An independent pet shop owner hopes to continue operating her business despite mounting costs so that she can celebrate 20 years of trading in 2026. 

And in a bid to ease the financial pressures she has made an emotional plea to customers on social media, asking for their support during this difficult time.

Mandy Christopher opened Little Beasties in 2006 at the age of 19 and has navigated the business through many challenges but recently things have got really tough. 

Under the headline of PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT POST, Mandy wrote on the shop’s Facebook page: “At the moment I can’t see Little Beasties reaching its 20 year anniversary. We've had many ups and downs over the years but the last couple of years have been the hardest yet financially. It’s getting extremely hard to make ends meet and its now got to the point where I’m not able to take a wage.

“When I opened Little Beasties in 2006 I wanted to create a pet shop that put animal care, welfare and excellent pet keeping first, offer a place that you could come for advice or help anytime, I wanted it to help support the rescue work I already did and support other local rescues, somewhere kids could come see animals and find out how to correctly care for and respect them and provide a safe place for students to do their work experience. I feel very lucky that we have been able to do this over the last 19 years and would love to continue to do so.

“I'm generally a 'look on the bright side' kind of person and I don't like to worry people. I’ll put on a smile and pretend it’s all ok, but I feel it is important to be honest and let you all know how bad it is.

“We are determined to keep Little Beasties going and I want to keep my amazing team together, but we can’t do it without the help and support of our customers old and new.”

Mandy said that increased costs, including licence fees, insurance, utilities, wages, phone/Internet, delivery costs and vet fees, had put a strain on the business. She also cited changing buying habits, especially online shopping, as having an effect on the shop’s finances.

She urged customers to keep shopping with Little Beasties, ‘even if it’s a 50p dog treat’, and to make use of the store’s delivery service.

Following an instant reaction from customers on Facebook, Mandy wrote: “WOW, thank you all so much for your response to my post. I honestly can't thank you all enough for your support, shares, messages, comments etc – you’re all amazing! I feel very overwhelmed and lucky to have such amazing support. I will be in touch with everyone who has reached out to me. Again, thank you all so much, you don't realise how much this means to Team Beasties xxx.”

Picture of Mandy taken from the Little Beastie's page on Facebook.