Online competition forces shop to shut
The growth of online competition has forced a long-running Timaru pet store to shut up shop.
Stafford St business How’s This For Pets, which has been open for 15 years, will close its doors for good on June 30.
Owners Bryan and Christine Burrows said the growth of online pet and pet product markets had been a major reason for the closure.
‘‘People seem to be keen to sit at home and buy something from their armchair,’’ Christine Bur- rows said.
Bryan Burrows said prices for pets on the internet were impossible to match for store-front pet retailers.
Dogs such as maltese terriers and shih tzus used to sell for $650 at the pet shop, she said.
The same dogs were sold for a much lower price online.
‘‘You can’t get a profit when there are (similar) dogs for $500 on TradeMe,’’ Bryan Burrows said.
He said the fact entire litters of puppies were often advertised free on social media websites such as Facebook only added to the difficulty.
‘‘We haven’t sold a dog for three years.’’
Believing pet stores were going the same way as the neighbourhood video store, the pair said they decided to get out while they were still ahead.
Exhausted from eight years of managing the shop, the couple will now explore new options.
‘‘Bryan and I wanted to slow down a bit, and didn’t see ourselves here seven days a week.’’
Even their days off required duties including cleaning cages and tanks and feeding the animals.
Animals would be taken care of if they were not sold by June 30.
‘‘All the pets are going to good homes.
‘‘The turtle is going to Invercargill where she will live with other turtles.’’
Bryan thanked customers of the business for their loyal patronage over the years. ‘‘We’ve got the best customers, we’ve made the best friends,’’ he said.
‘‘We are sorry for going, but we need to do something for us.’’
Reid and Wilson Real Estate coowner Peter Wilson, who helps manage the lease, said there was no new tenant as he was waiting for the pet shop to close before putting it on the market.
Label award
Geraldine business Waihi Bush’s pumpkin seed oil has been recognised for having the best food product label in New Zealand. The pumpkin seed oil won the Gold Award for the food and beverage category at the Pride in Print Awards in Christchurch in May. Waihi Bush owner David Musgrave said the labelling on the company’s hemp seed oil also came close to winning a prize. Labels on the oils were designed by Christchurch based company Leading Labels, which has been in a partnership with Waihi Bush for the past thirty years.
House fire
No-one is believed to have been in an Oamaru house that caught fire on Tuesday morning. One crew was still at the property at 12.30pm after two crews took ‘‘about an hour to put it out’’, Fire Service Southern Communications shift manager Riwai Grace said. The Lynn St house was ‘‘burning well’’ when crews from the Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade responded to the callout about 11am. There were no reports of injuries or of anyone being inside the house at the time of the fire, Grace said. The extent of the damage to the property was unknown. Grace said the cause of the fire had not yet been established.
Ash warning
A hedge that caught fire on Tyne St in Timaru has prompted a safety warning about the proper disposal of ashes. One crew from Washdyke responded to a callout about 11.30am on Tuesday, Fire Service Southern Communications shift manager Riwai Grace said. A small area of a hedge had caught fire after someone had left ashes from their fire next to the hedge, Grace said. He said the fire ‘‘wasn’t serious’’ as the hedge was not fully on fire but it did act as a good reminder for people going into winter to properly dispose of ashes. The best way to dispose of ashes was to keep them in a steel container for about five days to allow them to ‘‘properly cool right down’’. Grace said too often people would put ashes in a plastic container or throw them outside when they were still warm. This was a problem especially if ‘‘the wind gets into them and they can spread’’.