Going from finance students to business owners, former Michigan State University classmates David Oh and Cody Williams turned their love for dogs into a business aimed to give canines and their owners a place to relax and socialize.
Oh and Williams own Barkside, a dog park and beer garden, located in the West Village neighborhood on Detroit’s east side. The name Barkside is a play on the street name Parkside, which is close to where the owners once lived in Detroit.
Before chasing the idea of Barkside, Oh worked at several technology and automotive companies for 12 years. He got the idea for the business while taking his Labradoodle, Malla, to a dog park every day after work.
“Visiting there every day like that, I felt like there was a way to create a more elevated experience than your traditional dog park, including amenities for humans as well as a safer dog park,” Oh said.
Oh kept this idea in the back of his mind for more than five years. It wasn’t until his 30th birthday, two years ago, that he finally decided to turn his idea into reality.
“When it’s your birthday you have revelations about life,” Oh said. “I started contemplating and I was like, ‘I think I’m ready to move out of the corporate world and do my own thing.’ ”
Oh approached his friend and former classmate, Williams, about the idea. Williams is a dog lover, too.
“In the past, David had mentioned ideas about a dog park and bar and indoor dog park and I never really paid much attention to it,” Williams said. “But then he approached me once and was very serious. He started telling me more about it, and the vision he painted was a place I wanted to hang out in and bring my dogs, so we started putting together ideas on a Word document, we built a pitch deck, and we just really dove head-first into learning all things about dog safety, building a bar, and what it took to staff it.”
Oh and Williams used what they learned to write the rules at Barkside. For instance, all dogs entering need to be registered with their vaccine information and dogs a year and older must be spayed or neutered.
Dog owners have the option of purchasing a monthly membership to Barkside for $35. A yearly option is available for $325. Day passes are $10 on weekdays and $15 on weekends. Patrons visiting without a dog are free.
Trained staff monitoring the park are called Rufferees.
Oh and Williams applied for a grant from Motor City Match, which awarded them $55,000 to support the establishment of the park. Motor City Match is a small business incubator that helps new businesses open in Detroit, said Lanard Ingram, spokesperson of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp, which manages the Motor City Match program by providing staff and support.
Motor City Match awards are given following a rigorous application process, Motor City Match Director Madison Schillig said. She said that Barkside stood out among the applicants because it was such a unique idea. It was the 169th Motor City Match business to open in Detroit.
“We don’t see many of those types of businesses in Detroit, and I think it was probably a first for a lot of our team to see a concept like that,” Schillig said. “Initially, the space was vacant, and it’s one that I know a lot of folks have been wanting to see activated for a number of years since its last tenant had closed. I think it’s really exciting to see it coming full circle.”
Since Barkside’s opening in November, more than 10,000 total dogs and 3,000 unique dogs have visited based on the venue’s registration records. Dogs are free to roam inside and outside of the facility. Not only has it been a place for dogs to socialize, but many people have found a community, bonding over drinks at the bar, themed trivia nights, and other organized events. They have full espresso bar as well as other nonalcoholic beverages including mocktails, lemonade and juices.
Barkside received a Spirit of Detroit award from Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield during its ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month.
Since its opening, Barkside has drawn a diverse clientele. Each day, there are kids, adults and senior citizens, regulars and new visitors, dog owners and simply dog lovers without dogs.
“We don’t have a dog, but we have a toddler who loves dogs, and we can’t have a dog currently, so we’re stopping in with the plan of letting her play with some pups that are here and explore a new place in our neighborhood,” said Riss Dezort, 35, of Detroit.
Liz Malone, 65, of Dearborn, and her sister Erin Malone, 63 of Boston, were at lunch by the riverfront with their dog on their visit to Detroit when someone suggested Barkside. So they brought their dog there for the first time. “We’re pretty amazed,” Liz Malone said. “You never know when you go someplace if the dogs are going to be cool. It looks like everyone’s having fun, it’s well-staffed, and already somebody from the staff came over and introduced herself.”
Erin Spies, 43, of West Bloomfield, drives 45 minutes with her children to visit Barkside — sometimes twice a month.
“This is like a day out for us,” Spies said. “This place is amazing. I tell everyone about it.”
Even as an admitted cat lover and cat owner, Schillig said she loves Barkside.
“It’s so fun and colorful, and I think they’ve done a really wonderful job with it,” Schillig said.
Amid the hustle of running the business, checking on the dogs, staff and visitors, Williams and Oh sometimes miss seeing the community they have fostered, Oh said, which is why it was so meaningful when a customer stopped Oh and told him to look around.
“I call Cody over and I’m like ‘remember those hundreds of countless hours that we spent planning, executing and building Barkside?,’ ” Oh said. “This is for that. It’s for the people, it’s for the dogs. Sometimes there’s hard moments, long days, you’re exhausted, you’re tired, and thinking back in that moment, it all felt really worth it.”
For business hours, event schedule, and other information, go to www.barksidedogbar.com
Melinda Mei, a Free Press apprentice, will be a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.
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