Jollyes has confirmed its next three locations which will  see the completion of a major milestone, taking it beyond 100 stores for the first time.

The Pet Industry Federation’s current retail chain of the year will open stores in Belfast Connswater, Northern Ireland (23 February), Newport in Gwent (1 March) and Rotherham, South Yorkshire (22 March).

Since the beginning of 2022, Jollyes has doubled the size of its estate opening 34 new stores.

Jollyes’ new store in Newport will be its 100th location when it opens on St David’s Day. 

The Newport store underlines its continued commitment to South Wales following openings in Llanelli and Merthyr Tydfil and the creation of 36 new jobs at private label supplier facilities in Llangadog and Pencader.

Alongside the store opening programme, Jollyes today announced it had a record-breaking Christmas with like-for-like sales of 13% for the five weeks to 31 December 2023.

Total growth for the period was 25%, testament to Jollyes continued investment in value and services.

The final week before Christmas was Jollyes strongest seven-day trading period in its history with almost 45% more customers than the previous year and 26% on a like-for-like basis.

The strong Christmas trading has also led to a significant landmark in Jollyes’ Trustpilot scores – it has now seen over 50,000 reviews posted online with over 88% rating Jollyes as excellent.

Building a platform for future growth, Jollyes also confirmed that the first deliveries from its new Wincanton distribution centre in Middlewich, Cheshire would take place next week.

The new Wincanton location will provide Jollyes with a much larger space able to accommodate its rapid store growth.

The new hub will mean long-term partner Wincanton can pick and deliver up to 25 per cent more cases each year as it replenishes all Jollyes 100-plus stores, fulfilling over 10,000 deliveries each year.

Chief executive officer Joe Wykes said: “Christmas saw us continue to fly, delivering market-leading trading both in stores and online as we brought our special combination of expertise, service and value to UK pet parents.

“A big thank you to our 1,000-strong team – I know these excellent results are powered by their hard work for customers in the communities they serve.

“We’re looking forward to trading from 100 stores for the first time and continuing to invest in 2024 in building a platform for even more growth in the months ahead.” 

Jollyes will announce other new store locations for 2024 in due course.