Dronfield Store Closure
Wednesday, 15th November 2023
We are sad to announce that our Dronfield store is closing - but rest assured we will remain as your local online retailer!
As you can imagine, this has been an incredibly difficult decision to come to and one that has been reached after countless hours of debates, sleepless nights, and many tears. Our team has put their hearts and souls and a huge amount of effort into serving our local reptile community for the last four years and we will be forever grateful to them and all our local customers who have supported us during the time our 5 star rated shop has been open.
Simply put, the cost-of-living crisis has had a detrimental impact on our business. It has become apparent over past months that many of our local store customers have been hugely affected by rising costs, even more so as we move into the winter season.
The additional animal rehomes we have endured has also been a clear sign of many of our customers struggling financially. Consequently, our shop sales have been heavily impacted too. Our rising overhead costs, such as increasing rent, electricity, rates etc, are putting us and many other customer facing businesses around the UK into positions of unsustainability. This is truly a worrying time for brick and mortar only shops in this climate.
Can we still buy online?
Of course! We will continue to be a market leading online presence in the exotic pet community. We will continue to supply our usual high standard of pets, foods and supplies nationwide; long into the future!
All of our local customers will be welcome to shop with us via our website and get the same continued expert support by phone, email and via our social media pages that you have had in store. If you have been collecting loyalty points and wish to transfer them over from the shop to your online account please email us with: your full name and postcode, and the email address linked to your online account and we will transfer them over for you.
We have supported customers nationwide for many years and we hope many of our local customers will continue to support us into the future through this platform too.
We understand that many of you will be disappointed with this announcement, we’ve got to know many of you well over the last few years, and many of you have become our good friends. We have enjoyed teaching you about exotic pet keeping, and watching some of you grow into fantastic keepers as your herpetological knowledge has advanced. We will happily continue to support you and your learning into the future, and all we ask is that you continue to support and shop with us too!
We are going to trial an affordable local delivery service imminently and collections by appointment may be available from our online premises. If these options are supported, we will provide these ongoing services and continue to serve our local community the best we can; an online presence with a friendly local shop feel.
More detailed information will be released in the coming days about local deliveries.
Our last day of trading in the shop was the 16th of November 2023, but our online services will remain unaffected.
If you are still reading, please let us take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you and remember, now more than ever is the time to support your local small businesses.
Thank you all,
The Exotic Pets UK Team