Update: Upscale puppy boutique closes Monday, donations sought to help owner facing bankruptcy

KENTWOOD, MI -- Woodland Mall is canceling the lease of a popular and controversial puppy store less than a week after it opened.

Barking Boutique has drawn hundreds of shoppers daily since opening Tuesday, July 5, who have played with the pricey purebreds and designer puppies for sale. In four days, four of the 12 puppies -- which sell for between $1,600 to $4,000 -- found homes.

The upscale shop also sparked a boycott of the mall and an online petition by shoppers who contend pet stores are nothing more than fronts for illegal puppy mills. Animal rights groups were planning a protest for next Saturday.

The mall told owner David Boelkes on Friday night his lease was canceled, and he had three days to vacate the premises. The store's last day will be Monday, July 11.

The canceled lease is an abrupt about-face by mall management, which had promised to stand by him, Boelkes said. Mall management was aware of similar outcry that cost Boelkes his first potential location in a Muskegon area mall.

The closure leaves the 22-year-old $70,000 in debt, and facing personal bankruptcy. The money to start the store came from a combination of his savings and a loan from his mother, who pulled money from her retirement savings.

The mall doesn't have to return his $4,000, a combination of security and first month's rent, according to the lease contract. A mall spokeswoman said she couldn't say whether Boelkes would be reimbursed for expenses because contract negotiations are confidential.

His biggest investment was the $35,000 spent building the storefront and its custom-made furnishings.

Finding homes for his eight remaining puppies and helping his soon-to-be unemployed 10-person staff remain his top concerns.

After evaluating shopper concerns, the mall said it came to the decision to part ways with the locally-owned retailer.

"Our customers are our highest priority and it is imperative to us that Woodland Mall remains a destination where shoppers feel comfortable spending their time," the mall said in a statement to MLive and The Grand Rapids Press on Saturday evening.

Boelkes contends Woodland's Philadelphia-headquartered owner, PREIT, capitulated to the "bullying and intimidation tactics" of animal rights activists.

"These activists created a social media backlash, based on rumors, completely ignoring the facts," he said in a statement. "This action reinforces the shelter cartel's monopoly on dog retail, and their common practice of trafficking dogs into Michigan from southern states and other unknown origin."

He says he is referring to the 10,000 dogs imported to Michigan shelters from other states in 2015 and 2016.

"In contrast, all families adopting from the Barking Boutique are given full visibility of the origin and pedigree of their puppy," Boelkes said. "They are provided with a full health and medical record, as well as comprehensive background on the breeder and puppy's parentage."

Boelkes said he personally met with many of his breeders to ensure and guarantee that the puppies sold in his store were raised humanely and ethically.

Sharing the names of the breeders so they could be vetted would have appeased those who opposed the store, says Pam Sordyl, the founder of Puppy Mill Awareness of SE Michigan.

Still, she says finding homes for dogs shouldn't be a lucrative business. The Oakland county resident has worked to outlaw the selling of dogs in stores. So far, four Michigan communities have passed bans.

"Whenever there are profits involved, it's never good for the animals," Sordyl said. "When you have nonprofit shelters, it is all about the animals."

She does acknowledge Boelkes' point about the puppy pipeline supplying animals to Michigan shelters. Sordyl says she is part of a group that is asking rescue and shelters to stop bringing in the out-of-state animals until homes are found for all of the state's homeless pets.

On Friday, the national chain behind the Grand Rapids veterinarian hospital, which did a check up of the first batch of the mall puppies, sent out a statement distancing itself from the Barking Boutique after people posted complaints on its Facebook page.

"Everybody thinking that a public education campaign and protest are harassment ... People might see that as bullying, we see it as freedom of speech," Sordyl said.

Shandra Martinez covers business and other topics for MLive. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.