Maria’s and Abu’s Pet Mart was a Hermosa Beach gathering place for half a century
by Kevin Cody Asked in 2019 if competing against pet chain stores was a challenge, Abu Siddiq answered, “It’s a challenge for them to compete against us. We own our property and our labor costs are low.” Siddiq’s wife Maria had owned Pet Mart in Hermosa Beach since 1975. The two became partners in the store when they married in the late 1980s. Maria passed away from cancer in 2020. Abu passed from cancer two weeks ago, at age 70. The pet store’s future is uncertain, but Abu’s hope was that the store would be bought by someone who would keep it a pet store, his son said this week. Siddiq came to the United States from Pakistan when he was 19. After working as a mechanic for the Air Force, he bought the Texaco gas station on Aviation Boulevard in Hermosa Beach, across the street from Pet Mart. His son said he frequented the pet store as a child, resulting in Abu meeting Maria and the two of them marrying. Like Siddiq, Maria was an immigrant business owner who moved to Hermosa in the early 1970s. Maria, was born in Portugal and grew up in Mozambique before moving to Hermosa Beach. “I had to leave. They were killing all the native Portuguese,” Maria said in the 2019 interview. In 1984…
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