Our Story
We are Jules and Richard, we started up our business called ‘Grumpy’s pet shop’ in 2001, we often get asked why we called it that, the simple answer is, that it’s named after our dear friend and colleague Mike Hardcastle who died in 2001, he had been a previous owner of the business and Mr Grumpy was his ‘nick name’.
We really enjoy running the business together; we are now the only independent pet shop left in Cambridge. We have collectively, been in the pet trade for over 70 years which means we have a wealth of knowledge about pet care and nutrition and are more than happy to share this and give free advice to all of our customers.
When we started, our main focus was to promote premium natural pet foods because we’ve learned how important it is to feed our pets on the best diet possible.
Over the years there has been advanced research into pet nutrition and this has seen the birth of some fantastic foods. When you feed a good food, it helps keep your pets in optimal health and prolong their life, unfortunately some of the bigger brands still use poor ingredients. Working in the shop puts us in the unique position of being able to monitor how dogs progress on certain diets and without doubt the ones fed on a good quality premium diet enjoy much better health and require less visits to the vets.
When you come into our shop you will see that it is very well stocked. We have a vast array of loose natural treats which can be brought in singles or in bulk, some customers call it our pick ‘n’ mix. We stock all the latest training aids and soft toys; we regularly order in different items so that our customers always have something new to see. We also carry a good range of dog/cat beds, leads, collars, bowls etc.
I guess our main pride is in our wide range of natural foods and treats that we sell. We have our own range of natural dog food called Bark 4 more.
We are aware that people lead very busy lives these days, so we do offer a free delivery service as long as it is within six miles of our shop, we just ask that customers spend £15 or more. Jason has run this service for us for over 10 years, he’s very popular with our customers for both deliveries and pet sitting.
If you get chance, please check out our reviews on Google or maybe leave your own.
We’d love to see you in our shop soon.
Jules, Rich and Jason Meet The Team
Jules
I have been in the pet trade over 40 years and have at different times been the co-owner of four shops. I feel my strengths lie within dog and cat nutrition, as I see that part of my job is to watch the market for new products to sell in our shop that fit our company ethos of selling and promoting natural meat based foods. We pride ourselves on customer service and are happy to spend time and listen to anyone that owns a pet with a specific dietary requirement. I love buying in different products so anyone visiting our shop always has something new to see, in fact our shop is a mixture of an ‘old style’ pet shop and yet also has new innovative products . There is a huge diversity of stock here with many people reporting that they find things here they cannot find anywhere else, a real ‘Aladdin’s cave’ they often say.
Richard
I’ve been working in a pet shop since 1992 when I left school. I have always enjoyed my job and consider myself very lucky to be working in a relaxed and fun environment. In 2001 myself and Jules started Grumpy’s after the sad death of my then boss Mike, he was a very wise man and I felt privileged to learn the trade working for him. During my time at Grumpy’s my main roles within the company have been, the accounts, pet sitting, deliveries and serving customers. I love my time spent in the shop serving and get a real buzz from helping people buy the right products for their pets. I work hard to ensure that all our customers receive an extremely high standard of customer service and I think our regular customers enjoy the friendly atmosphere Grumpy’s offers over and above our competitors.
Jason
I started working with Jules and Richard in 2011, I grew up in Oxford and moved to Cambridge 2010. Id previously worked as a mechanic so coming into the pet trade was a big change. My role within the shop is mostly pet sitting and deliveries but spend the rest of my time in the shop helping customers and replenishing the stock. I’m also the shop handyman so it’s not unusual to find me up a ladder painting or changing light bulbs. I’ve learned alot since I started and feel comfortable talking about all aspects of animal care and nutrition