Wiskers

Good news for those of you who loved Wiskers! Chuck & Toby, tasty treats for pets, is now open around the corner from the old Wiskers location. Opened by the founders of Wiskers. Jim and Scott are showcasing their original hand made dog and cat treats and will be carrying a small selection of gifts for pets and their parents. Stop by and visit! Our new address is 191 Park Avenue — just around the corner from our original store.

I took my doggie Benji here for some treats for the first time a few months ago. I haven’t been there since, but Benji’s birthday is coming up and I might need something, which reminded to me to make a review. I don’t know about the other reviews, but I like this place. So does Benji.

Used to be a good place, now is just plan lame.

I used to work in the grooming salon at Wiskers when Scott and Jim owned it. I miss my co-​workers so much and was sad when I learned that it was sold. Twice, since the new ownership, out of curiosiy, I stopped in. I was incredibly disappointed at how bare the shelves were! Wiskers used to be oozing with lots of crazy fun gifts for doggies and their owners. It was warm, colorful, inviting, electric and buzzing! Now it just feels stale. I hope the new owners don’t run it into the ground because this was always a unique and awesome hot spot for pets and their owners in the Shore!

New ownership has changed the whole vibe at this place. The fresh baked doggie treats are limited now. The old owner used to know us and cater to us because he knew we spent a good amount of $ in there. They also used to have a great groomer there, Talia. She left too! Last time I took my dogs there, it was a half a** grooming and a helluva lotta $. The owner there needs to cater to the locals and loyal customers to keep this business booming. It’s been empty every time I have been there as of late. PS: Paddy Wagon Bones Rule… just ask my dogs!

Arrf! Woof woof! Arrooo!
That’s the last time I let my dogs do a review on Unilocal.Learn English, guys.
They like this place. Especially the bakery. And they like that I take them there when I decide that they’re just not spoiled enough.
The anesthesia-​free teeth cleaning is great, too! For about $ 75, you’re in and out in a half hour and your dog has pretty chompers without looking like he/​she has been hitting the sauce.

I always love coming to this pet store and my trip yesterday was no exception. The employees are always pleasant, the recently groomed dogs seem calm (unusual for a grooming facility when so many dogs leave seeming stressed and over-​exhausted), and the product line-​up is always fresh and fun.
There is always a fair share of odd dog and cat collectibles as well as fancy clothing, water/​food bowls and über-​charming collars and leashes.
Yesterday I met Lulu, the resident puppy – a 4 month black Pug Nose puppy. She was adorable and was enjoying her nap before my footsteps woke her up but she was ever so happy to get to meet me. This happens a lot at WIskers – you meet new and exciting puppies. Two large birds sit on cages in the back of the store and one chubby kitty who it looking for a home.
Now, I do recommend this place if you wanna browse for some fun and odd items for your companion, but I would not shop here if you are looking for a good deal. The prices are very high and make this upscale pet facility a bit tough to religiously buy ones products from. Nonetheless, it is worth checking out.

