Meet Doggy Style: An up to $1,500-a-month members-only club for SF dog lovers

Conceptual renderings of Doggy Style, Inc., a members-only social club and dog daycare slated to open in early 2019. Conceptual renderings of Doggy Style, Inc., a members-only social club and dog daycare slated to open in early 2019. Photo: William Adams Of Williams Adam Design/ Courtesy Doggy Style, Inc. Photo: William Adams Of Williams Adam Design/ Courtesy Doggy Style, Inc. Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close Meet Doggy Style: An up to $1,500-a-month members-only club for SF dog lovers 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

A retail store and members-only dog daycare will soon open its doors on a slice of 24th Street in Noe Valley that has struggled with waning foot traffic and empty storefronts. It's called Doggy Style, Inc.

Billed as an "innovative dog experience™," it's difficult to discern from the website what exactly Doggy Style is, though the cheeky name has already begun raising eyebrows.

This difficulty is compounded by the fact that Doggy Style is many things, including a dog daycare, retail shop, gallery, community events space, private day club and co-working space, according to co-owners and dog lovers Cameron Silva and Rachel Swann. Silva is the founder and CEO of Chateau De Noir Holdings, a San Francisco-based real-estate investing firm, and Swann is the managing director of real-estate brokerage The Agency, as well as president of the board of the Noe Valley Merchants and Professionals Association. Both live near the Doggy Style storefront at 3927 24th St.

"We call it our pet project," said Silva with a laugh, speaking by phone with SFGATE on Friday.

The concept was inspired by Silva and Swann's own experiences balancing busy careers and attention-seeking pets. Silva owns three dogs, Swann has four.

In a city where co-working spaces abound and dogs outnumber children, Swann and Silva think they're treading upon untouched territory.

"I always felt like there was this big struggle between working and caring for my dogs," Swann explained. She wanted to create a space where fellow dog owners could work and mingle — and not feel guilty about leaving their fur balls at home all day.

In addition to its other stated goals, Doggy Style will have a community-based mission. Swann and Silva plan to host adoption events, open the space free-of-charge to nonprofit groups, and to donate some of their revenue to charities that support animals.

"We feel like there's a couple crises in San Francisco: a homelessness crisis and a homeless dog crisis," said Swann, who adopted her dogs from regional shelters.

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Besides fostering a social club sort of atmosphere, the membership model was instituted largely as a matter of safety, Swann said. Members — including their dogs — will be vetted for temperament and "community mindedness" by application and an in-person meeting.

"It's not based on status or wealth or social anything," Silva stressed. "It's really based on behavior of the animal and the ability of the human to connect."

The owners of Doggy Style hope dog moms and dads can feel comfortable leaving their pups for the day, without having to worry about nippy, persnickety pooches. Members also have access to wifi, complimentary coffee brewed fresh by a barista, an elegant workspace designed by William Adams Design and exclusive events, like movie nights, a speaker series and "Signature Yappy Hour" with champagne and cocktails (for the humans).

The online application opens in January — Doggy Style will likely have a soft opening at the end of the month — but Silva says the waitlist already has over 250 names.

Memberships range in price from $250 a month to the top-tier $1,500-a-month membership, available to those who pay an additional $7,500 annual fee. At the lowest level, called "The Noe-sy Neighbor," members get one dog daycare visit per week, a guest pass, and invitations to basic programming and events.

The highest level features egregious perks like a hand-painted mural of your dog on the Doggy Style "Wall of Fame," a seven-days-a-week pup concierge service (pickup and drop-off), one complimentary grooming session per month and a private doggy birthday party for 12 pups and 24 humans. The middle tiers range in price from $500 to $1,000 a month.

Members will also receive discounts on retail goods in the gallery-cum-retail-store at the front of the business. The store is "kind of for dogs, kind of for humans," Swann said. She described its products as a mix between "Neiman Marcus and West Elm" — but for your pet. Currently, there is only one product for sale on the Doggy Style website: a 55-inch-long puppy plush that costs $249.

Silva says the pricing structure is comparable to other dog daycares in the city. At the $250 membership level, each Doggy Style stay costs about $58, while the $500 tier with three visits works out to about $38 per stay. At the nearby Wag Hotel in the Mission District, a single daily visit costs $46, while a monthly unlimited membership costs $630. Wag also offers overnight boarding and in-house training and grooming — services Doggy Style may incorporate down the road.

They plan to outsource such perks to local groomers and dog walkers, in the meantime, "to support people in the community" who are already operating these types of businesses, Swann said.

She hopes Doggy Style drives more foot traffic to 24th Street, a corridor that's been struggling to attract enough customers to meet the high rents.

An article published this summer in The Noe Valley Voice reported that the outcropping of vacant storefronts and the high turnover rate on 24th Street can be attributed to the "changing demographics — and tastes" in Noe Valley, as well as the growth of online shopping and high rents.

One of the merchants quoted in the story is Tej Greenhill, who opened an arts, craft and jewelry store called Artisana in the space currently occupied by Doggy Style last year. Greenhill, who is also a painter, was quoted saying she hoped for "stronger sales," and was trying to attract customers through art receptions, outdoor events and performances.

Greenhill closed the Noe Valley shop in September. She owns another Artisana outpost in Sebastopol. Greenhill could not be reached for comment. In response to a comment on her Facebook post announcing the store's closure, she cited "no money & the lease is up" as reasons for the closure.

"Things just didn't pan out financially in SF," she wrote in another comment. "It's a lot to manage right now but it will be for the best in the long run." The manager of the Sebastopol location would not comment for this story.

Swann foresees Doggy Style as a gathering space with events — for non-members, too — that compel locals to interact with their neighbors and to get out onto the streets.

Said Silva, "It's not a country club for dogs."

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

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