A New Place To Pamper Your Pooch

After moving to Glenview from the city, realtor Mary Bowler set out on slowing the pace of life a bit, taking long walks with her pug, Sushi, to get to know her new neighborhood.

Taking stock of the stores in the area as they walked, she realized something was missing.

“In the city there are a lot of these small, intimate little pet shops,” said Bowler, who is an agent with Coldwell Banker in the Lakeview area, “but there was nothing like that out here.” 

Although she is still licensed with Coldwell Banker, Bowler had been thinking about what else she might do with her time—and the idea of opening a pet boutique sounded like a blast. After giving the idea a little more consideration and doing some serious homework on the subject, Bowler opened in the Willow Festival shopping center in Northbrook this October.

The boutique offers unique pet accessories as well as delicious treats and nutritious food and is quickly becoming a destination shopping location for the four-legged crowd—and their two-legged friends.

Willow Festival was a natural choice, Bowler said, given Whole Foods is among the anchor tenants.

"We are very conscious of the dog and cat foods that we offer and focus on foods that contain natural ingredients and are nutritionally sound,” she said, “So being in the same shopping center where people are shopping consciously for their own food just made sense.”

The store carries brands that, for the most part, you won’t find at larger pet store chains and offers a loyalty program on food purchases.

Fellow merchant Caroline Ammer, owner of , also located at Willow Festival said she was excited not just for the addition of a new business but also for a new place to shop with her dogs. In particular, her dogs have been enjoying their visits to ‘The Body Parts Bar,’ which offers bones, pigs’ ears, and other animal parts dogs like to gnaw on.

“My dogs love the duck feet and the antlers,” said Ammer. “And Mary is very welcoming to people and dogs alike – she’s a great addition to the center.”

Glenview resident and customer Bari Spector recently purchased a raincoat and a crate pad as well as some tasty treats for her Maltese Silky Terrier, Dawson. “I think the store is adorable,” she said, “and the people are tremendous there. They are very helpful and very kind and the store has a down-to-earth, small town flavor.”

“The dogs realize it’s their store right away,” laughed Bowler, who allows her canine visitors to wander off leash if their manners are good enough. “Sometimes they get very comfortable—we have to have plenty of clean up products handy!”

Giving her four-legged customers the royal treatment, Bowler even takes pictures of the dogs trying on collars and coats and posts them on the store’s Facebook page (with the owner’s permission, of course). A golden poodle poses in a pink bow, while a chihuaha stands with ears at attention in a knitted sweater.

In her first month of operation, business has been better than Bowler expected, she said, and she is looking forward to the future of the boutique.

“We’re hoping to add grooming next year,” she said—meaning customers can probably expect some dazzling doggie ‘dos to appear on Facebook, too.