Everybody knows Bailey.

You’ve probably seen her in local TV commercials for Kring’s Interior Fashion Center, with store owner Brit Kring’s arm slung around her as he talks about good deals on ceramic flooring.

Bailey’s a 2-year-old female Black Labrador Retriever that Kring got when she was 11 weeks old. Now she’s a fixture in the store at 634 Mass.

She’s there every day, even when Kring is out of town on vacation.

“Somebody from the store actually goes to Brit’s home to pick her up and bring her to work. Yes, she commutes like the rest of us,” said design consultant Jana Flory.

The reason the friendly dog has become such a reliable presence in the store is that ” quite apart from the companionship she offers the staff ” Kring’s customers love her.

A puffer fish explores the corner of his aquarium at The Sandbar, 117 E. Eighth St., while Pat Mushrush tends the bar. As the name implies, this fish puffs up as a defense mechanism. Second only to beer, the puffer fish, who shares the aquarium with a Lion Fish, a Lunar Wrasse and a Snowflake Moray Eel, is one of the Sandbar's main attractions.

“We were just laughing about it,” Kring says. “The last three people who walked through the door came in just to see Bailey. If I would’ve known what it would be like to have a dog like her in the store, I would’ve gotten one 20 years ago.”

Kring’s isn’t the only Lawrence store to have discovered the magic of having an animal in residence. Downtown businesses are crawling with a variety of four-legged ” and finned ” creatures.

The pets soothe the frayed nerves of employees and woo customers into the stores to have a look around.

Like Bailey, many of these animals develop quite a following of their own, increasing foot traffic in the stores and drawing in folks who just come to see their favorite pals.

Think of it as furry advertising.

Public face of store

Alice, a cat that is a fixture at The Dusty Bookshelf, 708 Mass., rests in a chair surrounded by stacks and shelves of books.

It works, too. Nothing so creates a buzz around downtown stores as having an amiable creature for customers to interact with. Often the animals become nearly synonymous with the places they call home.

That’s definitely the case at Love Garden, a new-and-used music store at 936 1/2 Mass. The four cats who reside there ” Jack, Kandy, Lulu and Cayenne ” have become famous around town.

They’ve appeared in Love Garden’s TV commercials, and their images adorn T-shirts, buttons and stickers available at the store. One T-shirt for sale bears a photo of Jack, a chunky, black-and-gray tabby. It reads, “Love Garden, Where Cool Cats Shop.”

A pile of stickers near the cash register cleverly mimics the cover of an early Beatles album, with the heads of the cats where those of John, Paul, Ringo and George should be. “Meet The Cats! Love Garden’s Phenomenal Feline Foursome,” it says.

“They’re the face of the store. We want this to be a pleasant place to come to, and the cats help brighten it up,” says Kelly Corcoran, a clerk at Love Garden.

Daisy keeps a watchful eye over the bicycles at The Bike Shop, 818 Mass. The Husky likes to loaf close to the windows, admiring passing pedestrians and exchanging cold stares with passing pooches.

“They’re usually crabby, but occasionally sweet and sociable. They saunter around here. They’re sweet in the morning and when we give them food.”

Betty Boop and Gorbachev

But not all downtown pets are warm-blooded.

Stanley, a rescued alley cat, provides entertainment for customers and employees at Sunflower Outdoor & Bike, 804 Mass. Stanley takes a breather from a hard day's work as employee Alix Greenwell laughs at his antics.

Take, for instance, a quartet of aquatic creatures on display in a 50-gallon saltwater tank at The Sandbar, 117 E. Eighth St., a popular hangout for Kansas University students.

The tank, which is located behind the bar, contains: a Porcupine Puffer Fish; an elegant, spiky Lion Fish; a deep-blue Lunar Wrasse; and a Snowflake Moray Eel. The Puffer Fish is clearly the star.

“Customers love him. Some people thinks he looks like Betty Boop or that the spot on his head makes him look like Gorbachev. One of our bartenders calls him ‘Frank in the Tank.’ He’s so ugly, he’s cute,” says Pat Mushrush, assistant manager.

David Johanning, manager, has also witnessed the fascination customers have for the Puffer Fish. “Man, people will sit there and watch it for hours,” he says.

Now the bar’s management is talking about adding yet another attraction to the business: a shark tank. That’s not just pie-in-the-sky talk, either.

“It’s going to happen,” Johanning says.