FL Dog Bar Expands Footprint With New Location

SARASOTA, FL — St. Petersburg’s Dog Bar is expanding with a new location in Sarasota.

Dog Bar Sarasota will open sometime this summer at 1314 10th Street.

The spot was previously home to Boo’s Ice House & Dog Bar, which closed in January.

The business was impacted by first Hurricane Helene, followed by Milton, Fred Metzler, Dog Bar owner, told Patch.

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“At the end of the day, the storm (Helene) knocked them down,” he said, adding that Hurricane Milton “sealed the deal.”

Boo’s owners were inspired by Dog Bar St. Pete when they opened their doors in 2023.

They remained close with Metzler and other Dog Bar owners and staff. So, when the hurricanes affected their business, they reached out.

Not wanting to see the space shut down, Metzler jumped into action.

“When they chose to close the doors, obviously it had all of us upset,” he said.

Within weeks, they created a plan to reopen the location as Dog Bar Sarasota.

“We’re pretty excited. It feels like an amazing opportunity,” Metzler said. “It feels like the right thing to do.”

He added, “We really do feel like there should be one of these in every city.” In St. Pete, they’ve built a “Dog Bar village,” Metzler said. “We have a strong membership group that loves what we do and love being a part of it. In so many ways, we feel like we’ve caught lightning in a bottle a little bit and we hope to protect that and we hope to do that in Sarasota.”

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