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A new pet shop is open at the Wallis & Son Land Rover showroom in Barton.
Offering a wide range of food, animals toys and other pet supplies, Wallis Pet Supplies was opened yesterday (Wednesday, 22 May) by managing director Elliot Wallis and staff member Brian – who entered into the spirit of the occasion by dressing as a dog.
Wallis & Son began offering pet supplies on site in March. But this week it threw open the doors to a new 1,000 square foot pet shop, which is being managed by Marina, who used to work at Just for Pets in Cambourne.
Elliot notes that the pet shop sells “everything” for smaller pets – such as dogs, cats, fish, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs – along with wildlife supplies such wild bird food.
The shop stocks 1,000 lines – and dog owners will certainly be in their element.
“There’s agility equipment for dogs, as well as treats, dog food, dog beds – everything really. A thousand square feet is quite big,” says Elliot.
Also present for the official launch were the directors of Su-bridge, Elliot’s main suppliers for the shop, who are based in Norfolk.
“They’re a big wholesale company and the directors are so impressed with what we’ve done, that they’re coming down to have a look,” explains Elliot.
Explaining why the business decided to branch out into selling pet supplies, Elliot says: “We’ve diversified because there wasn’t much in the area.
“As a family we’ve got a lot of animals; my wife has a smallholding and so she’s got sheep, horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens…
“She was travelling all the way out to Willingham to get things for her animals, and Pet Paks in Hardwick closed a couple of years ago.
“I was just looking at what we don’t have around us and what’s not done in the area, and pets was something that wasn’t.
“And I have a bit of knowledge from experience myself and my own animals, so the reason for a pet shop was that really, that I believed there was a market for it – which seems to be proven in our sales climbing every day.”
As impressive as it is, the shop is just the start. There are more new and exciting developments planned for Wallis & Son in the coming weeks.
“In the shop that we’ve got now, we’re building an American drinks section, offering drinks-to-go like American slushies, American iced coffee, American hot chocolates and Reece’s and Hershey’s cold frozen drink.
“I’ve turned nearly half the shop into American products now – what I’m going forward with is American sweets and treats, and pets.
“Then we’re offering a juice bar as well, with an orange juice machine and an apple juice machine in the main shop, with the space that we’ve created from moving the pet supplies into the main pet shop.
“We’ve still got the element of a grocery store in there, but a Co-op’s opened in Comberton, so we don’t want to be a grocery store with fruit and veg, because we’ve got them just down the road.”
It is an eclectic combination – and Elliot explains that this is something that runs in the family.
“I want it to be unique – being unique has always worked for us as a family over the years.
“My great-grandad Percy used to own the Tivoli cinema in Cambridge, and the one that was on the market square which is now Marks & Spencer’s,” he says.
“So as a family we’ve always diversified, we’ve been into all different things – groceries, bike shops, motorbike shops, cinemas, car sales. We’ve done a bit of everything.”
Elliot reveals that he has received some “great feedback” about the pet shop already, adding: “It’s just interesting to watch people go through the door into the pet shop and if they’re not with their other half, normally they come back through and say ‘Come and have a look at this!’
“So it just catches people out, I think – it’s not something you normally see in a petrol station!
“And I think that’s another reason that the company that I’m working with – Su-bridge – are interested, because they can see that there’s possibly an avenue of having pet shops in petrol stations.
“People want convenience now, so you can come here, get your petrol, get food-on-the-go, get yourself something to eat, get a cold drink and collect your dog food.”
Established family business Wallis & Son was founded in 1937 by Geoffrey Wallis and his dad Percy Wallis.
Percy Wallis was the great-grandfather of Elliot Wallis, who also runs Wallis Defenders, which specialises in Land Rover Defenders – including the limited edition Wallis Defender GYRO.
Elliot is also the second cousin of the late Ken Wallis, the famed inventor, aviator and engineer who designed, built and flew the Little Nellie autogyro as a stand-in for Sean Connery in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice.
[Read more: *[*Bond’s ‘Little Nellie’ autogyro flies into Wallis & Sons’ showroom in Cambridgeshire*](https://premium.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/bond-s-little-nellie-autogyro-flies-into-wallis-sons-sh-9327439/), Wallis & Son Land Rover showroom in Barton to open pet supplies shop]*
Visit wallispetshop.co.uk for more on the pet shop. For more on Wallis & Son, visit wallisandson.co.uk.
