Buyer of Natural Pet Marketplace planning new stores in Boulder, Fort Collins

GREELEY — Illinois-based pet-foods retailer Bentley’s Pet Stuff has acquired Greeley-based pet-products chain Natural Pet Marketplace, with plans to open eight new stores this year along the Front Range.

Giovanni Senafe, who cofounded Bentley’s with wife Lisa in 2008, said new stores in Boulder, Fort Collins and Broomfield are slated to open by September or October.

All three of the current Natural Pet Marketplace locations — 4626 Centerplace Drive in Greeley, 2721 Council Tree Ave. in Fort Collins and 1685 S. Colorado Blvd. in Denver — will be closed temporarily for remodeling and rebranding as Bentley’s locations. All new stores will also carry the Bentley’s brand.

The current Fort Collins Natural Pet Marketplace is closed now, and Senafe said the intent is to have it back open by the middle of June, with the Greeley and Denver remodels to be staggered slightly behind so that employees are able to keep working during the renovations.

Bentley’s — venture-backed by entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis, host of CNBC reality series The Profit — bought Natural Pet Marketplace from Greeley-based Wild Calling Pet Foods LLC.

The sale gives Bentley’s a chance to enter a Colorado market it’s had its eye on, while Wild Calling will now be able to focus exclusively on manufacturing its line of dog and cat food. Wild Calling had already sold its distribution business, Natural Pet Specialties, and cofounder and CEO Tim Petersen said the timing was right for the latest move as Wild Calling sales begin to take off.

Wild Calling pet food is sold in large and small independent pet specialty retailers throughout the United States and Canada. Petersen said he plans to begin exporting beyond Canada this year as well.

Wild Calling, founded in 2012, employs 18 people, including 10 in Greeley. Petersen declined to disclose sales figures.

“Our brand is doing so well nationally,” he said. “Wild Calling as a brand has really hit its stride.”

Natural Pet Marketplace previously had a store in Boulder, in addition to the three that Bentley’s bought. But that store closed, and the new Boulder Bentley’s will be in a different location. Senafe said Bentley’s is still narrowing down locations for its new Boulder, Fort Collins and Broomfield stores.

In addition to those three cities, Bentley’s is planning new stores in Arvada, Greenwood Village, Aurora, Littleton and Highlands Ranch.

Based in Lincolnshire, Ill., Bentley’s operates 15 locations in the Chicago area and also recently expanded into the Milwaukee market via acquisition.

Bentley’s stores typically range from 700 to 3,200 square feet and employ about five employees each, with a company minimum wage of $12 per hour. Senafe said the company kept all local employees at the acquired Colorado stores onboard and has added five more total between the three.

“We’re definitely having fun but trying to build something the right way,” said Senafe, who expects revenue to top $15 million this year.

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