The sound of barking dogs sweeps over the counter from the back room and out the front door of the little building. It is painted a cheerful blue and sits on a peaceful corner in the Sunnyside area.
The historic building, at the corner of a street (North Center) and an avenue (East Arrowhead), houses Pro-Groom: The Dog Grooming Professionals, which opened last August after a major renovation effort.
Dating back to the 1940s when it was Sunnyside Farms, folks could pick up their milk and ice in the drive-through that has now been enclosed to serve as the lobby of the grooming business.
Owner Denise Dean, with her assistant of seven years, Chris Hoffman, specializes in complete dog grooming for up to 14 dogs a day, Tuesday through Saturday.
The total makeover includes nail trimming, cleaning the ears, a thorough comb-out and brushing and clipping of the hair.
The final style is, “However people would like it to be done,” Dean explained. “You do it in parts and pieces.”
Loving All Things Dog
Chewbacca, a 10-year-old poodle-mix who just got a two-hour groom, emerges from the shop just before closing time.
He’s looking good, and from the arms of Dean at the door, his eyes scan the horizon for his owner, who will pick him up soon.
Dean is very fond of all the dogs she grooms, which is evidenced by the fact she has been grooming dogs since receiving her training in 1970 in Las Vegas right after high school. She has been grooming in Flagstaff for about 40 years as well, including 27 years at her previous business location at another address, a rental on Center Street.
“My whole life is involved with dogs,” said Dean, who is also an AKC confirmation judge for herding and working dogs. “I travel around the country judging, and I’ve been to Canada and England.”
She and her husband, Pat Hatch, live in Parks and have 23 acres and 10 dogs, both Old English sheepdogs and Bernese mountain dogs, which they also show.
“They’re all part of the family,” she said. “We always tell people the dogs let us live in our home.”
In the shop, it is just dogs, too, as she would need a separate area for cats if she offered grooming services for feline pets.
Many Loyal Customers
Dean bought the business building, which for years was the Tamale Pot restaurant, from Pat Radcliff, who had inherited it from her mother, Veta Tinnins. Tinnins, who came to Flagstaff in 1937, owned a complex of buildings at the Sunnyside corner, including the home she lived in for more than 50 years, which was next door to the commercial spot. Coincidentally, Tinnins, who died in her 90s in 2008, had been a grooming customer of Dean’s for decades, and Radcliff still brings in her dogs.
“My mom had a little poodle, a very old poodle named Candy,” Radcliff explained. “She wouldn’t let anybody but Denise touch her. I use Denise all the time, and I have a very old Pomeranian. He’s the old man of the family, and he loves Denise, always has, and she loves him.”
Radcliff says she likes the renovated look of the building that has “been a bit of everything,” including a burger joint, barbecue spot and, more recently, sat empty for about a year.
“It looks nice; I love what she did,” she said. “I like and respect Denise Dean. She’s quite a businesswoman, and she’s a friend. She’s a very classy lady.”
Another satisfied customer is Brian Cook, who came to pick up his pit bull, who had his nails done. “My great-grandmother brought her dog, Muffy, to Denise for years,” he said. “It was a little Yorkshire terrier. Her whole life, Muffy was around. She was always clean and real nice.”
A Really Good Business
Dean says she thinks the facility was too small to be a restaurant, without space to put in all the things required by the county. It is a good fit for a dog grooming establishment, however.
“I’m really happy with everything we did,” she said. “We worked on it March to August. And, we put in a new tub – stainless steel and state-of-the-art. It was the big purchase, but it’s been worth its weight in gold.”
They kept the Mexican-style mural on the outside, which customers had always liked.
Plans for the future include creating a room where an outside eating area is located, and putting new pavement on the driveway.
Also, they could use another person in the shop. “I’m trying to find a young person who wants to learn,” Dean said. “It’s really a good business.”
When it is time to lock the door, there is one other chore to complete – cleaning up the tall mounds of white, brown, red, gray and black dog hair clippings in the back of the shop. “We clean up, too,” Dean says. “It’s a hands-on operation.” FBN
Pro-Groom, 1924 E. Arrowhead Ave., is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The business is closed on Sunday and Monday. For more information, call the shop at 928-774-5676.
Steele Wotkyns, a Flagstaff Business News contributor, is the principal of WotkynsPRplus, a public relations firm serving clients in Northern Arizona.