Natick's Phoenix: Metro Pets Returns After Fire Burns Everything

NATICK, MA — Jill Hourihan could have easily slumped into despair after her pet grooming business was destroyed in July's devastating Natick Center fire. She could've walked away from reopening the business or even at the notion of reopening in Natick center — but that's not her style.

"Metro Pets is coming back to Natick Center and we're going to be better than ever," Hourihan said. Her positive attitude helped push her through the devastating loss of her business. Metro Pets was located next door to the 7 South Main St. Chinese restaurant that caught fire in July. It was one of the first buildings on the strip to catch fire and took the brunt of the fire damage early on.

"I watched the fire burn the whole day," Hourihan said, "I made it a point to look at it and feel everything that day so that once it was over, I could say 'Okay, what's next."

The eight-alarm fire burned for hours and left the strip of eight businesses along South Main Street, between Pond Street and West Central Street, completely leveled. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Natick's business community came together to offer space for those affected by the fire to continue working out of. MetroPets received several offers for space from fellow business owners — Hourihan said she was beyond touched.

While the donated space was helpful, Hourihan also needed grooming supplies for her employees. "For a lot of my groomers, they had spent years collecting all those grooming tools and it was just gone in the fire," Hourihan said. That's when Metro Pets customers stepped in — customers donated tools to the groomers and left them as gifts with Hourihan.

"Over the course of the month we were just receiving all these little gifts from our customers with love notes, telling us we're going to be okay," Hourihan said.

It's been just over a month since the fire, and Hourihan said the Metro Pets team has worked harder than ever just to get back up and running. In the last month, Hourihan spent over $15,000 to replace the tools and supplies lost in the fire. "Between researching the supplies we need, talking to the insurance and finding a new place to lease — we're working harder than we ever have," she said, "The dollar figure on what we spent is high, but the time and labor needed to recover is higher."

To keep its presence up and hang onto customers, Metro Pets started offering in-home grooming, a move that was born out of necessity but opened the business up to new possibilities. "We realize now that we can better serve senior dogs and senior customers by offering in-home pet grooming," Hourihan said, "Older dogs can't always make their way in and being clean can make all the difference for their comfort, they deserve that."

Hourihan said she's eyeing a new location to lease but hasn't finalized anything yet, she added that customers can expect and announcement from the business soon. One thing she knew for sure while hunting for a new venue was she wanted to be in Natick Center.

"We've made Natick Center our home — we're like a family here," she said. The thought of missing Natick Center's Halloween Walk or Christmas tree lighting was too much for Hourihan. "It's like a party everyday here, and I'm not leaving the party," she said.

While Hourihan is excited to get back Metro Pets back into the swing of things, she's determined to add what she's learned from the aftermath of fire to the business. Metro Pets will offer in-home grooming once or twice a month and the team of groomers will be back to work with brand new certifications.

"There have been a lot of silver linings from this fire," Hourihan said, starting with the opportunity for her and her team to focus on education. Groomers will be certified in low-stress and fear-free grooming as well as attend a pet grooming conference. Several groomers as well as Hourihan are getting specific certifications for things like shear sharpening, cat grooming and sanitation.

"We're coming back better than ever because we used this time to learn," she said.