A PET shop in Weymouth has been named Retailer of the Month by industry magazine Pet Product Marketing.

The Pet Experience, based on the Granby Industrial Estate, is featured in the January 2016 magazine with a profile of owner Cormac Linehan.

"It’s something I wasn't expecting," said Cormac.
"I have been here nearly nine years and a lot of work has gone into getting the business where it is, so to be recognised within the industry is great."

Sally Pepper, editor of Pet Product Marketing, said: "The shop impressed me on value, knowledge, and really good stock, so I knew it would be a worthy Pet Product Marketing Retailer of the Month.

"Independent pet shops like Cormac's succeed by knowing their customers well and being thoroughly knowledgeable about pet health, diets and welfare.

"You know you are going to get good advice about your animal from someone you know, whereas in a pet retail chain you might see someone different every time you visit."

The Pet Experience opened in 2007 in small premises on the Granby Estate, but was able to expand less than two years later into the much larger unit next door.

This move into a bigger space allowed the business to stock more products and it now has a large range catering to a variety of the most common household pets.

Cormac is a specialist in pet nutrition and his store sells its own exclusive brand of hypo-allergenic food, Easterbrook's.
He said: "With the amount of competition in the area, people can go to lots of different places to buy their pet food, but I’ve got a really good customer base that chooses to come back to me.

"People trust me and they trust the food.
"There are a lot of other big retailers around and the market for pet shops in Weymouth is crowded, so you’ve really got to do something different and offer something above and beyond a normal pet store.

"It’s about growing the business, it’s about growing the team and it's about making yourself different so that people talk about you, hopefully for the right reasons."