A new business coming soon to Gulf Breeze has a whole lot of tails wagging.
The Dog Stop, a national chain that specializes in dog boarding, grooming, day care and retail, is opening up a location in the old Treehouse Cinema location in the city of Gulf Breeze. The 10,000-square-foot facility for Fido is scheduled to open by late March or early April.
Jodi Gup, a Pensacola resident and the franchise owner, said she wanted to bring the luxury doggie day care concept to Gulf Breeze after enjoying similar facilities while she lived in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
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“I used to travel a lot for work, and I always had dogs and I would board them at these kinds of places. In big cities that’s sort of the normal thing to do,” Gup said. “There was nothing like that here (in Gulf Breeze). I’m so excited.”
The Dog Stop in Gulf Breeze will feature luxury boarding accommodations, doggie day care, a “spa-like grooming retreat,” a retail store and more.
The old movie theaters are being transformed into play rooms that will include slides and climbing apparatuses. The playrooms will be supervised by Dog Stop staff, and the dogs never go into kennels during daycare unless the owner requests so.
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The play rooms open up into an open-air fenced-in backyard decked out with special anti-microbial “grass” turf.
The Dog Stop will offer hourly, half-day and daily day care options, in addition to overnight boarding.
The location will employ around 15 people, Gup said.
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Gup has two pups of her own, small rescue mutts named Lollipop and Whaley. She said she thinks the doggie day care concept will go over well in a place like Gulf Breeze, where she’s noticed people love their dogs just as much as she loves hers.
“I always said that if I was going to own my own business, it would be animal-related,” Gup said. “I looked at a lot of different dog boarding concepts and this is the one that I felt was doing some great things. I’m thrilled to be working with them.”
And for humans who can’t stand to be away from their little Snoopy or Buddy for too long, the site will also offer “pup cams,” a live webcam viewing experience for humans to check in on their pups during the day or during overnight boarding stays.
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The Gulf Breeze location will be the Pittsburgh-based company’s 19th store opening, and its third in Florida.
More information, including pricing, can be found at their website at thedogstop.com/fl-gulf-breeze.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosas Press Gazette: Luxury doggie day care, boarding & spa retreat 'The Dog Stop' opening in Gulf Breeze this spring