Crowthorne salon scales back business
2 Left Paws Grooming Spa in Crowthorne, Berkshire, has revealed that it will be scaling back its business in response to rising costs and as its team focuses on other interests.
The business, which opened in 2014, has told customers it will:
- No longer be offering regular Saturday appointments from September.
- Be open Monday to Thursday and the occasional Friday in busy periods.
- No longer be grooming any dogs off its recommended grooming schedule.
- No longer be offering appointments to clients who come with repeated matting, lateness, no shows or with multiple cancellations.
- No longer be grooming dogs that require two stylists or bite/fight throughout the grooming process.
- Only be grooming a very selection few XL breeds, but as a whole will no longer be doing most large breeds, especially if they are unable to jump up/stand.
- Be taking four weeks holiday every year.
2 Left Paws Grooming, which was part of BBC One’s Pooch Perfect show, said: “Whilst we love our jobs, since lock down and due to word of mouth we have built up a good reputation for dealing with dogs with severe behavioural issues/groomphobic and there seems to be a lot of them now. Over the years this has gone from us having one or two ‘care’ dogs to mostly grooming only care dogs which is becoming very straining on our minds and bodies, the job we are finding harder and harder each year.
“So it is with deep regret that we will be giving up grooming many of our more fidgety dogs as we are physically struggling to groom them. We are so sorry and will of course help find suitable groomers for all the dogs we can no longer cater for.”
The company said that “skyrocketing” costs are also a huge contributing factor to its decision, it says it would have to increase its prices to a minimum of £85-90 for a small dog full groom to ensure it covers its current costs.
“With being VAT registered it means for many years have been subsidising that cost which is something we can no longer do with the prices rising so much and wish to deregister from VAT eventually and get back some of that work life balance rather than chasing our tail all the time,” 2 Left Paws Grooming added.
“We have realised that you either need to be a small business or a massive business, being a middle ground business is almost impossible and its already taken its toll on our mental and physical health so now we are taking charge and making the salon work for us. It’s taken us 10 years to realise that we are small business owners and cannot cope with the hustle and bustle of owning multiple salons or being a boss, it’s just not us.”
The decision has been supported by 2 Left Paws Grooming clients on social media.
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