BERNALILLO — You can’t buy birds, wild or otherwise, at the Wild Birdhouse, but you certainly can hear them singing.

Of course, those sounds are playing on a compact disc: “Wild Birds in the Meadow,” Backyard Birds,” “Wildland Birds” and “Songbird Serenade” are among the choices.

But other than birds, pretty much anything else you’d need to feed wild birds or improve your enjoyment of those visiting your yard, can be found at 240 S. Camino del Pueblo. This business is for the birds.

Rio Rancho Observer '€”Gary Herron photo Business partner Heath Foott and store manager Pam Thomas admire an item.

Two Enchanted Hills couples — literally next-door neighbors — own the business. The Footts, Heath and Elizabeth, and the Kings, Mike and Cyndi, and it’s not their first venture together. The foursome also own Bad Ass Coffee on US 550, just west of the Rio Grande.

“One thing we’ve seen in Bernalillo is the potential for growth,” said Heath Foott.

As he tells the story, “Bernalillo Bird Feeding Co. was being sold. (The owner) was going to close his doors. We had an interest in his business and tried to procure it.”

That didn’t work out, he said, but “another couple bought it, had it about six months and threw their hands up in the air.”

So, there was a market for a “bird store.” The partners, Foott said, “didn’t want a franchise, we wanted our own style of store.”

Now they have it, and they’ve been busy tweaking it since it opened, just north of Flying Star, a few months ago. In fact, the partners added high-end dog food and cat food to their inventory.

“More and more people are very selective about what they feed their dogs, especially after the dog food scare a few years ago,” he said.

Foott grew up in California and Oregon, and works for Intel; he is a member of the Army National Guard and served from 2005-06 in Afghanistan. He met his wife at basic training in Texas; Elizabeth Foott, a native of Michigan, works for the Department of Defense and commutes to the National Guard headquarters in Santa Fe.

The Kings have lived in Rio Rancho for 20 years, Heath Foott said, and have a pone-business lead on their neighbors: The Kings — Mike’s from Albuquerque, Cindy’s from Texas — also own and operate Slik Finish Resurfacing.

It’s a good relationship, Foott says.

“The Kings are our direct neighbors. You swing a gate open and there they are.”

Open for nearly two years, Bad Ass Coffee was “hurt by the economy, but people love our product.”

He doesn’t have viable numbers for the Wild Birdhouse, but has a feeling things are going well.

“When you first open a business, it’s hard to tell because you don’t have a baseline, but it’s growing month to month,” he said.

The downturn in the economy may even help his new business, he said, now that people are cutting back on vacations in favor of “stay-cations.”

“A lot of people like to sit in their backyard and do stuff nowadays. We’re trying to tailor to those people.”

Foott said he enjoys sitting out in his backyard, watching the birds, including hummingbirds, partake of the feeders. He said there is a pair of golf finches that have pretty much moved into his backyard and sometimes as many as eight hummingbirds flitting around.

It’s a safe haven for the feathered creatures.

“I have a cat but it stays inside and I have a little Yorkie that likes to sit with me and watch the birds,” Foott said. “The Kings’ dog is not interested in the birds.”

Thanks to interest in the Wild Birdhouse, which Foott said has a customer base living in Placitas, northern Rio Rancho and the Jemez, “We’re going to build this business for another six months, see how we’re doing, then maybe franchise the business.”

The pet store chain operations in the metro area don’t pose a threat to their customers, he said, because of the personal attention.

“I’ve seen these birds … that’s our expertise.”

You can find out more about the Wild Birdhouse at thewildbirdhouse.net.