A pet supply shop that was on the brink of closure is now pulling in a whopping £1 million a month after seeing its sales shoot up during the pandemic.
Maltby's Stores in Hull has been open for business for 115 years, but hit hard times back in 2008.
However, it was around about that time that co-owner Paul Maltby made the decision to start flogging items online as well as in stores as a way to boost sales - and it turned out to be a very smart move.
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Since the pandemic hit, the pet supply store has seen a huge surge in sales resulting in an annual turnover of £10 million.
Paul told Hull Live: "We started off selling some stock off via eBay, but we were getting close to liquidating the business at that time. There weren't many specialist shops still left, and there are even fewer now.
"Now, we constantly find new products which we research, market, and sell to customers online.
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"Covid has had a massive impact for us. We regularly come in to 5,000 orders on a Monday morning.
"You feel a bit guilty as friends' businesses have really struggled during Covid, but because shops and garden centres had to close in lockdowns, we've been busier than ever, especially in the first 12 weeks of lockdown last March."
Maltby's Stores is a real family business, with Paul co-owning the shop with sister Kathryn Barrett, while the younger members of the Maltby family are now also making their way in the business: his two sons and two daughters, and Kathryn's son.
Paul added: "Years ago I would have discouraged my children from joining the firm as they would have been dead-end jobs.
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"But now all the children and their partners work for the business. They're all university-educated but choose to work here for the family business.
"But the future's looking bright for Maltby's now, and hopefully this business will still be here for their retirement, not just mine."
However, despite their success, Paul said he would never get complacent about the current.
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"You don't want to get too cocky in business," he said.
"You might be doing amazingly one year and then in five years' time it could all be very different. You only need to look at Debenhams, Comet and Toys R Us to see that.
"You can't rest on your laurels, but that's what's exciting about business, and you can never take it for granted."
Chief Executive Jeff Maltby added: "We never intended to set out to be a million pound business, it was just a small shop with one person to start with.
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"Now the younger generation are making their mark on it, which is fantastic."
Featured Image Credit: MEN MediaTopics: UK News, Business, Coronavirus