Pets and Friends
They also have a Gym and Post Office
Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
2979 Highway 110 North
Tyler, TX 75704
903-526-7400
I think this small family-owned and operated business deserves an award for how many different services they offer. You were probably thinking that you misread the title of this post. It is no joke.
Pets and Friends Store
They are truly a pet funeral home and crematory that also sells pet food and supplies. They have a work out gym for women, and they are a fully functioning United States Post Office. And on top of it all, they are amazing.
Pets and Friends is a clear example of the beauty of East Texas culture. It is located just one mile outside of Loop 323 on 110 North right outside the Tyler city limits. With warm smiles and cheerful words you are essentially embraced the moment you walk into the door of this local business. You might even be greeted by one of their friendly and well behaved pets that stay behind the counter. It seems that even their other customers are all infected by the niceness. The workers really create the feeling of an old timey general store or even that of a family.
Their main service is one that I haven’t witnessed or experienced in anyway. That is, they do cremations of your pets. They are really focused on taking care of the people who face a real loss when their pet dies as though they lost a family member. They really care for individuals and their pets, and it is obvious from the first time you meet them. These cremations range from about fifty dollars to two hundred and seventy dollars depending mostly on the size of the animal and then on whether or not you’ll bring the pet home in an urn. They also offer a fairly large variety of more special wooden or porcelain chests and urns for additional cost.
The gym is a workout center for women. It appears to be a similar setup to Curves. It has several cardio machines as opposed to weights and strength building machines. There are usually a few women there, so it seems that it must be useful. They also have nice happy music playing always in there.
The business does have a decent sized retail area. It is all pet supplies. They have dog and cat food. I think I even saw sugar glider food. They have a huge section of collars and leashes of all sizes and colors. They can make customized name tags. All around the walls there are tons of t-shirts with animals on them, so you can wear a shirt to support your love for beagles or even your favorite breed of horse. They also have some of the most impressive looking dog and cat fur removers that run about seventy dollars a piece.
Pets and Friends Store Hours
As for price, it seems that the prices on some items can be a little higher than the big stores, but the service, atmosphere and convenience make up for it completely.
My single reason for frequently visiting this place is for their small version of a post office. This is definitely Tyler’s best kept secret! I almost don’t want to tell you, because I don’t want it to become overwhelmed with business. But if you’ve read this far, you deserve it. Pets and Friends is a full functioning postal service. They can ship letters and packages of all sizes to anywhere in the world. And the experience is absolutely nothing like a standard government run post office. There is never a line more than one or two people. I think I may have once waited for five minutes while they finished mailing someone’s package. The employees are beyond nice and helpful. I recently had to mail out over three hundred and fifty large envelope letters to countries all around the world. They worked it out for me so that I could drop them off in the morning and come back and pay later after they had weighed and stamped each one. They trusted me with what would be a bill of almost six hundred dollars. They sell packaging materials and all kinds of seasonal and forever stamps. This business really does amaze me. I have several close friends who will only use this small company to ship, and it’s because of the same reason. No one wants to wait in line at a traditional post office, and these people win our loyalty through their kindness and warm personalities.
If you want to make your life easier and a little happier, do your shipping at Pets and Friends. Or don’t, and just leave the convenience to my friends and me. I’ll keep going as long as I live in Smith County.