Back in the days when high streets used to be busy, every one of them had an independent pet shop filled to the brim with live animals ready to find new homes. But while busy high streets and stores selling livestock may be fewer in number today, an exception to both can be found in South East London where Supreme Animal Foods sits proudly at the end of the lively Lewisham High Street.
Inside the deceptively large store, food and accessories for every household pet can be found among the high shelves and narrow aisles, while separate rooms house the fish and reptiles, with another zone for live birds at the back of the shop. Here you can find canaries, zebra finches, lovebirds, cockatiels and budgies of various colours, before stepping back inside the main body of the shop to find a small selection of guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits and rats.
Up to 150 reptile enclosures house an array of tortoises, leopard geckos, tarantulas, praying mantises, corn snakes and rarer examples such as a green tree python, while the largest room is dedicated to a huge variety of tanks for cichlids, tetras, parrot fish, clownfish, lionfish, koi and other delights from the aquatic world.
Supreme has experts in every field, and the helpful and friendly members of the staff know every nook and cranny while business owner Ricky Keane is having in-depth conversations with regular and potential new customers.
It will come as no surprise to retailers reading this that the store makes very little money from the sale of live animals alone, once all the feed and welfare needs of the livestock is taken into account. The shop is now the only one in South East London that sells live birds, and Ricky can reel off a list of independent pet shops in the local area which are no longer trading at all.
But while the living creatures are a loss-leader, shoppers can choose from a huge variety of aquatic plants, corals, anemones, ornaments, gravel and chemicals. Tanks of various sizes are for sale, and the store will create custom-made tanks and cabinets for customers if required. Tanks are sold at “internet price”, with the inhabitants usually sold on a deal as an extra incentive.
Many of the display tanks in store were purchased from major pet chains which either upgraded their shops or exited the live animal market altogether. As a result, some of the systems are 20 years old, but remain in perfect working order in part due to Ricky’s scrupulous approach to maintenance and good hygiene. He is particularly insistent on a regular regime of cleaning the gravel in tanks, and makes a point of teaching the method to every customer who purchases fish or equipment from the store.
Store policy is to not sell an animal without the customer being in possession of the full set-up, and documentary evidence of an appropriate cage or enclosure is required before they will sell a bird.
New tanks are usually set up in store, although store manager Gareth Williams occasionally visits customers in their own homes to ensure the set-up is done properly.
Wrapped around a corner of the high street, the store used to be two shops, subsequently knocked together and divided into various rooms, including a cellar area used for storage and where Ricky has his office. A large amount of space is dedicated to fish, with the sales area recently extended.
The shop has been in place for 30 years and was bought by Ricky’s family while their previous wholesale business was winding down. Supreme Animal Foods was originally started by Ricky’s dad, and at one time his brother was part of the business too, and it has remained very much an extended family affair. Ricky’s wife Debbie does a lot of the creative work in the store, including window displays for the key seasons, while Gareth’s wife Heidi also works in the business. Gareth has been there for 28 years, straight from school, and Denice, at 82 years young, spends one day a week working on the till. Some members of staff started off as customers before moving to the other side of the counter, and the permanent team of eight is augmented by a number of work experience youngsters. Gareth also works a fisheries manager and reptile expert Brian Stevens is an accomplished breeder, with a number of world’s firsts in the exotic breeding field.
Ricky himself is a force of nature, constantly on the move and chatting to staff and customers. He monitors his steps and on an average day exceeds more than six miles just inside the shop, starting his working day before 8am to look after the hamsters and rabbits, cleaning out the various enclosures and litter trays. First thing every morning he makes tea and coffee for the staff, along with bacon and cheese toasties in an air fryer.
His years of experience both as a retailer and a dog owner – he currently looks after a Shepherd-husky cross named Chunk – has given him a strong insight into canine nutrition, and he helped to devise the recipes for the extensive range of own-brand dog food sold in store.
The bulk of own-brand lines on shelf are manufactured and supplied by Pero, and Ricky worked with John Wright at Healthy Dog Food Ltd to formulate cold-pressed recipes, with blends of protein and sweet potato proving to be particularly nutritious and popular.
Ricky is a big advocate for cold-pressed food. “It brings huge benefits to dogs,” he says. “I think it’s the way to go. We sell more of it than kibble.”
A hand-picked, premium range of cat food is also popular with local shoppers, including Science Plan, Carnilove, Applaws and Almo Nature, as well as an own-brand selection.
Despite the successes, though, the store is facing a hefty set of challenges for the future. The electric bill has nearly tripled in recent years, while business rates have increased once again this year due to a new London valuation.
The business has a comprehensive website, but “we make very few sales on the web”, says Ricky. “We can’t compete with Amazon”. It does offer a delivery service, which is free on Wednesdays, and the digital space provides further evidence of the value of the store in shoppers’ eyes, with more than 900 online reviews of 4.8 out of five and above.
In the present, just as in the past and in the future too, excellent customer service is going to be the key thing.
