We caught up with Tim Wheatley to chat about his family’s journey with Broadway Pet Stores
For me Broadway Pet Stores has always been about family. My dad, Nigel, started working in the Pet Shop in 1969 as a Saturday boy helping my uncle who ran/owned the shop. Then my dad took over in 1973 and my mum, Sue, joined him in 1985 when I started school. In 2000 I joined them and it’s been the 3 of us running it since then. So as a family it’s been lovely to work together and we are very lucky to have such amazing customers. Over the years people have come into the shop as children, then grown up and brought their children and now their grandchildren! I’m hoping my son, Farai, will join us when he grows up but we’ll have to wait as he’s only 2 years old! It’s also lovely that of our suppliers there are still independent family-run businesses – even with companies trading internationally. Having been in the trade for so long, we have built great relationships with all our suppliers. It doesn’t really feel like going to “work” between seeing our regular customers and speaking to suppliers every day.
We have all lived in Muswell Hill for a long time and what is lovely is that it still feels like a village and maintains that local community. To be in London but be surrounded by parks and green spaces we are tremendously lucky. People do want to shop locally and support small businesses so hopefully this will carry on into the future to preserve the look of the high street.
Broadway Pet Stores
6-8 Muswell Hill Broadway
N10 3RT
0208 883 3200
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday
9:30am to 5:00pm
Local deliveries
broadwaypetstores.co.uk
