An $80 canary and a $200 stingray, plus a number of tropical fish, still needed new homes late last month at the Seahorse pet shop in Hampton.
“We love that stingray. She lets you pet her when she comes up to the top,” shop owner Heather Mason said about the star creature in Seahorse's whopping 1,000-gallon saltwater fish tank, which also needs a buyer.
Mason, 27, of Richland, expects to close the Seahorse on Sept. 26.
“It was a hard decision. ... There's not enough business to keep us open,” she said. “We've struggled over the years with competitors. ... The Internet is huge.”
The late Lloyd Mason, her father, launched the 42-year-old store with a few fish tanks while working as a pet groomer at another Hampton location, south of the shop's current site on Route 8.
“He worked four jobs to get this going,” said his only child, also the daughter of Barb Mason of McCandless.
Lloyd Mason died Aug. 26, 2007, in a motorcycle accident on Babcock Boulevard, near North Park.
That's his voice on the pet shop's answering machine.
“My dad and I were very close,” his daughter said.
Heather Mason, a Pine-Richland graduate, inherited the Seahorse at age 19.
“We've been in this location over 35 years,” said Mason, who literally grew up in the store.
Pam Ondich, a Seahorse customer for 25 years, remembers Mason waiting on customers as a 10-year-old girl.
Ondich, a Richland mother of four, owns four dogs purchased at Seahorse and maintains three tanks of saltwater fish from the pet shop.
“I'm just really sad,” Ondich said about the pet shop's closing. “They kept it very clean. ... I loved going there.”
About a month ago, Mason announced her store's closing on the shop's seahorse-shaped sign along Route 8.
“I'm sad to see the sign,” said Bill Bradford of Shaler, who used to breed tropical fish and first visited the Seahorse when Lloyd Mason operated the shop farther south on Route 8.
“I've been coming here since I was 10 or maybe 12,” said Bradford, 52.
Through the years, the Seahorse sold hamsters, chinchillas, guinea pigs, rabbits, reptiles, amphibians, ferrets, parakeets, conures, cockatiels, canaries, kittens, locally bred puppies, and freshwater and marine fish.
“Fish were our specialty,” Mason said.
The Seahorse also became home to a number of “store” birds, including Mr. Big the macaw and Squeaks the plum-headed parakeet. Both birds recently got good homes, Mason said.
“We kept every single animal until we sold it or found it a home,” she said. “Some we ended up giving away. ... Sometimes it's not about the money.”
All of the store's tropical fish are available for half of their original prices. They include mollies for $1.50 each, tetras for $1 each, gouramis for $1.50 each and Siamese fighting fish for $1.99 each.
Mason owns the Seahorse building and hopes to find a new tenant for the pet's shop's 3,900 square feet of commercial space.
“They're obviously going to be missed, and hopefully, she'll be successful in renting the building,” said Chris Lochner, Hampton's township manager.
Mason isn't sure what lies ahead for her, career-wise, but longtime Seahorse customer Suzy Zasloff of Hampton said she is confident that Mason will succeed in any new venture.
Zasloff's home features a built-in 220-gallon tank of large saltwater fish that Lloyd Mason set up 10 years ago and Heather Mason has helped to maintain.
“Whatever she does, she's going to do well because she has such maturity, such confidence, and she can do many things,” Zasloff said. “She's such a knowledgeable, pleasant person. She will be missed.”
Deborah Deasy is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-772-6369 or ddeasy@tribweb.com.
