Retail chain Jollyes is offering to ‘marry’ an owner and their pet in a full-works wedding ceremony at the opening of its new store in Widnes, Cheshire.
With an organist, red carpet, flowers, and the exchange of rubber rings, a Widnes owner and their beloved pet can bound or walk down the aisle to the sound of ‘here barks the bride’.
And the winner will be going on a ‘Doggie-moon’ courtesy of Jollyes – a holiday with their pet to celebrate their puppy love for each other.
In fact, recent research for Jollyes showed that pet parents would much prefer to buy presents for their pet than their partner and holiday companies this summer have reported an increase in people holidaying alone with their pets.
The store will open at Widnes Shopping Park on Saturday 30 September at 10.00am, following the opening of another new Jollyes store in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, on Friday 29 September.
Pet entrepreneur Lyndsey Fearns will be the manager of Jollyes’ new Widnes store. (Professional Images/@ProfImages)
At the Harrogate store, located at Unit 2C, Hookstone Park, pets and their owners will be invited to take part in Britain’s first ‘doggy dash’ to take away a £100 jolly trolley full of goodies in a 60-second race round the aisles.
Both new stores will have special Jollyes goody-bags for the first 100 customers, with a mix of cat and dog items. And customers will be able to spin the iconic Jollyes Wheel of Fur-tune to win free items from both stores’ ranges.
The stores will feature a Jolly Groomer offering straightforward pricing for a quality groom that doesn’t cost a paw and a leg.
Customers can choose precisely what grooming service they need, so they don’t pay for ones they don’t. Prices for a bath and brush will start at just £15.00.
At Widnes there’ll also be a community pet clinic, powered by the expert advice from its colleagues, part of a plan between now and the summer of 2024, to double the number of stores that offer vet-run clinics.
Vet-supervised dog and cat vaccinations in the clinic will start at just £14 and £13 for rabbits with primary course jabs for dogs and cats at £33.
Both stores will also provide pet parents access to Jollyes’ raw frozen food – increasingly popular with pet owners because of its nutrition and convenience - alongside high quality private label pet food such as its own Lifestage, K9 and Rileys brands which offer a premium experience without a big brand price tag.
In both Harrogate and Widnes there’ll be teams of 12 led by experienced Jollyes’ colleagues.
Kerry Midgley, Jollyes regional manager is looking forward to opening the pet superstore’s 94th store in Harrogate (Professional Images/@ProfImages)
In Harrogate Dawn Jenkins will transfer from Jollyes’ Selby store after four years working for the retailer.
Dawn, who’s the proud owner of a horse called Crystal has worked her way up to her first manager role having started with the company as a part-time sales assistant.
Widnes will be managed by Lyndsey Fearns who is moving to the new store from across the Mersey in Runcorn.
Not only is Lyndsey a Jollyes store manager of the year, she’s also a pet entrepreneur, She’s developed a soothing paw balm for dogs on her kitchen table with childhood friend Becky Dutton-Geraghty that’s now sold in its stores nationwide.
Both teams at Widnes and Harrogate will also benefit from Jollyes’ innovative package of colleague benefits. The package includes, birthday leave, a ‘pet-eternity’ day for colleagues getting a new pet in the family, a week off on full pay for all colleagues on when they get married, enhanced maternity and paternity leave and an enhanced 20 per cent discount off all Jollyes services.
Harrogate and Widnes stores will become Jollyes’ 94th and 95th UK stores respectively - part of Jollyes’ ambitious expansion plans which has seen it exceed £100 million turnover in FY2023, employ over 1,000 colleagues and put it well on the way to having 100 stores within the next 12 months.
