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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The pet pantry that Jodi Goldberg has wanted to open for years is finally open, in the space next door to her grooming shop at 430 Hume Ave.
Anyone who needs pet food, toys, treats, beds, harnesses or leashes can walk in during business hours and take what they need. There is no application and no cost.
"It's about serving the community," Goldberg, the owner of From Head to Tail Grooming Spa, said Monday. "It's hard as a business owner to find the time to get to events and do things. This is my way of trying to help."
Goldberg took over the space next door in January and had the shelving almost as long. The holdup was physical: there was no door between the two spaces, and once she built one, the lock did not work. She stocked the shelves about two weeks ago and opened the pantry in the past several days.
She had originally considered putting the pantry outside, in front of the shop, but worried about animals getting into it and about it being left open. The interior space solved both problems and is climate-controlled. It opens when the shop opens and closes when the staff leave, seven days a week — 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, according to the business's website.
Donations are welcome during business hours. Goldberg asks that food be unopened. Toys, treats, beds, harnesses, and leashes can be used. She is also washing a backlog of leashes and harnesses from the shop's lost-and-found to put back on the shelves.
Pawfectly Delicious, the Alexandria nonprofit that employs adults with disabilities making dog treats, is donating to the pantry, and Goldberg said food and toy donations have already come in from customers.
The pantry sits behind the pet portrait mural that has been going up on the building since 2022, painted by Arlington artist Patrick Kirwin, who also painted the Dogs of Del Ray mural on Mount Vernon Avenue. Owners pay $257.50 to have a pet added, with $100 of that going to Pawfectly Delicious.
Goldberg said the mural has raised roughly $7,000 for the nonprofit so far. She takes none of it.
"I don't take any money from this at all," she said. "It's just providing the space for it."
About eight portraits are queued and waiting on Kirwin, who Goldberg said will be back painting Thursday and Friday. Spaces remain available through a form on the business's website.
From Head to Tail Grooming Spa opened in early December 2017 and will mark its ninth year this winter. It is a cage-free shop and was the first in Virginia to use the TheraClean microbubble bath system, Goldberg said. Two of its groomers hand-strip wire-coated breeds.
Goldberg said she eventually wants to use the space for other things too — programs, events, pet photo shoots, dog birthday parties — but doesn't have the time yet.
For more information on From Head to Tail Grooming Spa, visit www.headtotailspa.com/.
Ryan Belmore is an Alexandria resident and the founder and publisher of The Alexandria Brief. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to ryan@alexandriabrief.com.
