Wild Bird Connection finds new owner
By Rosemary McCoy
Wild Bird Connection has a new owner who plans to keep everything the same.
“There won’t be any changes,” Phil Pudenz said of the backyard bird-feeding store. “They’ll just see me instead of the gals.”
Becky Otten and Mary Vickery succeeded in finding someone to take over the store they opened in 1994. The two are working with Pudenz until mid-November to help teach him the business, which is at 2109 S. Minnesota Ave. in the Southway Center.
Pudenz owned the Merry Maids franchise in Sioux Falls for 20 years and then moved into the rental property business. He’s selling off some of that property now and said the store “was a great choice for something different.”
“When you like it as a hobby, then it doesn’t seem so much like work.”
He said he had shopped at the store before deciding to buy it. “I like the products. The things they have here, you can’t find anywhere else.”
The store’s biggest seller is birdseed, and Pudenz is a fan of Wild Bird’s “no-mess” mixes. “There’s no waste on the ground,” he said.
Every year, Wild Bird Connection has an anniversary sale, and Pudenz said he’s going to incorporate that with “a meet the new owner” sale. The promotion runs through Nov. 11.
Hours will remain the same: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
As for the “gals,” Vickery is retiring, and she said Otten doesn’t know what’s next after a few months off.
It’s time for “new adventures,” Vickery said.
