🐾 Paws and Reflect: Petplace 2023 Recap 🧡

As 2023 draws to a close, we want to take time to reflect on what has been a fantastic year with a very full calendar!

Spring 🌸

We kicked off Spring by getting dolled up and sponsoring Hope House charity ball. Hope House & Ty Gobaith are a charity very close to our hearts and we can’t thank our customers enough for getting behind us and donating time and time again to this amazing charity.

Then the prep work started for our Llangefni Open Day.. we had a face painter, ice cream van,  digital van, giveaways and hook a duck.

Plus, a pop up outdoor dog park, a doggy ice cream bike and even the Royal pet behaviourist, Dr Roger Mugford running 1 on 1 sessions. 

Petplace Head of Business Development, Matt

“After opening the doors in December it was fantastic to be able to have a full open day to invite some of our key suppliers to visit the store, The event was a great success and it was great to see store managers from all locations come along and support the Llangefni team”

Summer ☀️

Petplace had a very busy Summer packed full of events starting with Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

We celebrated by sponsoring North Wales Pride in Caernarfon which Chris and Jac, Llangefni Store and Assistant Store Manager attended and handed out free doggy ice creams and bandanas to any pups celebrating with their paw-rents!

To show unwavering support to our LGBTQ+ communities, vinyls were fitted to our store windows and they made quite the statement! We received a lot of positive feedback including from local MPs.

Our customers also enjoyed a range of products including badges, doggy biscuits and toys with donations going to local charities helping young members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Petplace Managing Director, Sion

“As we join in on the Pride celebrations, we want to take a moment to appreciate each and every member of our community. 

Just as each pet has its own unique charm, so does every person. That’s why we’re all wagging our tails in celebration of the LGBT+ community. Their strength, authenticity, and vibrancy don’t just brighten our stores – they warm our hearts.

For us, celebrating Pride is all about celebrating love, in all its forms and colours. It’s the kind of love we see between pets and their humans daily – genuine, beautifully diverse, and utterly unconditional.

So, while we’re celebrating Pride, let’s carry forward this spirit all year round. Because here at petplace, we believe in the simple truth – love is love, whether you’re on two legs or four.

Stay colourful, Sion”

1st July saw the opening of the brand new dog park in Petplace, Llangefni.

Fun facts about the build

🧡 5000 square feet 

🧡 Outside space 8 times bigger than in Abergele

🧡 88 acoustic wall panels for a more peaceful environment 🎶🔊 

🧡 Acoustic ceiling and glass walls for added tranquility

🧡 50% more seating than in Abergele 🪑 

🧡 120 metres of structural steel for safety

🧡 200 litres of paint 🎨 

🧡 2000 man hours from start to finish 

🧡 Fuel for the team: Approximately 700 tea bags, 4 big jars of coffee, 77 litres of milk and a few treats from the local bakery 🍰 ☕️

Llangefni Dog Park Manager, Nic

“It was great to be part of the planning process and before long, I had recruited my team, we had some training in Abergele Dog Park with Amie and it was time to open!

We had an invite only event, which was a great chance to get to know what would become our regulars and we even had our first doggy birthday party booking that night!

We officially opened the next morning and we filled up fast with subscribers. The Summer was crazy and I loved every minute!”

In August, along with lots of doggy birthday parties, we had our first Llangefni dog park event! 🎉

Diane, a dog behaviourist from KONG held fun, insightful sessions with Dog Park members about how dog’s play.

Read our event recap including Q+A from Matt, who attended the event with his 3 labradors!

​​https://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/petplace-joined-forces-with-a-leading-animal-play-company-to-host-a-uk-first-event-for-dogs-and-their-owners/

Summer also saw us team up with Snoots & Sploots, donating to North Clwyd Animal Rescue and spending the day with the bunnies during Rabbit Awareness Week, holding lots of dog birthday parties in Llangefni and Abergele and celebrating raw feeding in Raw-gust.

Autumn 🍂

Back by popular demand was Gledrid’s Equine Day on 21st October!

Gledrid, Chirk Store Manager, Steve

“With support from our suppliers and equine reps, we had another fantastic equine day. They were on hand to chat to our customers, who’s continued support and loyalty never ceases to amaze us. 

We also enjoyed refreshments and raised almost £800 for Hope House with our Equine Day raffle! 

Also this Summer we attended a local dog show in aid of Hector’s Greyhound Charity which is another way to show support for local pet charities which is always high on our agenda.”

Ruthin had a pet photographer for the weekend taking beautiful portraits of pets.

Our Final Moments matter campaign raised a staggering £5000 in 5 days, matched by Petplace, then matched by Hope House meaning £20,000 went to support local families who’s hearts are breaking.

Llangefni dog park held a Howl-oween party with games and costume competitions which was a huge hit with both dogs and their humans!

Check out the video below 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzD1HqKIEN5/

Winter ❄️

Back again this year in Abergele and as a first for Llangefni was Santa Paws! 🎅🏻

Pet parents could book a slot to see Santa and their pups could have photos and a goodie bag. On these 2 weekends alone, Petplace raised £700 for Paws Off Duty, a charity supporting retired police dogs. Thank you to our customers once again for your generosity. 

Both dog parks also had Christmas parties

Christmas jumpers on, decorations up and music playing, the dogs and their humans had wonderfully festive evenings. They even played a game of musical mats for the dogs, which went surprisingly well!

Also throughout the year we had 

Demo days from Tribal, Acana, Yora and Carnilove, raised money during Macmillan Coffee Mornings, held a singles night in Abergele for dog lovers and had breed play sessions in the dog parks every other Saturday

Check out upcoming ones here 👇

Abergele Llangefni

To our regular customers who have been loyal for years and to our new customers, thank you for keeping us so busy and for such a fantastic 2023.

To our suppliers

Head of Business Development, Matt

“We have worked hard to grow relationships with current suppliers and look forward to working closely with them next year, Bern, BSB, Su-Bridge, Kennelpak, Connollys Red Mills, Henry Wagg, Ancol, Nestle, Royal Canin are just a few of the suppliers that are already on board with us to grow in 2024”

From the petplace and Farm & Pet Place teams, Head Office, Web team and managing Director Sion, Happy New Year and thank you 🧡