Dogo Love Vacating Castro Space, Seeking New Tenant For Sublease

Dogo Love Vacating Castro Space, Seeking New Tenant For SubleasePhoto: Shane Downing/Hoodline
Shane Downing
Published on May 14, 2016

Last July, Castro Street welcomed Dogo Love, a gift shop featuring handmade items for canine aficionados. But if you’ve walked past Dogo Love, located in the former Castro Antiques Mall, in the past few days, you may have noticed a “for lease” sign taped up in the same window where French bulldogs Tucker and Obi people-watch and greet guests. As it turns out, Dogo Love is shifting its focus to selling items on Etsyand will be subleasing its Castro store to a new tenant.

Por-Phol “Paul” Merriyagerd owns and operates Dogo Love along with his mom, Kitty. The two also own nearby Thai House Express, at 19th and Castro. All of Dogo Love’s merchandise is manufactured in Thailand.

“We’re trying to sublease it right now,” said Paul, who told us last summer that he and Kitty spent $100,000 renovating the space. “We’re planning on moving all of our stuff back home, and just having an online store and selling it through Etsy instead.”

Kitty and Paul Meeriyagerd with Tucker and Obi. (Photo: Sari Staver/Hoodline)

Paul said he's looking to move the business to his Noe Valley residence to decrease overhead. But even though Dogo Love didn’t make it work on Castro St., he had nothing but good things to say about the space.

“It’s a great location,” he told us. “The rent is $6,600 a month for about a 1,200-square-foot spot.”

Dogo Love’s departure will leave Mudpuppy’s and Best in Show as the two remaining dog-centric establishments in that part of the neighborhood. It remains to be seen whether or not another dog-lover’s oasis pops up in the same location as Dogo Love, or if another genre of store will move in.

“We just posted the lease sign up last week,” said Merriyagerd. “As soon as we can get someone to rent it out, we’ll move out right after.”