Stonington - The borough has long been a dog-friendly place.

There's an informal dog park behind the sewer plant, and dogs enjoy romping on the grounds of the Lighthouse Museum or taking a dip off DuBois beach. When it's hot, several shopkeepers along Water Street put out bowls of water for passing dogs and some even hand out biscuits.

But dogs here never really had a place to shop - until now.

On Saturday, Rob Hunter and Stephanie Theberge will hold a grand opening for their new store, Dockside Dogs, at 160 Water St.

The shop will feature organic collars, leashes, eco-friendly toys, food and locally-baked treats, pillows, fleeces and raincoats along with merchandise for people such as dog-related home furnishings, tote bags, notecards, books and other accessories.

"We're trying to do good, quality things. Very practical things," Hunter said.

Running the shop is a big change for the young couple, who had been living and working in Boston. Hunter, 28, grew up in Avon and had gone back to school and earned his MBA from Babson University while working as an accountant.

Theberge, 27, who grew up in Maine, was most recently an administrative assistant at Puma. Before that, she worked as a personal assistant for former General Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch and his wife, Suzy. Hunter and Theberge met as students at St. Michael's College in Vermont.

"But we were sick of city life. We knew that at some point we wanted to do something entrepreneurial," Hunter said.

They decided they would first choose where to relocate, and then look for jobs.

Hunter had family in Groton Long Point and Noank and was familiar with the area, and the couple decided they would love to live in the region. They now live in Groton Long Point.

The owner of two terriers, Gaper and Gus, they had always envisioned someday running a dog store. So they put together a business plan.

They still needed a location, but that changed in the middle of October when they attended the farmers market at the Town Dock.

"As we walked along we said 'There's a dog. There's a dog. There's another dog.' And we saw the dog bowls outside the stores, " Theberge said.

Their observation that there were lots of dogs in town was true. According to the Town Clerk's office, there are 1,922 licensed dogs in Stonington among the town's 17,000 residents.

"We realized there was a boutique for just about everything in the borough except for dogs," Hunter said.

As they walked along they passed a recently vacated real estate office.

"We said, 'That would be so cute for a store,' " Theberge said.

Hunter noticed that people walking their dogs to the park next to the sewer plant would see the awning for the store, and they decided to rent the space.

The timing was perfect, as the couple's business plan called for a Thanksgiving opening to give them a strong cash flow heading into the winter.

One day last week, as they worked to get the colorful store ready to open, they unloaded boxes, stocked displays and took phone calls.

"It's gratifying to be doing something you have a passion for and have a stake in," Hunter said.

j.wojtas@theday.com