If you stop inside of Premier Pet Supply to pick up some food, you might be greeted by the store's most popular resident. Some people are surprised or startled when they see him. But there's no need to be started, it's just Winston the tortoise out for his daily stroll.
"We let Winston roam throughout the store," says store owner Mike Palmer. "He forges for food and cruises around. He's very social".
Winston is a 9 year-old Sulcata tortoise and his stats are pretty amazing. He is about 25 pounds to 30 pounds. He's going to be about 125 years old to about 150 years old. He could end up weighing around 125 pounds as well.
Winston was rescued in January 2017 from a not so good situation and has been a staple of the store ever since; he's pretty much become the store's mascot.
When Winston isn't resting in his somewhat secret lair in the back of the store, he can be seen strutting up an down the isles getting friendly with shoppers or trying to be best friends with other four legged pets. "The funny thing is watching dogs interact with him because they're just not sure." says Palmer. "First they sniff him, then they back up then they recognize that he's very friendly".
You might wonder, with all of these rows and rows of pet food what does Winston eat? The answer is Winston is completely down with the green scene. He eats a lot of greens, dandilion greens, collard greens, spinach, kale any dark leaf lettuce.
Winston is also quite the star on social media, Palmer says shoppers are always stopping to take pictures and post them to Instagram and Facebook.
Whether he's posing for pictures or munching on kale, just being around Winston will get your day moving in the right, yet medium paced direction.
You can find Winston at Premier Pet Supply's Beverly Hills Location at 31215 Southfield Rd., Beverly HIlls, MI 48025.