Pet Boutique, Grooming Salon Opens

Your dog needs a bath and grooming.  Or a new chew toy.  Or food or doggie treats. Or maybe a new collar or bandana. The same for your cat.

You don’t have to leave Barrington anymore to find all of the above. Style Unleashed, a new pet boutique and grooming salon, has opened at 232 Waseca Ave. 

Karen (Andreozzi) Lynch, with deep Barrington roots, is the proprietor. Pat Ryan, the former owner of the Shaggy Dog grooming salon in Barrington, is the groomer.

“I got her to come back,” said Lynch, who lives in Bristol, where she serves on the Bristol-Warren School Committee.

Lynch opened the boutique about four weeks ago. She opened the grooming salon about two weeks later.

Before she opened, Lynch said, she traveled to a host of other boutiques “and told my story.  They were very cooperative.”

Lynch said she opened in Barrington because of her roots and the fact that there is no similar business in town.

“There is no place else to go,” she said.

Lynch, who owns two dogs herself, said: “I put things in the store I would buy. I picked everything for a reason.”

Among her products are three lines of dog food, Wellness, Blue Buffalo and Canidae.  She also stocks organic products, including the Papa ‘pooch’ Inelli brand.

And you can find just about everything you need for a pet, including a variety of carriers, toys, water bottles that dogs can drink out of by themselves with a lick of the tongue, novelty collars and collars made of Italian leather and studded with crystals, beds and mats, and strollers.

Lynch also carries “Thundershirts” for dogs, which swaddle them like a baby in soft cloth to fight off anxiety instead of medications 

Want to try a food or treat before buying?

“I have plenty of samples,” said Lynch, who gives out treats with “report cards.” 

Spa services include "The Clean and Shine”: wash, dry, brush, clean ears, trim nails and clean teeth. Rates range from $25 to $40 depending on size and hair length of the dog. 

There is also a Classic Cut, De-Matting, and a la carte services for nail clipping, teeth and ear cleaning. 

Lynch, who has degrees in interior design and elementary education, worked in the family architectural business for many years before deciding to open the boutique.

“I’ve always loved dogs,” she said. “It’s always been in the back of my mind” to open a store. 

The best part of her job?

“I get to play with the dogs,” Lynch said.

Style Unleashed has a Facebook page. A computerized system sends out email reminders 24 hours in advance for owners who have scheduled grooming for their pets.

Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 am to 5:30 pm and Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm.