Jollyes Pets will close all of its 100-plus stores on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day as a thank you to colleagues for their hard work.

The decision reinforces Jollyes’ commitment to supporting its colleagues and recognising their hard work and commitment throughout the year, giving them valuable time to relax and enjoy the festive season with family, friends, and their pets.

Jollyes is choosing to give its teams a well-earned rest after another busy year serving pet parents across the UK.

Jollyes also confirmed it would give its colleagues a helping hand by amending December 2025 and January 2026 pay dates.

It will bring forward its December payroll to December 19 and pay January 2026 salaries a week earlier than usual to help colleagues better manage their finances over the holidays.

Adam Dury, chief operating officer at Jollyes, said: “It’s the special combination of prices and service from our talented and knowledgeable colleagues that makes shopping at Jollyes special for pet lovers.

“And that’s why we’re delighted to be able to recognise their hard work during 2025 by giving them the festive break they deserve — and a chance to spend quality time with their families – including their own pets.”

As you might expect for a pet retailer, over 95 per cent of Jollyes colleagues have a family pet and understand the importance of spending time with their own four-legged family members.

In the last 12 months Jollyes has invested in new family-friendly employment schemes as it seeks to become a best-in-class retail employer to help it attract the best talent.

Those new benefits include enhanced paid maternity leave of six months, up from six weeks, and the doubling of paid paternity to four weeks, up from two weeks.

And earlier this year colleagues could take advantage of fertility leave for two days of each IVF cycle, alongside neonatal leave and baby loss leave.

Jollyes has also teamed up with a number of organisations to help broaden the range of people who have the chance to build a career at the retailer.

That includes over-50’s recruitment platform Rest Less, Fair Chance Business Alliance, which specialises in securing roles for people with criminal records and has joined the Armed Forces Covenant that will guarantee any ex-servicemen and women an interview on applying for a role.