Every Dog Has its Day with Opening of Wag Club

By Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer

New York—Man’s best friend has a brand new friend. It’s Wag Club, a new doggy daycare center that opened Oct. 20 at One Brooklyn Bridge Park, the only residential development situated within the recently unveiled 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Those in need of expert dog services won’t be barking up the wrong tree at Wag Club. Grooming, overnight care, dog-walking services, “K-9 portraits” and expert training from Robert Haussmann of Dogboy Inc. are among myriad services.

In this dog-eat-dog world, Wag Club is without area competitors in this part of Brooklyn. It‘s the only place with 24-7 climate control, a HEPA air purification system and non-porous rubberized flooring gentle on paws and joints.

“It’s something that was needed in the neighborhood,” owner John Squires, himself a resident of the building, tells MHN. “I have a dog myself, Lucy, and there just wasn’t a place like this in the neighborhood.”

Squires got the idea for his business about six months after moving in in June 2010, and was dogged in his efforts to ensure that Wag Club would be situated in this building, within this park. “What [customers] like best is that we’re in the park, right across from Pier 6, and in a high-end residential building,” he says.

“So we were able to launch specific services catering to residents of such a building. There’s certainly good traffic among dog owners who come to this newly-developed park from all parts of the city.”

Wag Club hopes to collar many upscale customers as interested in luxuries for their pets as they are for themselves. The boutique has unleashed a number of ultra-luxury initiatives, among them the grooming services of a world-class groomer who uses only the highest-quality organic and all-natural shampoos.
While any business like Wag Club requires a lot of effort and attention upfront, Squires found one aspect of launching the business comparatively easy. He didn’t have to hound banks and other traditional sources of funding for loans. “Financing was all through family, friends and myself, he says.

The building in which Wag Club is located, One Brooklyn Bridge Park, offers 438 units, including spacious loft apartments, townhouses and penthouses. Residents enjoy a wide array of luxury amenities, including a fully-equipped fitness center, yoga room, children’s playrooms, art room, music room, media lounge, and landscaped gardens that sprawl across some 7,000 square feet. The building is about two-thirds of the way to being sold out.