There was a buzz activity at PATS Sandown today (Tuesday) as exhibitors unveiled an amazing array of products to visitors flocking to the Sandown Park exhibition centre on a sunny spring day.
Many of the exhibitors were particularly pleased to see a good mix of buyers from the UK and overseas, including pet retailers, groomers and garden centres.
One of the success stories was House of Paws, who picked up a New Product Award for its new Dirty Dogs Have All The Fun Shampoo range. Chairman Paul Bates said: “It’s the first award I’ve picked up in 50 years of business so I’m excited and thrilled about winning. It has been a great show so far.”Unipet International was another award-winner with its innovative and distinctive Super Suet Starter Pack, and marketing manager Dawn Robinson said: “The success in the New Product Awards has definitely driven people to our stand. We couldn’t have wished for a better first day at the show.”
The Beco Pets Buyers’ Lounge was a hive of activity all day, and co-founder Toby Massey commented: “We brought along 2,000 goody bags containing poop bags and samples of our new food, and at the rate we are going we will definitely run out before the end of the second day.”
And Ray Foard, of Pet Rebellion had this to say: “I’ve really been impressed with the number and quality of visitors to our stand. We’ve taken some good orders and there has been particular interest in our Pet Travel Bag which we launched at the show.”
Forthglade launched their new Cold Pressed dog food range at the show, and joint managing director Gerard Lovell said: “Although we could have launched the product at Crufts we chose to hold it back so we could unveil it to the trade first during PATS. Day one has been a resounding success with huge interest around the launch of our new products.”
Marriages were launching a new Royal Variety Mixed Corn range for chickens and themed their stand accordingly. Lisa Osborne said: “Our Royal Variety theme is a great way of drawing people on to our stand. We love it here and we always try to bring something new and interesting when we come.”
The show has also drawn lots of positive comments from visiting retailers and buyers.
Angel Moore, from the award winning Manchester pet store Betty & Butch, said: “This is a brilliant show, it’s just massive. It is definitely worth travelling down to see all the new launches. I came here looking for certain items and will leave with a whole lot more.”
And international visitor Stanley van Loggem from Holland said: “PATS Sandown is a lovely environment for sourcing products. The atmosphere and people are fantastic. My aim was to find some serious new contacts and I’ve achieved my goal.
PATS Sandown opens at 9.30am tomorrow (Wednesday).
