We opened Woofaloo PetZone in 2019, our ethos is to bring a traditional pet shop into the modern era, with a fresh, stylish look to our displays. There are a lot of Pet lovers in the area , and we are proud to work for, and support our lovely customers, both local and our tourist visitors to the town, both UK and overseas.
We are based in a charming market town in the historic Weald of Kent, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
There are many tourist attractions, and places to visit in and around the town, we have the gardens of Great Dixter & Sissinghurst, many vineyards including Chapel Down, the K&ESR heritage railway, the Rare Breeds centre and many, many others.
We are also close to the south coast with Hastings & Rye etc. within easy reach. Throughout the year there are many events hosted in the town to attract more visitors.
We are situated in the High street in a former pub, surrounded by cafes, coffee shops, restaurants, pubs and many High Street brands; W H Smith, Fatface, Space NK, Mint Velvet and Boots, to name just a few.
We are adjacent to Market square, which holds markets on Fridays and Saturdays, and we are near to Waitrose, which has a large car park. There are further car parks in Bridewell lane, Station road, the Leisure centre and the recreation ground (which has a play area for children), as well as on street parking bays.
Many new houses have been built in recent years, and many more are planned, so the population is always increasing.
We have to listen to our customers, and respond to their needs. We have to source products to suit everybody’s pockets, from high quality brands like Hurtta, to simpler products from a UK family business.
Our job is to care for all customer’s pets, so we are meticulous in checking products that we intend to stock.
In modern times, people love to own pets and to care for the wildlife in their gardens, so our range has to reflect that. We stock Food, medicine & accessories, with our biggest sales being for dogs, closely followed by cats, small animals, birds and not forgetting hedgehogs!
We listen to our customer’s needs & wants; we carefully research products, we regularly meet with the reps for our suppliers and visit trade shows to identify new products that we consider suitable to add to our range.
We have a lot of positive feedback & comments, and because of that we have many loyal customers who come back to us regularly for what they need.
We are fortunate in that we have a large display window that we make great efforts to keep fresh with frequent changes of display. We are proud to say that we have won 1st prize and 2nd prize in 3 years when we’ve entered into Tenterden Shop Display competitions.
We have a cloud based Casio EPOS that our Casio till connects to and is linked to our credit card terminal. Most stock has barcodes and is entered into the system for ease of use when handling a transaction. It is a very good & efficient system and serves us well.
As a family business, we handle a lot of day-to-day paperwork, such as VAT returns etc. and email is the initial point of contact for our suppliers.
Email is an important aspect of business as this is how suppliers/manufacturers update us, alert us to offers & remind us to submit Christmas orders etc.
We strongly believe there are a number of avenues for improvement that could be explored:
• Retail area 103 square metres
• Conversion of the 1st floor office/stockroom to a grooming facility (subject to Landlord approval)
• Or expansion of the sales area onto the 1st floor
• Customer loyalty scheme
• Online sales
• Local delivery for elderly and those with mobility or health issues
We will be sad to leave PetZone, as we have so many fond memories of our wonderful customers and the many lovely dogs who come behind the counter to get their treats.
But, we have realised we need to move nearer to our family, so as to support them when needed. We find it emotional to sell the business we have worked so hard on, and expended so much time, enthusiasm and energy on, and will deeply miss our customers and their dogs.
The Business has a lot of existing customers and general goodwill, the fixtures & fittings are in good condition and we have well established product supplier relationships, and it is still actively running.
There are 6 years remaining on the Lease, and the rent is very reasonable for a prime High street location.
