The Un-Haunting of Edgewood Towne Centre: Burton’s Total Pet and ReStore

As Halloween approaches, it behooves us to think of scary places.

Here in the East End, the scariest place I know is “The Boomerang” on Monongahela Avenue. Just kidding, Roy and Kenny. Really, now, just my little joke. Everybody knows the scariest place is the Edgewood Inn.

But the largest haunted place around here might be Edgewood Towne Centre—a hard-luck enterprise if ever there was one.

First, it’s sited where they knocked down the Union Switch & Signal plant that provided good jobs and stability for generations of regular folks in Edgewood and Swissvale. Then, the developers built an odd strip mall in two parts, and apparently outsourced its traffic planning to Calcutta.

And that name? “Edgewood Towne Centre?” Oh, so Old-English. If I ruled the world, it would be “Edgewood Town Center”—just like God intended. This is 2011 Edgewood-Swissvale, after all, not 18th Century Sussex.

In fairness, the Towne Centre is a decent place. Giant Eagle and K-Mart have been there from the outset as anchor tenants. They’re not the best Giant Eagle and K-Mart have to offer, but they work. The Eat ‘N Park is a good one. Radio Shack has geeks at least as odd as those in Squirrel Hill. The PLCB liquor store is...well...it’s a state liquor store.

There was good news recently when announced it is embarking on a $9 million and remodeling project that will bring additional offerings and services to the location. After 20 years of sucking cash out of the community, it’s good to see the grocery giant putting some back in.

It was unfortunate, though, that a store spokesperson told a reporter: “We need to expand to really drive a better clientele into the store.”

Better clientele? What, more Range Rovers and fewer rusty Buicks? 

Hey, it was a shrewd move to hire Patty McClure to the deli counter, but can’t you do something about those 7-foot-long playpen shopping carts?

Back to our story...in the early days, when people bought computers and fax machines in person, Office Depot was a true asset at the Towne Centre for the impatient yuppie entrepreneurs who lurked until dawn in the fine old homes along Milton Street, then hit “the depot” right after their power breakfasts.

There initially was another big anchor tenant called Phar-Mor, a subsidiary of Thrift Drug, that was everything K-Mart ought to be, minus the clothes and appliances.

But then modern times occurred and the gigantoplex called The Waterfront in Homestead sucked most of the business down South Braddock Avenue and across the Rankin Bridge.

But hope springs eternal—or at least struggles to its feet—at the Towne Centre when spiffy new stores open up. And two nifty ones just arrived during August.

Burton’s Total Pet is testing an odd concept—lease a haunted retail space (ghosts of PharMor and Busy Beaver) in a shaky shopping center with a K-Mart 200 feet away and a Giant Eagle 300 feet in the other direction and then proceed to sell pet food and supplies.

A rookie error? A recipe for disaster?

Probably not, if history is any judge, and East End pet lovers have cause to rejoice as Total Pet debuts its newest of eight stores at the Towne Centre.

Mark Cunningham and Erin Lett took a few minutes during their busy opening week recently and explained that the regional chain’s stores co-exist in their other locations with heavy hitters like Wal-Mart and Giant Eagle.

Lett also explained that Total Pet WON’T sell you a puppy or a kitten. They would prefer that you get your dog or cat cheap—at a shelter—and spend your money on top-shelf, nutritious food.

No puppies for you! They’ll gladly sell you the best of everything pet-related, except the pets themselves. Aside from hamsters, lizards and other wee-tiny critters, Total Pet just doesn’t sell animals, and most especially they don’t sell puppies or kittens.

The store is happy to provide food, nutrition products and pet accessories, but prefers that you’d get your dogs and cats from rescue or other non-retail sources.

Cunningham, manager of the newly opened store, said Burton’s Total Pet was established by zoological scientist Burton Patrick, who once was operations manager for the Detroit Zoo.

Unlike many of the puppy-hustling big-time pet retailers, Total Pet does not sell on-line. Said Cunningham, “Well, it’s, you know, it’s a store...just like the old days. You come in, get what you want, ask us for help if you want it, and pay at the counter.”

Located at 1635C South Braddock Ave., Total Pet is in the lower half of the Towne Centre, beside Planet Fitness.

Total Pet’s hours are Monday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phone is 412-342-0110. Visit their website at www.totalpetstores.com.

A few feet away, operated by Habitat For Humanity, champions conservation and thrift at its new store.

While standing there gawping at new developments at the Towne Centre, it’s easy to overlook the new ReStore because they’re not especially flashy. Make no mistake, despite the hand-lettered signage and drab exterior, this store is something very special. The shop collects and sells reusable and surplus building materials to the general public.

While every ReStore outlet around the country is a little different, most focus on home improvement goods like furniture, home accessories, building materials and appliances. ReStore resale outlets accept donated goods which are sold to the general public at a fraction of the retail price. The proceeds help local Habitat affiliates fund the construction of Habitat homes within their communities.

This has the dual advantage of offering some way-cool fittings and fixtures (a la Construction Junction) to home and business fixers and also diverting these valuable materials from landfills, where they typically would end up.

At the huge Towne Centre ReStore, merchandise offerings are much more extensive. Need a used toilet seat? A v-belt for your furnace? Hundreds of old books? Three sets of ratty golf clubs?

I have a personal ghostly interest in ReStore, as my Grandpa Michael was a long-ago artist-blacksmith for the East End and suburbs who hammered gorgeous fittings and fixtures for homes and institutions—door knockers, ornate hinges, chandeliers, railings, curiosities—out of brass and steel.

A few of those works survive in my mom’s house in Churchill, but many were left behind at the old family homestead where the latest owner has slopped them over with latex paint.

Years of working over a forge took Michael from the family at an early age. So if you see me in there fondling a brass letter box and probing for ancestral vibrations, it’s just my way of paying homage to the dear old gentleman I never knew.

ReStore is open to the public Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., pending volunteer availability. Their website is www.pittsburghhabitat.org.

They need your donations. Call ReStore at 412-271-HOME (412-271-4663) to schedule a pick-up of your donation.