Jollyes has announced the opening dates for three new stores in the next two months, which will take it past the 100-site landmark.
The retailer will open stores in Belfast (Connswater) on February 23, Newport in Gwent on March 1 and Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on March 22. The Newport opening will be Jollyes’ 100th location following a period of rapid growth which has seen the retailer open 34 new stores since the beginning of 2022.
The 5,500sq ft Belfast store, at Connswater Retail Park, will be the chain’s 15th branch in Northern Ireland and will celebrate its status as the 99th outlet in the estate with an ice-cream van dispensing 99s, a prize draw with the opportunity to win £99 to use in store and red balloons for the first 99 customers.
The retailer is also teaming up with charity partner PlayForStrays to drive awareness on the day while, a week later on March 2, Jollyes is organising a ‘Doggie Dander’ social dog walk from Belfast’s Victoria Park to the Connswater store.
At the same time as revealing the new store openings, the retailer also released Christmas trading figures which showed a like-for-like sales increase of 13% for the five weeks to December 31, 2023. Total growth for the period was 25%, including Jollyes’ strongest seven-day trading period in its history for the week before Christmas.
The company also confirmed that the first deliveries from its new Wincanton distribution centre in Middlewich, Cheshire, will take place next week. The new centre will be able to pick and deliver up to 25% more cases each year than its current network, providing Jollyes with greater capacity to accommodate its store growth.
Chief executive officer Joe Wykes said: “Christmas saw us continue to fly, delivering market-leading trading both in stores and online as we brought our special combination of expertise, service and value to UK pet parents.
“A big thank you to our 1,000-strong team – I know these excellent results are powered by their hard work for customers in the communities they serve.
“We’re looking forward to trading from 100 stores for the first time and continuing to invest in 2024 in building a platform for even more growth in the months ahead.”
