Canine Cafe Leaving Hackettstown
Just a note to tell everyone, especially those that have been loyal customers that we are closing our Hackettstown store March 1. After 7 years we can no longer stay here with our retail store. We will be selling everything at at least 50% off now until then. We will continue our bakery and will post here when we find out where. If we do bakery here it will be by website and we will deliver within 15 miles. I will continue to bake as we have many wholesale customers not only here but other places in the country that depend on us for all their bakery items. If anyone wants to they can contact us at thedogs@att.net.
Thank you
rexI don't have a dog but have bought gifts in your store. Sad to see such a specialty store leave Main St.
Bessie Aw! I am sad, I have been wanting a puppy forever and always said to myself that as soon as I had one I would shop there! Looks like I won't get the chance. :(
Sandy OH that is such a drag. I wish you well in the future, whatever you do decide to do.
Please keep me posted on how to get intouch with you for orders.
abbadabbadoooooooo Oh, this is such a shame. You are the nicest people and it's a huge loss to Hackettstown's Main Street. Tilly, Phoebe and I will definitely stop in to see you soon.
Slade Oh no! Please please continue to sell your good online at least or my spoiled dog will go bonkers!
Sharon,
You have run such a nice business, I am sorry to see you go. Molly will miss her special treats, but we wish you the best of luck in what ever you do..
jen
mom in Htown Awww, loved your store, I order birthday cakes each year for my doggies from you, guess I can still do that via the email you gave, correct? Will miss window shopping all the baked goodies...
Kate S. 
Gina I am so so sad to see another great store leaving hackettstown. Your store filled a great niche that i am sure will not be replaced by the current influx of store owners. Please let us know where you move to.
I am so rorry about this really really bad news.....We love you store..... and the best dog cookies. all my dogs love you stuff......
thank you so much for all the free cookies you sent to us at DoggieStyleash... i am sure my costumers are going to miss those great dog cookies...
DoggieStyleash has the door open any time.....
Nelson This is only the beginning. Many stores, restaurants etc will shut the doors in 09. In the immediate area of late we have Boston Chicken, The Bedding store, doggy store and I just heard another local retail store may be closing, won't say which one as it could be a rumor and the old man doesn't start rumors
Burglaries, robberies and the like will be on the upswing. stay alert and safe.
FYI -
The dogcookie lady from Canine Cafe posted this on the other local forum -
Yesterday was the last day that we were open. Our new name and address are Fur Love of Pawz, 55 Broadway, Denville, NJ. We will be opening on or about April 15th. In the meantime we have good news for our loyal customers who either their pet cannot wait to get our treats or they cannot visit us at our new location. Hackettstown Pet, 141 Main Street is getting ready to sell a large portion of our treats. Be sure and check him out in about two weeks. To all our loyal fans both 4 legged and two - THANK YOU!
Yes it is sad that stores like mine are closing. But I am moving my store to Denville where the shopping atmosphere is more condusive to earning a living. After all that is all I want to do. Not get rich, just earn a living which became impossible in Hackettstown for two years now. You can all kid yourselves about what is wrong here, but I predicted that Main Street was in trouble a few years back. There are so few stores here for the people living here that they just do not come here now. If you go to Denville which I have been doing for months now, they always have shoppers in their stores and people on the main street. There are not illegal immigrants hanging on corners. There are not signs in other languages other than Engish, etc. Say what you will, there is and has been a large problem here that no one likes to talk about and so I have to make a living so I am moving. I still live here and hate to go, believe me.
dogcookie lady
Norton, having a hard time following your post, are you saying that the woman that owned Canine Cafe wrote that? Interesting if she did.
Bessie - That's what she wrote on another thread as to the reason why she is moving to Denville. I think it tells a lot when a popular retailer says many of the things that shoppers have also expressed on this forum. But it seems when the shoppers say the same reasons why they don't shop in Hackettstown people on this forum accuse them of being racists. There are people on this forum who don't believe this is a problem and they say they shop in Hackettstown. But are there enough of them that business can survive on their purchases? Apparently not because as she says, "No one likes to talk about (it) and so I have to make a living so I am moving". Can't fault her for that.
I guess it's a good thing all the businesses in town don't share that feeling or they would all move out. Personally, I didn't support that business because I didn't have a dog, and when I did go in there for dog biscuits for Christmas for my neighbors dog, it was pricey (for me). Maybe in this econonmy, spurging on dog accessories was where people had to cut some spending. Just a thought.
Norton - when it's an actual post - you can usually cut and paste (see how your post looks below). The way you did it, for all we know - you could've written that yourself.
Yes it is sad that stores like mine are closing. But I am moving my store to Denville where the shopping atmosphere is more condusive to earning a living. After all that is all I want to do. Not get rich, just earn a living which became impossible in Hackettstown for two years now. You can all kid yourselves about what is wrong here, but I predicted that Main Street was in trouble a few years back. There are so few stores here for the people living here that they just do not come here now. If you go to Denville which I have been doing for months now, they always have shoppers in their stores and people on the main street. There are not illegal immigrants hanging on corners. There are not signs in other languages other than Engish, etc. Say what you will, there is and has been a large problem here that no one likes to talk about and so I have to make a living so I am moving. I still live here and hate to go, believe me.
dogcookie lady
Norton
Feb 23, 09 7:19 pm
Permalink
happy2bhere I agree, Bessie. I found it to be very pricey, especially when I could buy comparable things for a much lower cost at Hackettstown Pet Supply.