Wiskers is a unique type of pet store. There are just as much artsy pet collectibles as there are products for pets. The term hodge podge has never been more appropriate. It might appeal to some people, but I just felt like I was in a mess of a store and think the space can be better used for to stock a bigger variety of premium products or maybe activities your pet would actually enjoy. As much as I enjoyed the baked treats here, I probably won’t be back because I just don’t feel these new owners are worth my money.
We came here on a Thursday afternoon. This store was just bought by a Korean family within the last two months from the founders Scott and Jim who had owned and operated the store for the last 9 years. The husband’s name is Michael and he said they bought the place about 45 days ago. I think he said he was working for a distributor before hand and that’s how he got into this business. They look like they are in the process in making some changes to the store. Michael said that he is planning on expanding the grooming side of the business and limiting the number of gifts and collectibles the store has. I forgot if he said he’s replacing the groomer. They have a good collection of toys, books, treats, and clothes. Highlights include the laker and dodger jerseys they have for dogs. I haven’t seen jerseys of this quality at any other dog store and if I was more into dressing Angus up, I would want to get them here. The baked good is also pretty cool. They have a lot of cool treats including pizza, bacon and cheese croissants, apple walnut turnover, and some other kind of pita pocket looking thing that I can’t remember what it has in it. They have lots of others, but those are the ones I thought looked most interesting. These are some of the best looking treats I’ve seen anywhere and Michael said they bake them there at the store (that was a lie) and there is a list of ingredients by each treat. They were out of their signature treat, so we didn’t get to try that one, but I think it’s some peanut butter kind of thing. The treats are made by the previous owners Scott and Jim who kept their bakery and wholesale side of the business and make treats for Wiskers and several in the area. Their website should be up and running in about a month or so at
. They also have a good sized section devoted to cats. It’s much larger than most pet boutiques I’ve been to. They also had cats and birds in their store. It was explained to me the birds belong to the previous owners Scott and Jim and they will be bringing them home soon. The cat is up for adoption and it’s something that they’ve done for 9 years in conjunction with The Friends of Long Beach Animals through animal control. They stock some premium food, but I didn’t take good enough notes to say which brands for sure.
The owner was friendly, but not overly so. He also had little familiarity with their baked goods and it took him about 5 minutes for him to straighten out which baked treats I got and then ring me up for 4 treats. There was no one else in the store so I let Angus walk around dragging his leash behind him. This is the part that of my experience that leaves a bad taste in my mouth and maybe why i won’t visit again. You know when you’re at dinner and are having a fairly enjoyable meal and then the busboys ask to clear your plates while they’re already in the middle of doing it and before you’re really done with your dish? Kind of ruins the meal since that’s the last impression you are left with. So I’m talking with Michael and then his grade school aged daughter rudely interrupts our conversation by loudly calling to her father from across the room to let us know she’s holding Angus’ leash like he’s a dangerous dog. Michael didn’t say anything, so I told her that he was friendly and wouldn’t be a problem. Incredulously, she just stood there while Michael again remained speechless. So feeling the tension, I walked over, retrieved the leash from her, and then walked out of the store. Maybe I had high expectations since others I had spoken with said the previous owners they had patronized were very friendly. The baked treats are some of the best I’ve seen, but I was on the fence as far as their friendliness and customer service. This just pushed me over to the side of — not going to visit again.

I usually like Wiskers, but I went in the other day to find a gift for a cat lover and was horribly let down by the lack of merchandise for cats and the condition of what was on the shelves. Everything was dusty and in bad shape; all the books on the shelves were worn and some even had «wrinkles» in the covers. Now, for myself I wouldn’t mind these signs of wear and tear, but for a gift it gets a little embarassing. The guy working didn’t offer me a discount (not that I would take it), and didn’t care that all the books were in crap condition (though, he did admit they all were).
When I finally did find something suitable for a gift, it was covered in dust and I had to ask the clerk to wipe it off (she didn’t offer). They were also out of gift wrap AND tissue paper. Why does the website claim this is a gift shop for pet lovers if they are so ill-​prepared to offer gifts? Also, several of the over-​priced picture frames were literally missing pieces of decoration and what was left were chunks of hot glue. These frames were priced at $ 32-​$ 34!!!
What a sad, sad store this has become. I left feeling like this was a waste of my time and money, and if I hadn’t been in such a hurry, I would have just gone to Pet Co or shopped on-​line.

I took my dog there for grooming about 2 weeks ago. I called (on a weekend) and they gave me an appointment, same day. You can’t ask for much better when you’re a student and busy all the time. The groomer they had could only do a bath/​nails/​ears/​anal glands, but she was a total sweetheart and she suggested we come in when there was another groomer who could do a haircut. Price-​wise I dont think it was any worse than a petsmart for grooming, I think it was around $ 30 – 35, but it will vary by size/​breed (our dog is ~23 lbs). However I like the small independent feel of the shop and the people working there.
On the way out, my hubby and I picked up some peanut butter bones from the bakery (puppy’s favorite) and headed out. Belmont Shore is a great dog friendly area with many waterbowls lining the streets outside pet friendly shops.
Wiskers on a whole gets 5 points, they have alot of cute stuff, some of it is a bit high end for my budget, but there are always occasional sales.

Cute variety of stuff for my pooches! Never really buy anything other then their baked goods because I can find the same stuff at other lower priced stores. But the bakery is so cute and makes for great gifts for my dog’s ‘friends’. They also make birthday cakes and personalize them for you. Did have one hiccup hence not a 5 star rating. Okay… here’s the story. Both of my dog’s birthdays are in November (about a week apart) and I ordered both cakes a week before the first one (Buster’s). When I went in to pick up Buster’s (the day before) I asked them to change the date when I was to pick up Maizy’s the following week. The guy said fine no problem. Okay… Buster loved his cake… blah blah blah. The morning before Maizy’s birthday I called to make sure the cake was there and ready. The chick that answered the phone said yes and I told her I would be there to get it at 4. I drive my ass over there and find parking (which is a pain) to pick up the cake. She brings out a random cake with no name on it. Uhhh no! She didn’t know anything about my personalized cake and had to call the baker. The baker apologized and said he did not know about the change in date. Okay fine… but what made me more mad was the fact that I CALLED and the chick said it was there. WTH??? Well they made it that night and I picked it up the NEXT day. They did give it to me for free so they are forgiven but it was just a huge pain in the ass to drive down there twice. Yes yes… personalized cakes for me doggies! Whatever!

