Zen Dog Services

It's all in the family at mipupico.

Latino beats pulse from the store speakers. Behind the counter, Danny and Denny Wong Lopez perch, set to greet and help customers in the brightly lit and colourful Bloor West Village store. While new to this vibrant Toronto neighbourhood, Danny is no stranger to pets and the pet food business – he opened a similar store back home in South America in 2013. Growing up, the brothers always had pets at home and currently own two Pomeranian dogs. Their father has owned and operated a similar store in Venezuela for more than a decade, and Danny still flies home to help manage his original store.

So why move to Toronto to open a second business?  “I've been in Canada since 2004,” says Danny, adding that he completed high school and university here before working as an engineer for more than three years. He moved back home to Venezuela, opened a pet store and then felt inspired to open up a similar business here in Toronto. "What pushed me to do business in Toronto was learning that it was ranked the best city to live in the world. Also, how multicultural the city is, the ease to establish a business and how passionate people are towards their pets," he says. "It's just a privilege to be able to say that you have a business in the best city of the world, especially coming from a super small town where things work in a totally different way."

After spending six months searching for the right location here, Danny settled on Bloor West Village. "Research showed that the area is populated by pet owners and there isn't a lot of competition," he explains. "I offer a neighbourhood store for pet lovers and cater to locals."