Pets Corner

Pets Corner UK Ltd is a United Kingdom based pet retail store chain. Its main area of business is selling specialist pet foods, accessories and treatments predominantly for dogs and cats, but also for small animals, reptiles, birds, wildlife and tropical and cold water fish.

The company's headquarters is in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom. It has 112 stores across the UK. In April 2016 the company acquired competitor retailer PamPurredPets adding an additional 51 stores to its existing portfolio, making it the second largest pet retailer in the UK by store numbers and EBITDA.

History

Pets Corner began in 1968 when Mark and Sandra Richmond, (parents of the present Managing Director Dean), bought a small shop in Haywards Heath, Sussex. Both had worked in farming and had owned many pets.

The shop grew very quickly and was relocated to South Road where it traded until 2011, before it was moved to its current, much bigger store on Wivelsfield Road. In 1983 a second store was opened in George Street, Hove and this too enjoyed rapid growth.

In 1992 a new garden centre concept store was opened in Brighton and during this time many of the company’s current sales techniques were developed.

IT began to be used prevalently at this point with systems streamlining processes and EPOS. Pets Corner committed to being as efficient as possible to allow its specialist staff to focus on helping customers rather than administrative tasks.

In 1998 Dean Richmond bought the business, [which at the time comprised seven shops], from his parents.

In 1999, with the agreement of Country Gardens’ CEO Nicholas Marshall, Pets Corner began opening garden centre concessions. In 2000, Country Gardens was bought by Wyevale and the expansion of Pets Corner garden centre concessions was temporarily halted. However, in 2008 when Nicholas Marshall became CEO of Wyevale, expansion of Pets Corner concessions into Wyevale garden centres (now The Garden Centre Group) was quickly resumed.

As a result, between 2000 and 2008, 21 stores opened and three independent pet shops were acquired. Breaking away from garden centre concessions marked a new era for Pets Corner stores. The first standalone store was opened in West Hove in 2007 and in 2009 the Bournemouth standalone store was acquired and part let to The Pet Practice Veterinary Surgery.

In 2004 the first warehouse was opened in a former chicken shed measuring 2,000sq ft. utilising EPOS and supply chain systems.^[1]

The business currently operates from two warehouses in Crawley totalling 28,000sq ft. and is looking to build a new BREAM rated outstanding HQ and distribution centre in Sussex totalling 60,000sq ft.

Stores

The Pets Corner headquarters is located in Crawley, West Sussex, above the current Crawley store. Located in Gatwick, near Crawley, is the company's 28,000 square feet (2,600 m²) distribution centre, supplying 70% of the Pets Corner range directly to the stores. The company’s delivery transport was updated in 2012.^[2] The new stores from 2011 onwards are being equipped with LED lights.^[3][4][5]

Pets Corner continues to consolidate its position with more stores set to open throughout 2016. During its last financial year (ended September 2015), the company opened 14 new stores.

To date the 112 Pets Corner stores consist of 41 standalone stores and 71 garden centre concessions.

In April 2016 the company added a further 51 stores to its portfolio after acquiring competitor PamPurredPets for £6 million. All stores will be rebranded to Pets Corner over the next few years.

References