Tails wagging as Pets at Home’s 300th store opens
THE founder of Pets at Home the North West retailer which yesterday celebrated its milestone 300th store opening, says the best advice he can give those looking to build a business is “watch the cash.”
Anthony Preston, who opened his first shop in Chester in the middle of a recession in 1991, said he learned in the early years to focus on trading and cashflow.
“My general rule – and I know there are hundreds of different circumstances and sectors – is that everybody should watch the cash – it’s the only thing that will ultimately put you out of business is shortage of cash.”
He said entrepreneurs don’t need to be told to be optimistic and resilient, because such qualities are already present in their make-up.
He described the opening of the 300th store are Regent Road, Salford as a “proud moment”, made all the more significant by its proximity to his great-grandfather’s pottery retail business.
He said he could never have imagined the business becoming the size it is today when he launched.
Although no longer involved in the running of the business – he remains a shareholder along with buyout giant KKR – he says: “The Pets business has really come full circle with this store – it’s a stone’s throw from where my grandfather had his business on West Egerton Street.”
Although one of the region’s and the retail sector’s success stories, Mr Preston said the business did not make a flying start after its launch.
He recalls: “There was never a grand plan to create and roll-out a national business – it’s just that the horizons changed along the way.
“We launched the business in the middle of a recession and it did not perform particularly strongly and it took a couple of years before we started to see some interesting numbers.”
He said raising funds from 3i to grow the business and the acquisition in 1999 of Pets at Home’s major competitor PetsMart were “critical” moments in the development of the business, which fetched nearly £1bn when it was acquired by KKR in 2009.
Mr Preston – who worked for 3i before launching Pets at Home – is now an adviser to Manchester-based Palatine Private Equity and also has a shareholding in North West nursery business Kids Allowed.
