"They are the 'Meet and Greet,'" said Margaret Lee, the salon's groomer and co-owner, "but they sleep on the job a lot."
Lee, a small woman as energetic as her dogs, opened the grooming salon just a month ago with partner Cara Anderson.
"One of our first customers walked in and said, 'Please tell me that sign just went up,'" Lee recounted with a laugh. Her new customer was afraid she had been inattentive of the ever-changing 15th Avenue streetscape.
Hardly. City Paws is Lee's third business on 15th Avenue in 15 years. She previously owned the Rootie Kazootie gift shop and the Kazootie Café.
A life-long dog lover, Lee spent three years earning a paycheck after selling her café, and decided she needed to work for herself again. She trained and became a certified dog groomer, then worked in several shops before opening her own.
"It was an opportunity I wanted to try," Lee said. "I've always loved dogs, and I wanted my own business and it seemed like a good fit."
Anderson keeps the books and Lee handles the clippers. Lee said that one of the reasons she thought a dog grooming shop would be a good idea was that she had her Shih Tzus and was constantly getting them trimmed. Because they have hair, instead of fur, they don't shed, but the hair keeps growing.
"I was spending all this money, and I thought, I can do this. I can groom these dogs," Lee said. And now she can.
"It's really great work, and all the dogs like it," Lee said. They like looking good. You can't fake it. They are happy or they are sad."
A City Paws dog is a happy dog, even if it isn't a Shih Tzu.
"You are never going to know it all," Lee said of dog grooming. "There is always more to learn about styles, fashions, shampoos; there is a lot that mimics a beauty salon."
Lee felt the 15th Avenue business district was an excellent choice for the salon. Not only is it close to both single houses and apartments, it is within easy walking distance for dogs and their owners. That is part of Anderson and Lee's eco-ethic.
"People can just walk and they don't have to get in their cars," Lee said. Ideally, her customers will be able to walk with their pets to the shop, then have coffee, eat lunch or shop while the grooming is done, and then walk their pets back home. "That's just what we want them to do."
City Paws will soon be carrying a line of natural organic pet food, kibble and canned food, all of it produced in the United States.
"It's so scary what has been happening with poisoning dogs with dog food," Lee said, referring to a recent spate of food using contaminated foreign ingredients.
Although some of the merchants may have spent more time working in the 15th Avenue business district, few have Lee's range of experience: gift shop owner, café owner and now pet salon owner. She said what she has seen is that 15th Avenue changes its mix, but doesn't seem to change its character. She felt her own business changes may be representative of this.
Rootie Kazootie's, her gift shop, was doing well for eight years, until the big dot-com bust. Then her business fell off 50 percent. So she opened Kazootie Café in the same space. She confided that the restaurant business is a lot of work, and after more than two years, she thought it was time for a break and sold the business. Now, after a three-year absence from the street, she is back with her latest venture.
"In a lot of ways the businesses are the same [on 15th Avenue], but it is exciting that new businesses have come in," Lee said. "A lot of my customers are still here. I'll be able to see some of my old customers again."
She added that there are a lot of younger people in the area now, and thought that might be because of the popular Victrola coffee shop. Rents, too, have tripled since she began her first business. She praised CHHIP (Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program) for working to make sure that affordable housing is available on Capitol Hill.
"If you take away the diversity, then you lose the flavor of the neighborhood," she said.
City Paws Pet Salon, 345 15th Ave. E., No. 202, is open Tuesday through Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. To reach them call 329-1054 or go to www.citypaws.biz.
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann lives on the Hill and can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.[[In-content Ad]]