weight problems and allergies.

The Kennedys, both from Chicago's south suburbs, said how they were high school sweethearts, although they attended separate schools.

April lived in University Park and attended Crete-Monee High School, while Ame was raised in Chicago Heights and went to Bloom High School.

They met, started dating and attended prom together before graduating and heading off to college, April to New Orleans and Ame to Southern Illinois University.

But her love of animals never left her.

"I always liked pet animals, anything like horses, dogs, cats," she said.

She wanted to be a veterinarian when she was young, but said when she got older she decided she wanted to be "a person doctor." She went to medical school at the University of Chicago, and practices nephrology in Olympia Fields and on Chicago's South Side.

"The first pet that I had would have been dogs, we were a dog family," April said. "I know Ame was a cat family."

But even as they progressed and flourished in their careers, the Kennedys both had the urge to own their own business.

"Both of us wanted to be entrepreneurs," April said, "and we were looking at pet industry businesses."

They spent about 18 months researching the best fit, and said they decided on Pet Supplies Plus because it wasn't a small, exclusive boutique operation, but also not so big that it would have a big box, impersonal feel.

April said the store got off to a good start, drawing its 15 employees largely from the La Grange area, and said they would likely soon hire more personnel.

For more information about the Pet Supplies Plus store in La Grange, go to petsuppliesplus.com