Hailey Perkins and her wife, Amber Corduan, were at an Ohio dog show in 2018. That night, around two in the morning, a tornado hit the fairgrounds where the event occurred. Luckily, no pets or their owners were injured. However, the booths where the two had their pet products were hit. 

After getting everything back in place, the pair listed their products at a reduced price in an attempt to make ends meet.

“Everyone took pity on us and bought a bunch of stuff,” Perkins said. 

But amidst the chaos following the tornado’s aftermath, Perkins had an idea. She looked at Corduan and said she wanted to open a pet store. 

“She looked at me and laughed and said, ‘OK,’” Perkins said. “And then two days later, I signed a lease and opened a pet store.”

Their store, Roo’s Holistic Pet Supplies, sits at 3333 N Everbrook Lane in Muncie and has been in business since 2018. While an unfortunate situation kicked off the idea of the store, the “holistic” pet supplies started long before that. 

Corduan owned a Whippet nicknamed Roo, who was diagnosed with leukemia. While she wanted to see if the natural and holistic items would help, the veterinarians told her it wouldn’t work. 

“[Corduan] was pretty determined,” Perkins said. “She had talked to these nutritionists, so she did it.”

After implementing a natural diet, Roo went into remission and lived to be 15 years old. 

When customers come to their store, Perkins said they are typically going through something similar and want to find answers to help their pet. Because of that, the store was named after Roo. 

Perkins is originally from Shelbyville, Indiana. She attended Ball State first as a music major, but graduated with a major in residential property management. Having groomed dogs since she was 15, she began working at American Pine Acre Kennels, where she met Corduan, the kennel's owner. Eventually, they sold the kennel to focus on Roo’s.

“Don't open a pet store to make money,” Perkins said. “You do not make money on this, but you open it for the passion.”

They also have a store in Shelbyville, Kentucky. The location is run by a friend while the two take care of the Muncie store. According to customers, the holistic products, as well as the way the staff runs the business, makes Roo’s different from other pet supply stores.

Hannah Buchanan is a Muncie local and owns a two-year-old German Shepard named Catey. She said Catey is allergic to a lot of different ingredients, so Buchanan started to take a “natural route” when it came to Catey’s diet and general care. Roo’s has become the No. 1 spot for her. 

“[Roo’s] could sell anything at the end of the day and say it's a good product, but they actually do research on all the ingredients,” Buchanan said. “They actually care.”

The holistic ingredients, including their raw protein selection, are something Perkins and Corduan take pride in. 

“What's happening in the [pet food] market is people are paying premium prices for crappy products,” Perkins said. “So, you go to the grocery store right now, and you look at their shelves, and you're gonna buy a bag of dog food for $60. That bag of dog food costs $3 to make … You come in here, my bag of dog food is $63. It costs them $45 to $50 to make. There are actual ingredients. There is muscle meat, not byproducts … it's real food.” 

But Perkins understands that even though the food may be better for the pet, their owners may not have the funds to spend the extra money. That’s why she’s tried to find ways to help cut back on costs. 

“Not everybody has the financial means to buy better dog food, and almost all of their dogs' or cats' health issues are coming from poor quality pet food,” she said. “So, we do have a lot of programs in place. We have a pile of food that we can give out to people.”

While Perkins and Corduan try to focus on the health angle, there are other things they’ve attempted to incorporate with the store, including their pet cat Cleo, who greets customers. 

Going forward, Perkins and Corduan aim to get their own building, as they have moved three times in the past eight years since opening.

However, there’s been one dilemma with other locations: They’re not in Muncie. 

“I graduated with 22 job offers all over the country, and I said no to all of them,” Perkins said. “That might have been really stupid, but I said no to all of them because I like Muncie. I really like the community here, and we want to see what we can build.” 

The couple have tried to make their impact in the area. They host dog classes weekly, are on the animal control board and wash the Muncie Police Department’s canine units. 

But whatever they end up doing, their end goal is to help their customers — both two-legged and four-legged. Their employees are on the same page. 

“A lot of times, we have people that go every direction without results. They are at their wit’s end and don’t know what to do,” Roo’s employee Kenna Parsons said. “It means so much to give them the peace of mind and the help they need.” 

Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.

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