Jollyes has confirmed it will invest £1 million over the next 18 months to increase the provision of vet clinics, grooming parlours and other pet services in its UK stores.

Between now and the summer of 2024, Jollyes will double the number of stores that offer community pet clinics, double opening hours for those clinics and double the number of dog grooming locations.

To facilitate that growth, Jollyes will:

• Appoint its first ever ‘head of services’. Colin Neave, who takes up the role moving from his existing regional manager position to focus on the expansion of Jollyes’ pet services;
• Partner with Leeds-based Eville & Jones to provide in-store veterinary services from fully trained and Royal Veterinary College-accredited vets;
• Appoint Dr Adrian Ward MRCVS to the Jollyes board, bringing veterinary experience to the leadership team; and
• Rebrand its existing and growing number of pet spas as “the Jolly Groomer”.

The expansion gets underway immediately and compliments Jollyes’ growth plans which will see it hit £100m turnover in FY2023, employ 1,000 colleagues this year and have 100 stores within 18 months.

From March 13, Jollyes will introduce vet clinics across eight of its Northern Ireland stores – Ballymena, Lisburn, Lurgan, Banbridge, Newry, Newtownabbey, Belfast and Bangor.

Existing clinics in 45 Jollyes stores will see opening hours expand across the week enabling greater access and convenience for shoppers.

The first Jolly Groomer will open at Jollyes’ new Scunthorpe store in North Lincolnshire at the Gallagher Retail Park on March 25.

In 2023, Jollyes has already opened new stores at Port Glasgow and Peterborough and in addition to its new location in Scunthorpe, plans further openings in the coming months in Warrington, Christchurch, Swindon and Merthyr Tydfil.