We meet the pet shop owners who won our Win Stock competition from PATS Sandown
When Pet Product Marketing heads to PATS — the biggest pet trade show in the UK — we take our Win Stock competition where we give you the chance to win stock for your shop.
At the PATS Sandown show in March, we had incredible products from Catit, Burns Pet Food, Breeder Celect, and Forthglade. We took hundreds of entries and the prize went to James Massey from Happy Chops pet shop in Ramsgate, Kent. Here, we caught up with James about his shop...
Q) Congratulations on winning Win Stock!
How did it feel to receive the phone call to be told you had won? We were at Chops HQ sorting customer deliveries when I took the call. My first thoughts were scam alert! Then Stephen from PPM started explaining the context and it all came back to me about entering at the Pats Sandown show. Needless to say, I was getting curious looks from the rest of the team when I put the phone down and strolled over to the smart speaker to start up Kool and the Gang. I explained what we’d won to ‘Celebration’ and we all had a bit of dance.
Q) What do you think to the products you have won?
We are really grateful to all the companies that contributed to the prize. One supplier we already endorse so it was a welcome bump to our stock levels. The others will open up some intriguing new avenues to our range and I know our customers will be excited with their debut! We also support a number of local dog charities so we’d also like to share some of our good fortune with them as well.
Q) How useful did you find your visit to the PATS show? What are the best bits about the show?
We go every year for three main reasons: One is the free coffee on entry! Secondly, we get to connect with our fabulous suppliers and talk about what’s working from customer feedback, along with any of their future developments.
Finally, it keeps us on our toes with any innovative movements within the pet industry. We feel strongly about responsibly sourced, healthy products so we get the chance to politely grill future suppliers and understand their ethics and product lines. We think it’s important that retailers and suppliers have a good rapport.
Q) Tell us about how you started your business.
Happy Chops has been around since 2018 and is named after our Mastiff/Bully rescue street dog. The name has a sense of irony, as his jowly face makes him look pretty miserable! When he does smile though, he lights up the room. Happy Chops is run by myself and Sim, my wife, and our philosophy has always been that we would only ever stock brands and products that we would happily give Chops.
For that reason, we are specialists in raw feeding for dogs and cats, based on the Isle of Thanet on the beautiful South East Kent Coast. We also supply other natural food and treats, herbal supplements and grooming products, eco toys, and accessories.
We started as an online store through happychops.com but are now also instore and to your door. Our shop is over two floors with a large deli bar, old fashioned treat cart, and even a pawtisserie — favourites with our four-legged customers!
We offer a free dietary consultation and weighing service to get customers off to a flying start.
Q) How are you finding business at the moment?
There is no denying that there are a lot of headwinds. I’m sure we don’t need to remind people about the trials and tribulations of the last three years with the COVID pandemic, energy price hikes, and a cost-of-living crisis, plus of course the continuing impact that the conflict in Ukraine is having on imported grain. All that aside however, we are growing steadily and see a regular influx of well-informed customers, wanting to change their pets’ diet and well-being for the better.
We strive to do the best by our customers in order for us to do well as a business and I guess that’s one of the reasons we have a 5-star rating that we’re proud of. A lot of our marketing referrals are word of mouth and we have partnerships with other small businesses.
Q) As well as having your store, you offer online sales and delivery. How much of your business is split between in store and online?
It can wildly vary and that’s why we keep multiple strings to the business. During the pandemic, our deliveries spiked and when people wanted to get back to being sociable, there was an uplift instore. We want to offer value, choice, and service, so this approach works for us.
Q) How do you decide on where to source your products from?
Sim is the chief buyer and nothing gets past her! She is just about to fi nish her qualifi cations in canine nutrition and is very clued up on what’s truly benefi cial to animals’ health and well-being. There is a lot of big promises and half-truths within certain areas of the pet industry and we cut through all this for our customers.
As mentioned before, Chops is our boy and if it’s not for him, it’s not for Happy Chops. On that note, he’s also been joined by his 80kg English Mastiff sister Bee, meaning we now have two chief testers!
Q) What made you decide to get into being an independent pet retailer?
We moved from London, after 11 years, to the beautiful Kent coast and wanted to create a business that was ours and served the local community and beyond. It was really diffi cult to source raw food, natural supplements, and quality treats for Chops so we decided to have a go ourselves. We are pleased that our beer mat concept fi ve years ago now means that we help countless dogs and cats that we affectionately call Chops’ Chums.
Q) If you could share one tip to other independent retailers that has worked for you, what would it be?
Hard to pin it down to just one tip but as you asked: Stay resilient to your original philosophy of why you started in the first place. This builds trust with customers and elevates your conversations from ‘Can you do this cheaper?’ to ‘What do you recommend?