Pet Store Protest In Chantilly Worries Neighboring Businesses

CHANTILLY, VA — Woofie's LLC, a pet services company with locations in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, is partnering with an animal welfare group on March 14 to hold a protest outside the Woofys store in the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Center. The planned protest by Woofie's and Puppy Mill Free VA is raising alarms among owners of other stores and restaurants in the shopping center who fear the controversy could harm their businesses.

Woofie's concerns about the new store in Chantilly are two-pronged. The owners of Woofie's contend the use of the name Woofys is a trademark infringement that could harm the reputation of their 15-year-old business headquartered in Ashburn. The owners also oppose the new store's decision to specialize in the sale of purebred and designer puppies.

Over the weekend, Woofie's started an online petition that has more than 5,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon to stop the opening of the Woofys pet store in Chantilly. "We are shocked and horrified to learn that a 'Woofy’s' puppy store is set to open in our community," Woofie's owners state in the online petition. "Not only are the shop owners leveraging our good name 'Woofie’s' to create business for themselves, these owners/operators have been charged with animal cruelty just within the past six months."

While researching the Woofys store as they prepared a cease-and-desist letter to stop the store from using the name, Woofie's owners learned that the manager of the new store in Chantilly, Ayman Koshok, is one of the former managers of the Fairfax City Petland, which was shut down last September over alleged animal cruelty practices.

Last September, the Fairfax City Police said an investigation revealed Koshok and his brother, Kareem Koshok, who were managers of the Petland store, failed to provide proper care for animals under their supervision. The police became involved in the case after the Humane Society of the United States conducted an undercover investigation into the Fairfax City Petland store.

The two are scheduled to go to trial on the three animal cruelty charges in early April. Koshok said last week in an email to Patch that he is "innocent of any wrongdoing" in his role as a manager of the Petland in Fairfax City and is confident he "will be acquitted once the legal system is allowed to take its course."

Last week, neighboring businesses in the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Center became aware of the controversy.

Raja Puri owns Taj Grocery, located a storefront from the new Woofys pet store, and is opening a new Indian restaurant next door in mid-March. With planned protests and the negative attention on Woofys, Puri fears the controversy could put at risk the money he has invested in his grocery store and new restaurant.

"I'm worried about business because I'm opening a new restaurant next to them," Puri told Patch. "They are organizing protests. It's going to affect my sales if I have customers coming in and there are protests."

Puri, who opened Taj Grocery in June 2018, said business has been growing steadily at the grocery store. "If people are protesting outside, customers may not want to come near where that kind of thing is going on," he said.

Puri said he was not aware of the background of the people opening Woofys until he read news articles last week about the new store. Since finding out about the planned protest, Puri said he emailed the shopping center management, RPAI Chantilly Crossing LLC, to inform them of his concerns about how any protests of the new store could harm his businesses. Puri said he has yet to hear back from RPAI Chantilly Crossing.

The owners of Woofie's say people are already confusing their business with the owners of Woofys. "The sooner I can stop him, the better. And there are so many bigger issues that have come to light with this story," Amy Reed, co-owner of Woofie's, said in an email to Patch. "Why can two people awaiting trial for animal abuse open up a pet store? And regardless of their background, why is this store even able to open? It’s time that significant changes need to be made in the pet industry.”

Koshok had not responded to a request for comment on the planned protest at the time this article was published.

RELATED:
Trademark, Animal Cruelty Concerns Stoked By Chantilly Pet Store

Last week, Homeward Trails Animal Rescue founder Sue Bell sent a letter to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors criticizing "the lack of leadership in Fairfax County" that has resulted in yet another pet store that she contends "will undoubtedly source their puppies from puppy mills and inhumane breeders and defraud its customers in many ways."

"You will note that this pet store is not opening in nearby Fairfax City because I personally worked with the Fairfax City Council in 2019 and together we created a sensible ordinance aimed at deterring bad pet stores from doing business in Fairfax City," Bell said in the letter sent last Wednesday to the board.

Bell said the Fairfax County government has been aware of the harmful practices at pet stores in the county for years but has taken no concrete action. "What will it take for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to do the right thing and put an end to these bad pet stores that not only mistreat their animals but defraud consumers again and again?" she asked.

Fairfax County had not responded to a request for comment at the time this article was published.

Last month, the City of Fairfax enacted a new ordinance that requires pet shops in the city to obtain a permit before opening an operation to sell companion animals in the city. The ordinance, enacted due in large part to a Humane Society of United States undercover investigation of the Fairfax City Petland, made Fairfax the first Northern Virginia locality to join more than 300 other municipalities across the nation in tightening pet store regulations.

"Does Fairfax County really want to be known for being the Virginia county that is home to the worst pet stores in the Commonwealth?" Bell asked in her letter.

The Virginia General Assembly has declined to enact a state-wide ban on the selling of puppies and kittens in pet stores, similar to a ban enacted in Maryland, or to give local jurisdictions the authority to ban these types of pet stores. "However, the local jurisdictions do have the ability to deter bad pet stores through permitting and inspections as we did in Fairfax City," she told the Fairfax County board.