Devon-based The Ark Pet Stores has been named UK Pet Retailer of the Year in the prestigious PetQuip Industry Awards 2022. Director Emma Smith reveals the secrets of her company’s success.
What does this award mean to you and your team?
It’s clear that our stores are loved for their atmosphere and the way they are presented. To be recognised in this way gives our hard-working team a real boost. Whilst we praise and reward, when it comes from an outside source it has a real positive impact on morale.
Who works in the business?
I am a director along with my colleague Sarah Passmore. My daughter Lilly Burgess is head of sales, and she looks after all of our team members, especially their training and well-being. We have a company ethos of ‘Our Stores, Our Pets and Our People’, and following a recent restructure we now have four senior managers covering these principles – Karl Howells and Kim Fortune Hill for the stores, Luke Elliott for the pets, and Lilly for the people.
Do you hold special events and initiatives?
We have instore pets across our group and hold birthday parties for them – Charlie, our resident micro pig, is the most popular by far! We attend local fairs and schools where possible and hold awareness events to help and advise customers on specific issues.
What makes your store so special?
I believe we offer an experience rather than just being a standard store. We are big advocates for animal welfare and our stores have received 5-stars in recent licencing inspections.
We are always striving to ‘do better’ and this is reflected in sales and feedback from our customers. We have a specific ‘parrot room’ for our hand reared birds with a walk-in aviary for the larger birds such as Macaws and Cockatoos which is also used for enriching. We have a consultation room for customers wishing to buy a parrot so they can really consider the purchase. This enables us to discuss their lifestyle etc to ensure they are matched with the right bird.
It is important to us that our animals are in their homes for their lifetime entirety. If a customer doesn't buy the full set up from us, we ask for photos of the enclosure they have at home so we can be sure the environment they're moving to is right.
We are an ethical company and believe we are responsible for every animal we sell; therefore, we offer a return service which enables the customer to return any animal to us during its lifetime if they can no longer care for it. Sometimes they are rehomed to other customers, team members or they become shop pets and live in one of our stores. This means we are not burdening rehoming centres who (in our area specifically) already have very negative views of ‘pet shops.
All of our animal food prep is done on the shop floor in a kitchen-style area, complete with microwave, blender and an array of fresh fruit and vegetables. We have displayed menus so our customers can see the thought and work that goes into looking after our animals before they are sold. Saturday mornings is porridge and Sundays are roast days! All of this encourages our customers to try things to enrich their own animals with things they haven't tried before.
We offer education to our younger customers in the way of our very popular kid's club dog wash – they come in with their dogs and with a team member will learn what to look for when washing their pets. We are very passionate about instilling the importance of being kind to animals at a very young age. We offer a school support service where we go out to schools, check enclosures, equipment (UV/Filters if they have reptiles and aquatics) and do a broad health check on the animals and advise as necessary.
Our self-serve and service wash dog wash is very popular, hosting four baths including a floor-based one for extra-large dogs or customers who have mobility issues so they can wash their dogs with ease.
Do you offer a delivery service?
We try to make our stores accessible for everyone but for those who can't visit, we go to them, seven days a week with four local vans on the road covering Exeter, Torbay, Plymouth and the surrounding areas. Online, we have a live chat so customers can speak to us and get advice before making a purchase if needed.
What training do you give your staff?
Our team members are trained to a very high standard to be able to offer the very best service to our customers and are encouraged to progress and learn more wherever they can. PIF courses are readily available and many of our team members have completed these, along with external courses such as Reptile Diplomas, Parrot Studies & Behaviour Diplomas, SQPs, Dog/Cat nutrition - I could go on!
Our people are the backbone of our business, and it is important to us that they are happy not only at work but at home too so we offer a full employee assistance programme so they can get support for free if they are having personal struggles.
All of our managers are trained in aspects of mental health to support them if needed or they are guided to the EAP if not. We are a very diverse team and have an age range of employees from 16-79 and this means we can relate to all of our customers regardless of age.
My colleagues Sarah and Lilly and myself are in stores regularly to ensure our policies of a ‘safe place’ environment is always at the forefront of everyone’s minds so every team member and customer can be themselves in our stores without fear of judgement or discrimination.
What sets you apart from the rest?
All of the above is what makes our stores so special. We’re so much more than just a pet shop – I think we are traditional (still selling pets) but with a modern twist!
How do you keep your regulars coming back for more?
By ensuring we stay on trend, changing displays and stock seasonally and offering a service that they wouldn't get anywhere else. Knowing our customers, their pets and their needs is fundamental and so they keep visiting. They know we genuinely care.
For a walk-through video of The Ark click here
See below a gallery of pictures from the award-winning pet stores...
