New Northamptonshire pet shop manager loving making customers happy during coronavirus pandemic

Seeing a child's face light up as they meet their new pet for the first time is the most rewarding part of Claire Smith's job.

She is nearly five months into running Sky Pet Centre, a new pet shop in south Northamptonshire, specialising in exotic birds.

It has been a fairly low-key opening because of the coronavirus pandemic but they have remained open since October as they also sell pet food and accessories.

Claire said: "It's going well, we had a bit of slump after Christmas with the third lockdown but now everyone wants a hamster or a guinea pig or a budgie.

"So we're having lots of families coming in for their children to get a pet."

Sky Pet Centre is situated on a small-holding outside Whittlebury owned by Claire's cousin Guy Smith, who has been supplying exotic birds to pet shops for 30 years.

During the first lockdown he started selling directly to the public as demand increased but he always wanted his own shop so he asked Claire to help him run it.

After converting some of the outbuildings into the shop with its own bird house and space for the other small animals and the stock, Sky Pet Centre opened on October 4.

As the store is on a smallholding, there are not just its animals around with alpacas, goats and more welcoming customers from their fields as they drive in.

Claire said many have come to choose a new cockatoo or chinchilla but do not realise that they also sell food, cages, bedding, toys and more.

"It's been a challenge but I really enjoy working with the animals - their health is paramount to us as well as cleanliness to make sure everything is right for the animals," she said.

"I think that's true, our reviews all say how clean the shop is and how well the animals are treated - that's the most important factor for the shop and providing products people want and need.

"Also interacting with different people all the time, we get all sorts here and the children love it, sitting on the floor and holding the animals which we let them do, that's really rewarding. It's a lovely place to work."

The pandemic has seen demand for pets skyrocket and Claire said it was important for Sky Pet Centre to provide a safe and responsible place for people to buy animals.

They can guarantee the age and health of all of their livestock, they have to stick to strict rules as part of their licence and do their best to ensure the animals are going to good homes.

All of which makes Claire believe they are a more suitable place to buy an animal from than social media or a website.

"We don't just sell them like they're a product, they're a living creature," she said.

"So people can come here, see how they are looked after, read our reviews and we think it's very important they are going to the right homes.

"I think most of our livestock is young and I do think it's difficult when buying off other places as they don't have the history of the animals like we do."

But pets have provided a lifeline for many during the pandemic with the physical and mental health benefits of having something to look after.

Claire said this was especially important for children, many of whom have to spend hours in front of screen for school, let alone anything else, so having a hamster or parrot can make all the difference.

Covid-19 has also brought a whole new way of shopping with masks, social distancing, plastic screens and limiting the number of customers now commonplace.

Claire says she is a stickler for the rules in the shop to ensure visitors are safe, even asking them to wait in their cars if there are too many people inside.

They have also launched an online shop for animal products so customers can minimise their time at the store if they wish, with delivery and click-and-collect available.

Claire hopes they will be open to properly celebrate the opening with an open day once the restrictions are completely lifted but she will take having a successful first year, with plans to expand their pet offering.

"For the future, we really want Sky Pet Centre to be a destination place where people can come and get a drink, sit outside, enjoy the environment and shop for their favourite budgie or parrot toys, whatever it might be," she said.

For more information, visit skypetcentre.co.uk or call 01327 855853.