Dog Biscuit Bakery Makes Move to Salem from Danvers

The New England Dog Biscuit Company has completed its move from Danvers Square to downtown Salem, where it has opened in a Central Street storefront just off the Essex Street pedestrian mall.

Mayor Kimberley Driscoll announced on Tuesday that she will take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony there next week.

The new store at 7 Central St. includes a retail store and dog biscuit bakery, where all-natural dog biscuits are baked. The store had been located on Maple Street, next to CVS, in Danvers Square since 2012.

The bakery sells seven flavors of biscuits - apple, blueberry, cheese, ginger, peanut butter, peanut butter and banana and sweet potato - plus canine cannolis, birthday bones and seasonal treats.

Owner Dennis Bourgault said he tries to specialize in local and U.S. made products.

“We carry Catered Canine, a fresh-cooked, frozen dog food made right in Beverly, for example, as well as Dog Gone chicken and beef chips from Georgetown, Lupine collars from New Hampshire and Planet Dog toys from Maine,” he said in an announcement about the store’s new location.

Bourgault said he is happy that the new store is open in Salem, where he family has strong roots.

His parents were of French-Canadian descent and met and married at St. Anne’s, where his uncle was a priest.

Bourgault is following in the steps of his grandfather, who had a retail store in Salem in the early 1900s.

“We have a picture of my grandfather standing in front of his grocery store in Salem but, unfortunately, we do not know exactly where it was,” Bourgault said. “My understanding was that it was lost in the Great Salem Fire, along with his home on Porter Street, which he rebuilt, but we really don’t know.”

The New England Dog Biscuit Co. comes after Bourgault owned and operated Doolittle’s Ltd., which owned the largest pet supply store in the Washington, D.C. area plus a dog bakery, for 17 years.

The ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled at the new Salem location for Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 2 p.m.