The new Buster and Sullivan?s Dog Boutique is more than just another upscale store for those with a pension for pets. It is a small window in to the world of a mother and two sisters who want to help pets as much as they want to accessorize them.
Sydney, Courtney and Chelsea Cicourel celebrated the opening of their second Buster and Sullivan?s in the Malibu Country Mart, located at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Cross Creek Rd, on August 2nd with more than a few celebrities joining in the gala event.
Stars such as Tia Carrere, Daviad Hasselhoff and Entourage?s Cassidy Lehrman posed for photos with their pets in front of the newly opened boutique while customers wandered in and out of the posh courtyard affair.
What is most interesting about the new dog paradise, self-described at their Web site www.BusterandSullivan.com as ?a unique boutique for dogs (and their people),? is that the high-end event was nothing further from what the shop is interested in as a mission. The Cicourel team wanted Buster and Sullivan to avoid that haute-culture vibe that normally stops everyday customers at the welcome mat; instead, they created what they describe as a ?village? atmosphere.
Throughout the small shop, owners wander with their pets as they look through the many different departments. Even at the opening ceremonies it was a dog?s world as many of the canine counterparts lay comfortably around the plaza sampling some of the pet friendly cuisine.
Indeed it is that very cuisine which helps set the boutique apart from other upscale niche stores in that they host a ?Yappy Hour? in which dogs can sample gourmet biscuits and other high-class canine roughage while their owners mingle.
Although the shop vies for a ?village? atmosphere, there is no reason to think that the opening ceremonies were anything but red carpet material. While celebrities posed outside, customers wandered through a store with walls packed in the upscale merchandise that can set a pet apart from the rest at their favorite park.
Leather leashes and collars with price tags as high as $163 hung from their displays along the collar section and dog clothing lines such as Paris Hilton?s Little Lily offered accessory options for any season.
While there were plenty of options to keep some smaller canines from ever being bare again, there was an absence of clothes for larger dogs although they are not normally wrapped in cottons anyway.
Though some would make fun of customers that would stop because a Los Angeles Dodger?s dog shirt or Lakers collar caught their eye, Gena Caulderon begs to differ.
Working at the original Manhattan Beach boutique located at 451 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Suite D-122, Caulderon used to think the same thing about those who would dress their pets.
After working successfully in high-pressure fields such as real estate, she wanted to work with someone who understood the finer side of life and signed on to help the Cicourel team.
The joy of working with her dog is something that keeps her coming back to Buster and Sullivan?s everyday as she helps customers while her puppy prot?g? helps the more canine inclined feel at home. She says she loves every second of it now and would not think of doing anything else.
Those who work at the boutique are also the first to poke fun at themselves, carrying chew toys with labels like ?Bark Jacobs? or ?Jimmy Chew.?
A portion of the proceeds from the event went to help Much Love, a foundation that is, according to their Web site www.muchlove.org, ?a 100% nonprofit, no-kill organization dedicated to reducing overpopulation, abuse and neglect of domestic animals.?
Chelsea Cicourel commented that the foundation was really what the night was about because it helped push forth the mission of the boutique, helping pet partners get happy homes.
However, there is no rest for the team now; another boutique is going to be opened later this year in Seattle as Buster and Sullivan head north for more exposure and little more fun.
