AN animal lover has taken the decision to expand his business following nearly ten years of success.

Cormac Linehan launched The Pet Experience nine years ago and is overwhelmed at its success.

It was originally located on Cambridge Road in Weymouth, but after a long wait Cormac recently moved it to a much bigger premises at Link Park on the Granby Industrial Estate.

Cormac described how he had always been an animal lover and for years he had always had a lot of pets, with at one stage having his hands full with around 18 different animals in the house from fish to guinea pigs to dogs.

Talking about what inspired him to take the risk and launch his own store, Cormac said how he felt there had always been something missing in other pet stores he had shopped in.

He said: “I just thought one day, I could do this and I have so many ideas to create something fantastic.”

He said he focuses his store on customer relationships and always wants to it to be a friendly experience for customers and their furry friends.

He added: “I did a lot of market research and identified Weymouth as a place to go. The amount of people with dogs is above the national average here and there was nothing else like a Pets at Home in the area. However, six weeks after I opened a Pets at Home opened in Jubilee Park - typical.

“At our old unit we were stuck round the back of an industrial estate with very limited parking. Customers would come in saying they found it really difficult to find and when they did they couldn’t get a space. Obviously there were customers who probably didn’t find it or couldn’t park and went somewhere else.

“But at the same time it worked. The reason this was such a big move was because for the first year I was working seven days a week with no pay, I wasn’t taking any money out of the business. I waited about three years for a unit on the Granby. The first unit was never big enough but we made it work. It was a little quirky place and it had character.

“This has been on the cards for a long time - I’ve been talking to Micky Jones from Link Park about this for a few years. With the vets here it just made sense too.”

For more information visit thepetexperience.co.uk/