Discover the UK's Oldest Pet Store
Living North catches up with Nick Robinson of Robinson's Pet Store, the UK's oldest family-run pet shop, to find out how he balances tradition with innovation
‘My grandfather kept poultry and birds and used to buy his feed and corn from what was the pet shop in the Grainger Market,’ he explains. ‘One day he ordered some seed and corn, and went to collect it. The girl at the shop said it hadn’t come; the guy who owned the store hadn’t ordered it for him.’
Unimpressed, Nick’s grandfather took up the challenge to prove he could do better, and bought the shop from the owner. ‘[He] made some reference to the fact that that wouldn’t happen in his shop because customer service was a priority,’ says Nick. From 1929, the shop was his, and Robinson’s Pet Store was born. Passed down through the generations, the shop first went to Nick’s father before Nick took over in the late ‘90s. ‘I came in from school and learned the business from my father, and then just continued doing it,’ he explains.
Over the years, Nick has learned to balance honouring the history of the store and keeping up with the changing times. A stalwart of the Grainger Market, beyond the pet store Nick’s family were deeply rooted in market life for which he is grateful. ‘My great-grandfather was a butcher here in the market,’ says Nick. His other great-grandfather worked as a market inspector and his grandmother worked in the market warehouse. Alongside his father, Nick’s uncle also worked in the pet store. The store’s socials regularly share fascinating archive material of the history of Robinson’s, but also keep customers up to date on what’s new.
Being able to move with the times is a priority for Nick. ‘History is great as a thing, but if the business doesn’t continue then history means nothing,’ he explains and Nick’s commitment to helping the store thrive has included a recent move to a larger space – still within Newcastle’s Grainger Market, naturally. ‘An opportunity came up for us to have a new, more open store than we’ve had previously, so we just decided why not?’ says Nick. ‘History’s great but for the betterment of the business we made a decision to change to this location and so far everybody who’s been in seems to love the difference. They can see the stock easier, they can browse without feeling a little bit impinged by other people coming in, it’s a bit brighter and a bit fresher.’ But the original store hasn’t gone anywhere. ‘We are retaining the original shop. I’m keeping it as a store room so we’re not losing it,’ Nick explains.
Nick has also ensured that what’s on offer has remained the same high quality as the original store, and this includes a major overhaul of stocked products. ‘We made a decision that most of the branded commercial pet foods were full of unnecessary ingredients. They were very high in cereal content like rice, wheat, maize, barley and things like that,’ he says. ‘There was an increasing level of non-necessary ingredients being added into dog and cat food which were causing problems.’
Nick took it upon himself to go over the quality of each individual product. ‘It took sitting down and actually reviewing every product that we sell. We found a lot of them were way below what we first brought in as original products,’ he tells us. ‘So overnight we pretty much kicked out all the big branded foods and treats and began sourcing more independent brands.’ For Nick, this meant food and treats which contained high quality meat protein, and avoided cheaper ingredients.
Inside the new store customers can expect a treasure trove of pet goodies. ‘They can expect, I would say, some of the highest quality natural foods for their pet, and treats as well. We spend a lot of time researching and sourcing treats that people can give that aren’t full of sugars and flavour enhancers,’ he says. Besides food, there are lots of treats for pets too. ‘I’m standing here talking to you looking at a bucket which is full of dried buffalo neck muscles. I’ve got pigs ears, cow ears, ostrich bones, reindeer antler chews – we do have a range of chews made from entirely fruit and vegetables as well, because we do accept there are some dogs who have difficulty with meat proteins.’
Besides food and treats, Nick takes pride in stocking high quality toys and accessories (including a very popular Newcastle-themed collection of accessories). ‘At the moment we’re into dog coat season, so we have a big range of dog coats, waterproofs, warm padded coats, and we’ve got jumpers,’ he says.
Robinson’s has always acted as a local pioneer in the world of pet goods, and in the past the store had a wholesale and manufacturing arm which helped with this. ‘We, as a company, produced the first commercially available cat scratching post in Europe,’ Nick says. ‘We also produced the first commercially available, specially prepared puppy food in tins.’ Keeping abreast of what’s new is something Nick has continued to do, and he regularly checks in with pet trends in other countries as well as in the UK to see what can be introduced. ‘I look back on when we changed our philosophy and kicked out the big branded foods. It was really difficult to find other products to put in their place because there just wasn’t [any] companies making these sort of things,’ he explains. ‘Now it’s a lot easier, and I do see a lot of other pet shops who are doing the same. So I think the fact that we, in a sense, pushed this agenda forward is helping to improve the lives of more cats and dogs than just the ones we reach.’
As more and more pet stores have a commitment to high quality products there is a knock-on effect for animals, and an improvement in their overall wellbeing, and Nick goes on to say, ‘I would take guarded credit for improvements in the treatment and health and care of pets around our region’.
