Thank You Wyomissing Family Restaurant For NO MORE FUR SALES

For decades, the Wyomissing Family Restaurant has supported the fur industry by allowing Pollack Furs, a local fur shop, to have trunk shows in their banquet hall. A trunk show is a sales event for showing merchandise to any number of select customers. They often use huge discounts like 25%, 50% or 75% off to bring in more people, which creates larger sales volume. Larger sales volume in the fur and animal skin trade is no bueno. Each time the Wyomissing Family Restaurant allowed the Pollacks a platform to make their blood money, the restaurant was in turn making a bold statement that they too supported this egregious industry. An offense we did not take lightly.

When we first found out about their relationship with the Pollacks, we contacted the restaurant immediately and respectfully let the owners know that we were extremely disappointed to hear that they were supporting the fur industry. Their response was typical. “It’s just a business deal, it doesn’t mean we personally support it”. A totally bogus response to which we let them know had no backing. We reminded them that every time they allowed the Pollacks to sell fur from their establishment, they were 100% supporting the fur trade. No question about it. It was their choice.

If the Pollacks were selling the fur of cats and the skin of dogs, surely the Wyomissing Family Restaurant would oppose. Everyone in the town would be outraged. Why? Because in this speciesist society we live in, cats and dogs are family, cows and pigs are food, and mink and raccoons are to be brutally killed and worn for no damn reason whatsoever. We know that’s bogus because it just doesn’t make sense. All species have equal rights to life, compassion, respect, and protection. It’s a just matter of us stepping up, speaking out, and replacing peoples misconceptions with the truth.

Tradition and deals in long standing community businesses are hard to break and so the Pollacks continued their fur shows in the banquet hall of the Wyomissing Family Restaurant. We began protesting immediately. Compassionate people from our community (and beyond) were outraged that a “family” restaurant would support something so violent. We protested in a variety of ways for almost three years, giving people the opportunity to speak out against fur. We held signs, we yelled, we called, and we e-mailed. We let the truth be known that when you eat at the Wyomissing Family Restaurant you are in turn also contributing to the fur industry. And really, who wants to support a business who helps keep fur in demand and millions of innocent animals brutally killed annually?

Just before the first of this year, Hamid Chaudhry became the restaurants new owner. New ownership brought new opportunity. After a few calls and requests from patrons that he end his restaurants relationship with fur dealers, he has finally made the compassionate commitment to no longer have his restaurant support or be connected to the fur industry. The partnership between the Pollacks and the restaurant had expired and it was not going to be renewed.

The Wyomissing Family Restaurant finally taking a stand against the fur industry is a small step, but a step nonetheless. A step towards the overall goal of becoming more compassionate for all species. We know more now, we know better now, and we know that the fur industry nightmare has got to end. This is a step in the right direction.

It is HUGELY important we applaud businesses who make these compassionate changes and remind them that these changes are indeed positive ones. We ask that you take a moment and leave a post on the Wyomissing Family Restaurant’s Facebook page, or e-mail, applauding them for this compassionate commitment to leave fur sales out of their establishment. FINALLY!