It’s been many years since downtown Springfield had a pet store, but Robert and Sonya Andrew want to change that.
The couple plans to open Happy Scalez, an exotic pet store, at the corner of Fourth and Adams streets. The space at 122 S. Fourth St. was most recently occupied by Creative Reuse Marketplace, which moved to White Oaks Mall in July.
The couple said they are well aware of the challenges faced by downtown businesses lately and hope to become part of the solution.
“We were aggressively searching for a place downtown,” said Sonya. “We want to try to bring something downtown that will bring people back there.”
Robert added, “We searched different places in town, but we felt like this space was right.”
The husband and wife are both Springfield natives and say they remember when downtown was a much more vibrant area. This will be the first brick-and-mortar location for Happy Scalez, although the business was initially launched in 2019 when Robert began designing and building terrariums for people’s homes as well as helping maintain them.
“I’ve been keeping fish and reptiles for as long as I can remember,” Robert said. “I started doing construction (of tanks) and took jobs with some pet stores here in town. People kept calling me, asking me for help, and it turned into a home maintenance business.”
The couple build, repair and maintain aquariums and terrariums and even offer pet-sitting for people who need to board their reptiles while they are away.
Happy Scalez will also sell the fish and reptiles, in addition to the equipment and supplies to care for them.
“The store will have everything we can legally sell in the state of Illinois that’s not furry creatures,” Sonya said, although feeder mice and rats will be offered.
Robert said he hopes that Happy Scalez will encourage people to consider less traditional pets.
“We want to educate people,” he said. “A lot of people are scared to get into aquariums or reptiles. They don’t know about them. We want to teach people to take care of them and make sure they are happy.”
Renovations are currently underway, with plans to have a soft opening Oct. 30. Hours of operation will be 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday, with the store closed on Wednesday.
This article appears in SBJ August 2025.