DON'T FORGET TO "LIKE" BEE-OTCH OF THE DAY ON FACEBOOK!
Name: David Boelkes
Age: 22
Occupation: former pet store owner
Last Seen: Grand Rapids
Bee-otched For: making a profit off of puppy mills
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Growing up in boring northern Michigan, if I went to the mall once in a great while, I was lucky.
Of course, I graduated high school, went to trade school and got a job in Grand Rapids. When it was time to get my first apartment, I was ecstatic that there was not one, but two shopping malls just down the street from me.
One mall was Centerpointe, which was mostly empty and eventually was redesigned to be an outdoor lifestyle center called The Shops at Centerpoint that's now doing a lot better. But it's the mall across the street, Woodland that's always done quite well.
I've always loved Woodland since it's clean, modern and well-managed. In the age of dead malls, Woodland has always been great when it comes to being competitive. Until 1997, it was Grand Rapids' main mall, but when Rivertown opened in nearby Grandville, the then-owners, Taubman remodeled it. They even added a new food court and shops that previously hadn't been in Grand Rapids. It was then sold to Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) who further invested in Woodland by adding a new movie theatre (Cinemark, which is now a Celebration! Cinema), restaurants and a two-story Barnes and Noble, plus more stores previously not in Grand Rapids like H&M and The North Face.
Yes, I've had my issues with Woodland, such as gangs and the asshole foreigners trying to sell me fake bottles of Dead Sea Salt. But Woodland has a security department and I haven't been approached by foreigners there in ages. But last week, I had a new reason to avoid Woodland because they added a new store that SHOULDN'T be there in the first place:
A pet store.
On Tuesday, The Barking Boutique opened for business. It was owned by David Boelkes and it sold purebred puppies for between $1,600 and $4,000. According to Boelkes, his dogs were well-taken care of and were in healthy conditions, but that's not what local animal rights activists claimed.
Like many pet stores, The Barking Boutique was nothing more than a store that profited off of dogs while there's THOUSANDS of animals that are stuck in shelters nationwide waiting for good homes. True, there were some who thought that it would be cool to own a dog from Boulkes, and oddly enough, four people did buy dogs from him during the four days he was in business.
Now, The Barking Boutique is closing. Woodland management heard enough from outraged customers and is now kicking Boulkes and his dogs out. What's even worse is that Boulkes has to make money somehow, so he's put up a GoFundMe page (and no, we're not going to link it here because I don't want my haters to support this schmuck). He claims that he's over $75,000 in debt and is worried that since the store's now closed, he'll have no way of reclaiming that cash. Hell, some have even told him to just open a standalone store.
Since launching the page, Boulkes has raised a whopping $90. Thanks, but I have more important things to spend my money on to get a puppy mill prick out of the hole.
You know, there's a lot of 20-somethings with debt, which forces them to live with mommy and daddy. This dickhead thought that selling manufactured dogs would be the key to riches. Sadly, there's way too many dogs that are bred from puppy mills and they carry diseases and are far from healthy. Boelkes would spin that his dogs were inspected and blah blah blah, but in my mind, it's all about the money. I'm not against 22-year-olds starting their own business, but when animal cruelty is potentially involved, then it's an issue.
I'm happy that Woodland shitcanned The Barking Boutique. For years, the mall lacked a decent fast food burger joint until about a month ago when Dad's Classic Grill opened. Their burgers are fresh and made to order. The business is family-run and yes, you'll be having a hard time walking since their food is too damn delicious. OK, so call me a hypocrite because I support the bloody murder of cows, but that's life.
As for Boulkes, maybe he'll learn how to make money the right way like the rest of us.
---
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Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
Age: 22
Occupation: former pet store owner
Last Seen: Grand Rapids
Bee-otched For: making a profit off of puppy mills
---
Growing up in boring northern Michigan, if I went to the mall once in a great while, I was lucky.
Of course, I graduated high school, went to trade school and got a job in Grand Rapids. When it was time to get my first apartment, I was ecstatic that there was not one, but two shopping malls just down the street from me.
One mall was Centerpointe, which was mostly empty and eventually was redesigned to be an outdoor lifestyle center called The Shops at Centerpoint that's now doing a lot better. But it's the mall across the street, Woodland that's always done quite well.
I've always loved Woodland since it's clean, modern and well-managed. In the age of dead malls, Woodland has always been great when it comes to being competitive. Until 1997, it was Grand Rapids' main mall, but when Rivertown opened in nearby Grandville, the then-owners, Taubman remodeled it. They even added a new food court and shops that previously hadn't been in Grand Rapids. It was then sold to Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) who further invested in Woodland by adding a new movie theatre (Cinemark, which is now a Celebration! Cinema), restaurants and a two-story Barnes and Noble, plus more stores previously not in Grand Rapids like H&M and The North Face.
Yes, I've had my issues with Woodland, such as gangs and the asshole foreigners trying to sell me fake bottles of Dead Sea Salt. But Woodland has a security department and I haven't been approached by foreigners there in ages. But last week, I had a new reason to avoid Woodland because they added a new store that SHOULDN'T be there in the first place:
A pet store.
On Tuesday, The Barking Boutique opened for business. It was owned by David Boelkes and it sold purebred puppies for between $1,600 and $4,000. According to Boelkes, his dogs were well-taken care of and were in healthy conditions, but that's not what local animal rights activists claimed.
Like many pet stores, The Barking Boutique was nothing more than a store that profited off of dogs while there's THOUSANDS of animals that are stuck in shelters nationwide waiting for good homes. True, there were some who thought that it would be cool to own a dog from Boulkes, and oddly enough, four people did buy dogs from him during the four days he was in business.
Now, The Barking Boutique is closing. Woodland management heard enough from outraged customers and is now kicking Boulkes and his dogs out. What's even worse is that Boulkes has to make money somehow, so he's put up a GoFundMe page (and no, we're not going to link it here because I don't want my haters to support this schmuck). He claims that he's over $75,000 in debt and is worried that since the store's now closed, he'll have no way of reclaiming that cash. Hell, some have even told him to just open a standalone store.
Since launching the page, Boulkes has raised a whopping $90. Thanks, but I have more important things to spend my money on to get a puppy mill prick out of the hole.
You know, there's a lot of 20-somethings with debt, which forces them to live with mommy and daddy. This dickhead thought that selling manufactured dogs would be the key to riches. Sadly, there's way too many dogs that are bred from puppy mills and they carry diseases and are far from healthy. Boelkes would spin that his dogs were inspected and blah blah blah, but in my mind, it's all about the money. I'm not against 22-year-olds starting their own business, but when animal cruelty is potentially involved, then it's an issue.
I'm happy that Woodland shitcanned The Barking Boutique. For years, the mall lacked a decent fast food burger joint until about a month ago when Dad's Classic Grill opened. Their burgers are fresh and made to order. The business is family-run and yes, you'll be having a hard time walking since their food is too damn delicious. OK, so call me a hypocrite because I support the bloody murder of cows, but that's life.
As for Boulkes, maybe he'll learn how to make money the right way like the rest of us.
---
Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!
Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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