Pets at Home, Stockport
Location:
Kings View, Didsbury Rd, Stockport SK4 2LQ
Design Credit:
Briggs Hillier
briggshillier.com
Pets at Home, the UK’s largest pet care retailer has launched its £1m store of the future. The concept is designed to bring the brand to life and change consumer perception of the brand from ‘pet store’ to ‘pet care’ to create a competitive advantage over their online counterparts, and to benefit from the buoyant pet care sector.
The new concept is a destination for pet owners, a one-stop-shop that meets all their pets’ needs. As pets are increasingly regarded as family members, with many owners saying they would rather cut back spending on themselves rather than their pet, the store appeals to the increased level of emotional and financial investment that their owners are making.
The new concept, designed by Briggs Hillier, sees a transformation of all core elements of the Pets at Home offer and their in house Vets4Pets service, while they have added a host of new features including a cat adoption experience in conjunction with the RSPCA, a pet village where children can learn facts and explore the homes of small animals, ‘The Groom Room’ which now includes a purpose built facility where owners can wash their own dogs, and consultative areas dedicated to nutrition and pet health and welfare.
Events and activities are a core part of the experience and the new stores also host kids birthday parties, dog agility classes and interactive sessions and themed workshops that teach children (and adults) about pets and wildlife, as well as providing lots of dedicated opportunities for pet and owner selfies.
The new store offers pet owners a fully immersive experience that puts the growth areas of pet services front and centre of the concept.
The new blueprint for their 450 stores is central to their fight against Amazon. While they may not be able to compete with the online giant on data, they believe that, with their shopper insights and 4.4m loyalty card members, they can beat them on pet data, and they are highlighting the things that Amazon can’t do, such as services and store experience, as the key differentiator of their offer.
