Jan. 22—Zoomies is poised to become more of a good thing for Santa Fe dog owners.

Owner Stephen B. Biles is expanding his cage-free dog care center into the neighboring space formerly occupied by Marquez Deli. At the same time, he is reconfiguring and sprucing up the original Zoomies space he acquired in April 2022.

By spring, Biles expects to have expanded from two to five playrooms for pooches to roam freely while their owners are off at work or doing whatever else during the day. Zoomies 24/7 Dog Day Care-Boarding, 513 Camino de los Marquez, also boards dogs for extended periods, though Biles said boarding makes up only 30% of the dog traffic, typically on weekends and holidays.

Expansion was already on Biles’ mind when he bought Zoomies, with its warehouse setting with painted concrete floors mostly peeled away, chest-high fencing setting the dog playrooms apart and nothing but the roof above.

He explored the feasibility of adding a second story, but Marquez Deli next door moved out in summer 2022. Biles immediately locked onto that space, but zoning and permitting kept Biles from starting demolition work until December.

“When I came into the community and understood the square footage and the dog visits they already had, I knew there was potential,” Biles said. “I knew we needed to grow. These added spaces give us what we need.”

Zoomies will expand from 7,000 to 10,000 square feet, but Biles also plans to reduce the size of the playrooms. He believes the smaller spaces will be more suitable for caring for the dogs.

Capacity will increase from 100 to 125 dogs. On a typical day, 40 to 60 dogs spend the day at Zoomies, where drop-off and pick-up times span from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., though Biles is considering expanding hours.

He already doubled staff from the nine he inherited to 18 with anticipation of increasing to “north of 20” when the expansion opens.

“The biggest thing I recognized was I need to staff up,” he said.

Biles is a veteran cage-free dog care advocate based in the Phoenix area. He opened Gilbert Dogs 24/7 in 2009 without a clue that 15 years later he would have a three-state mini-empire and a one-man crusade “to spread the gospel” of cage-free dog care.

Gilbert Dogs 24/7 is now Mesa Dogs 24/7, and he has added two Phoenix Dogs 24/7, a Tempe Dogs 24/7, a Chandler Dogs 24/7 and a Glendale Dogs 24/7. Then his ambition turned to Santa Fe.

“I’ve captured the market in Phoenix,” Biles said. “I found a company [for sale] in Santa Fe that was doing the same thing we were doing.”

Since taking on Zoomies, Biles has also acquired two Lazy Dog Crazy Dog cage-free operations in the Seattle area and now has nine locations.

“At some point, we hope to grow to Albuquerque,” said Biles, who is also interested in a second Santa Fe location. “My customers are spread all over the country and they say, ‘Please open one here.’ “

Biles was a third-generation Arizona copper miner until the 2008 recession. He had a Phoenix office job as a mid-level manager but was asked to transfer to the giant copper mines around Morenci near the New Mexico state line.

Time for a career change.

“It can be summed up with a single phrase: I love dogs,” Biles said. “In a traditional kennel, dogs are caged up. It has an emotional and mental impact on [them]. There was a better way to do this.”

Biles separates dogs by size and temperaments. Dogs have their own personalities and some are more unruly than others, but nearly any dog can fit in at Zoomies.

“When a dog comes in the first time, it has to pass a temperament test, a meet-and-greet; it’s a four-hour trial,” Biles said. “It’s a 98% pass rate. You get a dog away from the owner and off the leash, a well-versed dog handler works it out.”

The expansion will add full walls with viewing windows to define each playroom. Biles will install drop ceilings to transform the warehouse aura into a professional dog day care operation. He will also apply epoxy flooring.

The biggest change for dog owners will be the reconfigured layout. The customer entrance will move from Camino de Los Marquez to the back of the structure on Linda Vista Road, where there is also a small parking lot.

Biles believes his staff will have even more enthusiastic responses to the standard statement when dog owners come to pick up their charges: “I hope my dog had a better day than me.”