Also, when they had that Hometown Holiday event, the discounts they offered would decrease each hour. So from 8-9, it was 25% off and then from 9-10 it was 15% off. Well, I was looking through the bandanas trying to pick one out around 8:59 and she was counting me down! She told me I had one minute left or else I would only get 15% off. I mean, come on, some of my items had already been rung up and you're not going to give me 25% because I'm 30 seconds late?
Petty, perhaps, but it rubbed me the wrong way.
MB Norton - Does it really tell a lot? Or is it just an instance of a shop retailer blaming someone else?
GC Happy2bhere - ?????? Go to the "It's sad our upscale stores in town are closing" thread and you can find dogcookie lady's post.
GC/Bessie/MB - According to you I guess it's good riddance that the Canine Cafe is gone. Now you just have another empty storefront - just like Boston Market, the old Rite Aid, Rita's, the unfinished building next to Skylands Bank, The Bedding Store, Sunrise Preschool, Isoceles, Carvel and numerous others.
Not really sure where you think good riddance was meant Norton. I don't know where anyone thinks a town the size of Hackettstown could support a Rite Aid, Eckerts, Walgreens, Skylands, CVS and Shop Rite pharmacy. I'm surprised more of them aren't gone. Rita's is seasonal and I'm surprised they're not reopening, always pretty packed when they're opened, Sunrise preschool, I have no young kids. I don't know the reason they all closed. Norton, just out of curiousity, what are all the stores on Main St do you support to help them stay open?
And quite honestly, if MB's story is true (and I have no reason to doubt it), what she experienced there is crappy customer relations. If I had stuff already picked out and was getting 25% off and while debating which bandana I wanted was being told to hurry or I would only get 15% off because the hour was up, I probably would have left everything and walked out. That's just me though, LOL.
I'm not saying good riddance, Norton. I'm just pointing out that perhaps there are other issues which led to the demise of the store and it is unfair to place complete blame on illegal immigrants and the town.
Slade, I was going by Norton's post and I think Old Man had mentioned it on another post...under Rita's Ices or something. I don't know for a fact that it's true, I was surprised by it myself.
MB - Thank you for your reply. I can appreciate your position but I also think you the merchant's reasoning has to be considered even if you don't want to hear it, (and especially because it's echoed by other merchants and residents in the area). Think about it - she could change her pricing and her customer service but she can't change the "environmental changes" going on in the downtown area. If she thought lowering her prices and changing the way she ran the store would have made a difference I sure she would have done that before making the decision to leave. If you read the posts above, (and other threads) you will see she had a loyal following - unfortunately it doesn't seem she had enough people willing to patronize her business for her to make a living. And that is what many area residents have been saying about the downtown Hackettstown area - it's not an appealing place to shop. People have ideas on what improvements could be made and have expressed them but then others on this forum have ridiculed them and labeled them as "racists". What I am saying is that you need to listen to what merchants, (including the ones who are leaving) and shoppers are saying and honestly and openly evaluate their opinions even if it's criticism you don't enjoy hearing. Don't just automatically tune them out or argue that they are wrong. IMHO
I said it before and I'll say it again, Hackettstown's Main St hasn't had a lot of places to shop in many years, long before what people feel is the current problem. It's just easier to have a scapegoat now. Just wondering, for those that have shopped Main St in the past, please share what stores you miss the most and how long ago did they leave? Norton, what stores di you shop at on Main St that you miss the most? How long have you lived in town?
Sorry to see you go from Canine Cafe - I agree with the comments about people hanging on street corners, etc. etc. I don't like the look or feel of Hackettstown much anymore, it is not like it was 9 years ago when we first moved here.
I don't consider myself racist, but I hate to see the way the area is going and it is not going to get any better.
Norton, it isn't that I don't want to hear it. I certainly recognize that it is an issue. However, the problem comes when one valid point turns into rants against all the hispanic people in town. Cracking down on illegal immigration is one thing - making negative blanket statements about an entire ethnic group is another entirely and that is where it turns racist.
Furthermore, what exactly do the discussions accomplish? Absolutely nothing. I've been reading this board for almost 3 years now and the same conversations pop up from time to time and nothing changes. If you are so bothered by it, start being proactive rather than just complaining on the Internet.
Christine MB - You say nothing changes - I disagree - it's gotten worse. There are now more empty storefronts in town. And the merchants that are still here are saying they are barely hanging on. What does that tell you? Are we going in the right direction or the wrong direction? Yes, the economy is having an impact but as others have mentioned other towns seem to be coping better than Hackettstown - for instance Denville and Madison. If you're not going to listen to people then you are right - it's only going to get worse. IMHO
Right, and how exactly do you want change to happen? What exactly are you accomplishing by complaining on the Internet?
I lived in Denville for over 10 years. I still owned a house there while I have been in Hackettstown. To think Denville is some how immune or not facing the same issues is just seeing what they want to see. There's big turn over in many of the main street type shops there, and in fact more turn over in the past 10 years than there has been in Hackettstown.
Good point GC. I had dinner the other night at Hunan Taste and had noticed the same thing. I thought diversity has come to Denville too!
Norton, you did never did tell what your favorite Main St stores are that are now gone because of the "problems". Do you go to the town meetings to voice your concerns or only HL?
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