Pawtiserie seeks more space
By: Marjorie Censer
Hazel and Hannah’s Pawtisserie a gourmet bakery and upscale pet product store will move from its Witherspoon Street location to Palmer Square in March.
The shop, which opened in the summer of 2002, will relocate to the roughly 700-square-foot space vacated by Crabtree & Evelyn in September and used during the holidays as a gift-wrapping center.
Will Hassett, owner of the Pawtisserie, said he realized within the first year of opening the store that there wasn’t enough room for his business in the Witherspoon Street location. He said he liked the cozy feel of the space, but it couldn’t accommodate his stock.
"We knew from the get-go that there was a shortage of space," he explained. "Size constraints were definitely an issue very quickly."
He stayed for the remainder of the lease, and roughly a year ago began searching for a new location. Mr. Hassett said he searched extensively for locations within 10 miles of the Witherspoon Street store, but he kept coming back to downtown Princeton.
"It would be a fool thing to divorce ourselves from the area" that supported the store as it grew, he said he realized.
The new location, he said, will allow him to stock more merchandise on the ground floor and keep supplies at and run the bakery from the 400-square-foot kitchen.
Palmer Square, Mr. Hassett added, will provide a highly visible location, with plenty of foot and vehicular traffic.
David Newton, vice president of Palmer Square, said he knows local residents love their pets, but what really made him want the Pawtisserie in Palmer Square is the personality of Mr. Hassett.
"Will is somebody who loves what he does so much," Mr. Newton said. "Retailing is very tough, and lots of success has to do with attitude."
Mr. Hassett said he tentatively plans to close the Witherspoon Street store on Feb. 28 and hopes to open the Palmer Square location within the first week of March. It will not be difficult, he said, to convert the former Crabtree & Evelyn into the Pawtisserie.
"We hope to make it as seamless as possible," he said.
He said he looks forward most of all to meeting and working with his new Palmer Square neighbors collaborations are already in the works with the Nassau Inn and Design Within Reach.
And Mr. Hassett did not rule out the possibility of additional locations in the coming years. He credited the business’s success to the loyalty of its regulars he said the bulk of those who first started shopping at the boutique in 2002 remain frequent buyers.
"We credit it all to our faithful customers," he said.