Retired Teacher Opens Canine Country Club in Collierville
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October 26-November 1, 2018, Vol. 11, Issue 43 Independent neighborhood grocery Montesi’s to shut its Founder of Memphis-based AutoZone Inc. J.R. “Pitt” Hyde doors by the end of October P. 3 retiring from board of directors P. 4 FORMERLY THE MEMPHIS NEWS FAYETTE • TIPTON • MADISON Collierville Canine Club employee Gabrielle Austin keeps the guests entertained at the new kennel. Responding to a need for more pet pampering, former teacher Annie Yoder has opened a country club for dogs complete with a swimming pool. (Jim Weber/The West Tennessee News) RetiredPLAY. teacher opens canine STAY. country club in Collierville SWIM. P. 2 RIVERARTSFEST HANDLED WITH REACHES OUT CARE Rozelle Elementary welding Nurses create handmade class part of community costumes for NICU babies outreach program by artists at Methodist Le Bonheur involved in festival P. 6 Germantown Hospital P. 7 A Publication of The Daily News Publishing Co. 2 October 26-November 1, 2018 The West Tennessee News Swimming has gone to the dogs at new Collierville Canine Club The road wasn’t easy. It took Yoder nearly two years to turn a forested lot off of U.S. 72 into a spacious boarding facil- ity where dogs can swim, play and stay. “I was so naïve to not understand how long it takes to build a commercial build- ing,” she said. Yoder hit a snag when the soil on her property needed to undergo a series of compaction tests, stretching her once $800,000 investment to more than $1.2 million. But the investment was worth it. With the Collierville Canine Club lo- cated about a mile from Yoder’s house, her days of sitting in the I-240 stack up are over. She’s typically at the club by 6 or 7 a.m. and comes back each night at 9 p.m. to give the dogs being boarded overnight a final potty break. “Four hours will go by and it feels like no time at all,” Yoder said. As a natural forest, Yoder kept as many trees as she could. At the center of the 10,000-square-foot dog park is a 200-year-old tree that shades play in the summer time. The facility also includes 3,200-square-feet of indoor play space divided by large and small breeds. Collierville Canine Club employee Chloie Lott keeps the guests entertained on Oct. 12, 2018, at the new kennel. Responding to a need Yoder continued the theme of water for more pet pampering, Annie Yoder has opened a country club for dogs. (Jim Weber/The West Tennessee News) throughout the space with blue epoxy floors that double as an easy cleanup with built-in floor drains. The boarding business kicked off dur- ing Fall Break when Yoder had 28 dogs. Day care and boarding services max out at 50 dogs. It was scary to leave a salary Yoder currently has eight employees and secure benefits. I felt like and is looking to hire another. Employees are responsible for moni- I was jumping off the high toring play groups and maintaining the dive, but nothing good will cleanliness of the facility. “They have to be fluid, constantly happen if you’re not willing moving with the dogs and reassessing to take a risk.” players by monitoring moods and emo- tions,” Yoder said. “It can be exhausting, –Annie Yoder, Collierville Canine Club owner but it’s exhilarating.” “ Swimming is included in day care and boarding. Dogs can also drop in for open the typical dog daycare and boarding swim for $15 an hour or have unlimited offerings with an on-site dog park and swims with a $50 monthly membership. Mary Jane Forsythe (left) takes her corgi, Ella, for a swim at the Collierville Canine Club in-ground swimming pool. Discounts are available for multi-dog on Oct. 12, 2018. (Jim Weber/The West Tennessee News) “Dogs need to be on real grass, sniff owners. trees and be in the water,” said owner Ella could have invited her friends. Annie Yoder. “I wanted to create a place For $150, the pool is available for rent MICHELLE CORBET obedience class), I’ll take you swim- where I would want my own dog to be and for two-hour birthday parties, includ- The West Tennessee News ming,’” Forsythe said. “I wanted to see if feel comfortable that he is here.” ing a cake, party favors and photo. Hu- It was Ella’s ninth birthday and she she liked it. She loved it.” Yoder has a black Labrador Retriever man guests may bring their own food wanted to go swimming. The pool is literally built for dogs in named Jet who used to go to dog daycare and beverages. Each time the tennis