Queenie’s Pets, which for the past 20 years has been West Mt. Airy’s ultimate in pet care and supplies, is spreading its wings (and paws). The owner, Adina Silberstein, has begun construction on a second store in the former Keswick Music Works location at 363 N. Easton Rd. in Glenside.

“With major construction projects like this one,” Silberstein told the Local last week, “you cannot say exactly when you will be ready to open, but we are hoping to be open for the Christmas holiday time this year. One of my passions is building restoration, so bringing this property back to its deserved glory is necessary.

“Ten years ago, we created a 10-year plan, and this second location was a major part or that. The Keswick section of Glenside is a very community-minded area, like Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill.”

The second Queenie’s Pets, which will share a parking lot with the Keswick Theater, is five times as large as the Mt. Airy store, which remains open. The first floor will contain the retail store and do-it-yourself dog wash; the second floor, a pet wellness center with K-9 massage, acupuncture, chiropractic care, a pet grief support group, puppy classes and a rentable room; and the third floor will have office space and a conference room.

“We are playing the long game,” Silberstein said. “The two stores will not be in competition with each other because there is an endless supply of pet parents in both areas.

“I’m excited because I feel like Keswick Village is a close-knit community. It’s a bit of a pet supply desert in that area, and data show that when a pet-oriented business comes in, other nearby businesses benefit. People who shop small for their pets tend to shop in small businesses in other ways, too.”

Silberstein, who founded Queenie’s Pets in 2006, grew up in Mt. Airy. She graduated from Central High School in 1994 and American University in 1998 with a degree in anthropology and linguistics. Silberstein, who was the commencement speaker at her college graduation ceremony (with more than 5,000 people in the audience), is a multi-talented and peripatetic individual.

She worked for the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone in Minnesota and was a teacher of special education children in New Orleans, a backpacker across the United States at age 18, a bike messenger in Center City Philadelphia (that career ended when her bike was stolen), a student in Denmark for one year (she learned to speak Danish), a counselor of victims of domestic violence in London, a director of catering and sales and a wine buyer for the former Cresheim Cottage Café in Mt. Airy, a member of the Mt. Airy Learning Tree board, and a feature writer for an online magazine geared to the LGBTQ+ community.

For nine years, Silberstein operated Queenie’s Pets out of her home in Mt. Airy, but in 2015 she moved her business into a storefront at 7174 Germantown Ave., next door to McMenamin’s Tavern.

Although one could argue that we live in a dog-eat-dog world, Queenie’s Pets is part of a phenomenon gaining a toe-hold (or paw-hold) in upscale communities around the country. That trend is the professional dog walker and pet sitter, once the purview of the teenager next door but now one of the fastest growing businesses in the country.

According to the industry database IbisWorld.com, “Dog-walking and pet-sitting are immensely popular in the U.S., fueled by high pet ownership rates and the ‘humanization’ of pets. With roughly 45% of households owning a dog, the U.S. pet services market generates over $1.3 billion annually, with the broader pet-sitting and animal-care sectors seeing rapid growth.”

Anyone who thinks Silberstein is not the area’s most dog-loving resident might find this anecdote illuminating: In 2013, she dated a charming man named Sam (not his real name) and found him simpatico on almost all things but wrote this at the time:

“For all of the check boxes Sam filled, the one left blank was the most important one after the Big Three of being kind, caring and open-minded. I could never be with someone who doesn’t love dogs. Truthfully, I could never be with someone who doesn’t want dogs as an absolute constant in his life. “And suddenly I realized: That one red flag was The Red Flag, the flag that cannot be forgiven, excused or ignored. It’s The Pet Flag. And that is the biggest, most beautiful flag I fly in my life. It blankets everything else I do and weaves into the fabric of all of who I am personally, professionally and spiritually. Side note: Mr. Dog-Loving Perfect, if you’re reading this, you have to love cats, too. I’ve got two of those as well.”

For more information, visit queeniespets.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.