High-end shopping goes to the dogs at Newport Beach’s Fashion Island mall
Through the sickly sweet fog of designer fragrances, past gleaming cosmetics counters, the giant, furry critter pads across the polished tile. The prim sales clerks don’t even bat an eye. They might even reach behind cases of creams and powders to pull out a treat.
Welcome to Orange County’s unofficial dog mall, otherwise known as Fashion Island — an upscale collection of shops and restaurants in the even more upscale enclave of Newport Beach. Startling as it may be to out-of-town shoppers, dogs are everywhere, even inside Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Macy’s.
In typical Southern California style, a flawlessly dressed woman glides by in black sunglasses, pink shopping bag slung over her shoulder, a white poodle tucked under her arm — the dog coordinating perfectly with her outfit.
“Dogs have become the new kids,” said Kathy Jones, manager of Muttropolis, a high-end pet store that’s the focal point of Fashion Island’s dog-friendly culture. “You tend to spoil them.”
Such as the couple pushing their Chihuahua-mix Daisy through the shop in a pet stroller as they browsed for a new halter for her, killing time before the dog’s turn with a pet masseuse.
