Just for Pets had plenty to celebrate this month, riding high on strong sales performance after the culmination of a two-year recovery plan and scooping a coveted Pet Retailer of the Year 2019 Award.

Having been saved from the brink of administration when the company was purchased by Pedigree Wholesale in 2017, the specialist pet retailer is now bucking the trend in a fiercely competitive retail sector and is now enjoying sustained double-digit growth.

Paul Lewis, General Manager at Just for Pets, attributes the success to a comprehensive store reimage programme and a renewed focus on the customer: “We have made significant investment into Just for Pets over the last two years by rebranding our stores, introducing a new grooming salon, improving staff training and changing our product ranges including new packaging free deli treats and a specialist raw feeding store.”

“Our customers have really responded well to these changes at their local stores and we can’t wait to celebrate our two-year anniversary and our pet retailer of the year award win with them in the coming weeks.”

At a time when so many retailers are struggling, Just for Pets have managed to implement a strong business model to drive the 16-store chain back to profitability again and safeguard over 100 jobs which were previously at risk. This has enabled Just for Pets to continue its rebranding investment with 9 of the 16 stores now having undergone a reimage with three more converting this year and the remaining four completing next year.

Paul added: “The last 12 months have been a learning curve for us all, but we are continually improving and responding to customer feedback. We know there are still plenty of opportunities out there for us to improve further and we’re grateful to our customers for their continued support.

“I’m overjoyed that the hard work and dedication of our store teams was recognised by the PetQuip Awards. They work incredibly hard day in, day out to give everyone that visits Just for Pets the very best customer experience.”

Just for Pets Pet Retailer of the Year status was awarded at The PetQuip awards held at the Telford international Centre alongside the pet industry’s largest trade show which saw thousands of specialist pet retailers attend.