CHANTILLY, VA — The owners of Woofie's, a pet services company with locations in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, are preparing to file a trademark lawsuit next week against a new Chantilly pet store, Woofys, over its use of a similar business name. As they were investigating the ownership of the new store, the owners of Ashburn-headquartered Woofie's also learned that the new store's manager is one of the former managers of the Fairfax City Petland, which was shut down last September over alleged animal cruelty practices.

The storefront for Woofys, which says on its website that it will specialize in selling purebred and designer puppies to customers, has been up for several weeks at the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Center near the intersection of Route 50 and Route 28. Contractors are doing work inside the store getting it ready to open in a few weeks. With the name of the soon-to-open store already up on the outside of the building in the shopping center, known for the Costco store that anchors the retail area, people have been contacting Woofie's, confused about the similar names.



"People have been reaching out to us saying, 'I didn't know you were opening up a site in Chantilly,'" Amy Reed, co-founder of Woofie's, told Patch. Since the name went up on the storefront, Reed has been busy telling customers and friends that the location is in no way affiliated with Woofie's. Woofie's trademark attorney sent a cease and desist letter on Feb. 11 to Woofys and the owners of the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Center demanding the company stop using the Woofys name at the store and on its website. Neither the store owner nor the shopping center owner responded to the cease-and-desist letter, Reed said.

According to Reed, not only is Woofys allegedly infringing on its trademark, the new store is creating potential confusion in the Northern Virginia marketplace. "Their business is about selling designer dogs so it is completely conflicts with our core values as a company and our commitment to working with animal shelters and rescue groups," she said. The manager of Woofys, Ayman Koshok, said in an email to Patch that he disagrees with the trademark infringement claim made by the owners of Woofie's. "This absurd allegation has no merit," Koshok said.

The owner of the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Center, RPAI Chantilly Crossing LLC, had not responded to Patch's requests for comment on Woofys moving into its shopping center at the time this article was published.

Woofys, a pet store that will sell purebred and designer puppies, is moving into the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Center. (Mark Hand/Patch) Founded in 2004 as a pet-sitting and dog-walking company, Woofie's expanded its services in 2011 to include mobile grooming. The company now has a fleet of seven vans that provide pet grooming seven days a week, with mobile pet care franchises in Ashburn/Lansdowne, Leesburg, Reston/Herndon and South Riding/Aldie.



On its website, Woofys, the store in Chantilly, says its sale of puppies will involve "USDA-licensed, humane breeders and distributors." Woofys also says it will offer "simple, puppy financing options for qualified applicants" so customers don't have to worry about "paying everything up-front." The business model is "in such conflict with what our business is all about," Reed said. "As they say on their website, they are about selling designer dogs. They have financing plans. They have return policies. They are treating these living, breathing animals like they are objects," she added.