Midtown residents will have a new place to take their pets for affordable pet care services like vaccinations, spaying, neutering and heartworm tests. Locally-owned PetVax is ramping up to open by September at Loeb Properties’ Belvedere Collection at 1680 Union Avenue.
PetVax is exclusively a walk-in clinic and allows pet drop-off for anything from complex procedures to simple vaccinations.
More than 25 years ago, owner Kevin Frazier made a deal with Don Warmbrod, former owner of Hollywood Pet Star (now Hollywood Feed), to do affordable vaccinations out of the Hollywood Pet Star locations.
“He had a belief in preventative care. He saw so many patients when he was working in the ER where things could’ve been prevented through vaccinations, and he felt that it was overpriced in the Memphis-Shelby County area,” said Frazier’s daughter and PetVax Hospital Administrator Laura Frazier Shansky. “He felt strongly that he should build something that would allow people to vaccinate their pets affordably and also educate pet owners about what vaccines are required.”
Frazier built up a large base and then opened a spay-and-neuter clinic on Broad Avenue in 1998, which led to full-service locations in East Memphis, Collierville, Cordova, Bartlett and Germantown. With its new location, PetVax now leases three locations (all from Loeb) and owns three locations.
Construction is underway on the 2,300-square-foot space in Midtown, and PetVax Hospital Administrator Tim Paxton is also serving as the contractor
“We prefer to do our own buildouts because we know the flow that works the best for us, and we’ve found it just moves a little quicker if we do everything,” said Frazier Shansky.
The new clinic will have a staff of five, including Dr. Amanda Jondle, who is moving to Memphis from Iowa, along with two technicians and two receptionists. More staff will be hired in the coming months as needed.
Future PetVax expansion is likely outside of Memphis.
“We do have plans to potentially expand further towards Arkansas and maybe into Nashville, but as of now I believe our Midtown location will be our last one in the Shelby County area,” said Frazier Shansky, who mentioned Fayette County and Northern Mississippi as other places for possible future growth.
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