I agree that the stuff here is pretty overpriced but I love coming here and just browsing all the cute stuff I wish I could get for my dog. The staff are very friendly but the placed can get cramped when you try to maneuver through the store with your dog and someone is trying to go down the same aisle with their two dogs, etc.
They have a lot of neat stuff like greeting cards and other knick knacks. I love Wiskers and I love that 2^nd Street in Belmont Shores is pretty pet friendly in general.

We love wiskers! We got our birthday cake there! It was really yummy! Us & all of our friends devoured it! Our mom buys us a treat every time we stop in. We buy our friends treats there too! We like the smells in there. They are so friendly in there & they support animal rescue & adoption. Our mom won’t support a store that sells pets, so this is the store for us! They help the community also. They are like a family that cares, not just a business! We recommend this place! We like yappy hour there too!

A-​HA! So I haven’t Unilocaled about Wiskers yet!
This place is crazy expensive, but if your insane (like me) you’ll spare no expense on your furry little children. They have a lot of cat/​dog accessories, designer bowls, toys and even a frickin bakery! (I think they even have a grooming facility in the back) I dropped $ 80 on a matching set of ceramic bowls for my beastie… which I currently can’t use because one day The Beast was impatient, couldn’t wait the extra 5 minutes it would’ve taken me to put her dry food back on the ground, jumped up on the counter and somehow managed to break her food bowl. Awesome – there goes about $ 40. (she now has stainless steel bowls) On another occasion my fiancé dropped $ 30 on some cat toy that amuses her for about, oh, 3 minutes. What the hell, right? =/

Yes, the merchandise is kind of overpriced, but I’m willing to pay a few more bucks to support a worthy independent business. As for the goodies, I wouldn’t come here for ordinary every day treats, but for a special occasion (or just a random act of kindness) the doggie baked goods are amazing. The employees are super helpful and obviously really care about animals. I like that they’ve got a friendly parrot and rabbit («Frank Sinatra») in the middle of the store and that people are welcome to play with them.
Minus one star for having a pretty crappy selection of dog toys. If your dog wants something other than a beanie baby to play with, you’re going to have to look somewhere else.

Highly recommended if you want to adopt a cat. We did and we’re very happy with our decision.
The owners are friendly and always in the mood to «talk pets».
Be sure to buy a snack for your pooch!

Thanks to the reviews on Unilocal,my dog loved his cake and so did all his buddies that showed up to his birthday party. I wonder if the frosting has sugar since it smelled and tasted a bit sweet… not human cake level sweet, but sweet nevertheless (I had to taste test first :).
You’ll have to order 3 days in advance for the birthday cake. They have round and bone shaped, small and large sizes. The small bone cake runs around $ 15. There are other cute dog treats there, including cupcakes.

We got a bone-​shaped birthday cake and treats for my dog’s birthday from Wiskers, and he — and his two guests — loved it. LOVED IT. That cake was gone in a minute flat. After the disastrous cake from last year’s party (see my review for Three Dog Bakery), I really wanted to go with a quality place. Thanks to my fellow Unilocalers, I found one I’ll be sticking with, even though it’s quite the drive to Long Beach. I love that they make their own cakes in a nearby facility — no more worries about moldy treats!
Wiskers is also a pet store, so they have plenty of fun and cool accessories for dogs, cats, and even birds. A really friendly and welcoming place for pets and their human families.

Long Beach’s first doggie bakery is still the best one I’ve been to. A couple others have sprung up, but Wiskers has the largest store front and the convenience of being on 2^nd street.
My pup seems to enjoy all of their baked goods, but he also eats out of the garbage, so he isn’t exactly the best means to gauge food quality.
My only complaint is that the majority of the cute stuff is for small dogs, not huge ones (like mine) but that seems to be an issue with the makers in general.
Great store, the staff is always friendly and they seem to genuinely love pets.

I’m giving 5 stars for the doggie cake.
A couple of weeks ago I had my FIRST birthday EVER. My family gave me a surprised party! YES a surprised party! One of my aunt drove all the way to Long Beach to make sure that I have a birthday cake, and Boy! am I glad she did. I LOVED IT!