ball hit the wa- that Atoka-based Advanced Pools Inc. while she was at work. Now dog daycare The pool can accommodate up to ter, Ella went flying into the pool to re- custom designed the salt water pool to is Yoder’s work, so naturally, Jet tags 15 dogs. trieve it. accommodate what often comes with along each day. For when dogs come out of the pool That’s because Ella is a nine-year-old dogs — a lot of hair — by installing two After a 20-year career as an English soaked, the club also offers a dog wash Pembroke Welsh Corgi. sand filters and four filtration baskets. as a Second Language teacher and ESL and full grooming services. Her owner, Mary Jane Forsythe, drove The pool is five-feet deep, so dogs can coach for Shelby County Schools, Yoder Yoder did not want to own a fran- from her home in East Memphis to just bomb off the side without touching the left her job at Peabody Elementary School chised boarding facility because she east of the Piperton city limits to enjoy bottom. They can also walk in through to pursue her passion — dogs. wanted to create a fresh approach to dog the area’s first swimming pool built ex- the sloped entry and paw at the water “It was scary to leave a salary and day care and boarding, one built around clusively for doggie paddling. bubblers and fountains. secure benefits. I felt like I was jumping exercise and play. Forsythe took Ella to the pool for the The pool is just one feature of Col- off the high dive, but nothing good will “I didn’t want to be told how to oper- first time a week before her birthday. lierville Canine Club, a new dog facility happen if you’re not willing to take a ate,” Yoder said. “I wanted to create my “I told her, ‘If you do a good job (at that aims to create “dog joy” by upping risk,” Yoder said. own breed of care.” The West Tennessee News October 26-November 1, 2018 3 Independent neighborhood grocery Montesi's to close by end of October TOM BAILEY north and Tops Bar-B-Q to the receiving. The West Tennessee News south. The vast majority of Mon- Neighborhood grocery Mon- “It’s going to be real bad,” of- tesi’s customers use govern- tesi’s is set to close by the end of fice manager Denise Hale said ment food assistance, Veglio October, becoming the second of the shutdown. She’s worked said. She estimates the mon- independent grocery in two for 23 years at Montesi’s, where etary value of that assistance weeks to shut its doors along she met her husband while he had been cut in half over the the hard-hit Summer Avenue shopped for bananas with his past three years. corridor. father. Robert Montesi died in 2004, “This economy around here “This is the neighborhood leaving the store to Veglio, her just went down,” said store store where everybody comes,” brother Ernest Montesi and vice president Patricia Veglio, Hale said. She knows so many their sister Maria Barlow. the daughter of the store's late of the customers, Hale said, “I “Notice, it’s all indepen- founder, Robert Montesi. “We can’t sit on my porch without dents,” Veglio said of the Clover- had no customer base hardly at them waving.” leaf Cash Saver and Montesi’s. all any more.” Last week, Cash Saver gro- “We cannot compete. We just (Tom Bailey/The West Tennessee News) Her dad had worked for cery owner Jeff Burkhead con- don’t have the money or power. Patricia Veglio, daughter of Robert Montesi, works behind the counter the old Montesi grocery chain firmed he would close his store, We’re one store. We don’t have with the framed work coat of her late father. founded by his brother, Fred located in the Cloverleaf shop- other stores to help support Montesi. When that local chain ping center at Summer and this one.” closed in the early 1980s, Robert North White Station. Burkhead Montesi's grocery is for sale awesome,” Veglio said. “Every- in Highland Heights and the retired for a couple of years until has owned the store indepen- for $2.3 million. The building is thing was hand-cut, freshly nearby Binghampton area. A 1985, when he bought a grocery dently of other Cash Saver gro- 27,500 square feet. ground. No already-packaged- new Save-A-Lot operates less at 3362 Summer. ceries in Memphis. At its height, Montesi’s on up meat like you get everywhere than a mile to the southeast The brick, low-slung store Both Burkhead and Veg- Summer employed 54 people. else. We had meat guys back at Sam Cooper and Tillman, a has been an anchor in High- lio cited as a major factor in Now, there are seven employees.