Major pet retailer Jollyes will open its first York store on the edge of the city later this month.

The store, at Monks Cross Shopping Park will open at 10am on Friday September 20 in a unit vacated by Tui travel earlier this year.

The store is set to be officially opened by two special guests.

Joining Lord Mayor of York Cllr Margaret Wells will be retired border force detector dog Pablo, who will also bite through a string of sausages to declare the store open.

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Pablo, 7, served in the border force on the Yorkshire coast for a number of years but ruptured a disc in his back requiring surgery while running, leading to his early retirement last Christmas.

Pablo is now living with new owner Beverley Boynton and has become best friends with her four-year old cat Otis. 

Like many service animals his treatment is being supported in these later years by the National Federation of Retired Service Dogs (NFRSA) which Jollyes recently named as a key charity partner.

Over the next 12 months, all Jollyes’ stores will be raising money for NFRSA with collections matched by Jollyes up to £20,000 that will help NFRSA support retired service animals and their owners.

(Image: pic supplied)

The new Jollyes store in York will create 12 jobs and will be led by experienced Jollyes store manager James Wye who’s been promoted to the new role after five years working for Jollyes in Selby.

The retailer says the York store will be a great example of the career development opportunities for colleagues as the pet superstore continues to open new stores at pace.

Joining the York team are Aquilla Fisher who’s been promoted from Supervisor to Deputy Manager after working for Jollyes for four years and Tom Hurley will transfer from Doncaster store after eight years with the business.

An opening day on Saturday with YorkMix radio will also feature an entertainer and pet-themed gameshows.

Jollyes new store will provide pet parents in York access to Jollyes’ raw food frozen ‘shop-in-shop’ and a community pet clinic which will open later this year.

Store manager James Wye said: “Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be working hard to get the store ready to welcome our special guests and customers for the first time.

“My whole team is looking forward to delivering the service, expertise – and above all prices – that Jollyes is becoming famous for right across the country.”

Jollyes has grown its store numbers by 50 per cent in three years and this year was named Best Retailer er in Britain at the prestigious Retail Week awards for retailers under £250m turnover and making the Sunday Times’ list for the first time as one of Britain’s best big companies to work for.

Jollyes in York will be its 106th store in the UK joining other stores around Yorkshire including Selby, Harrogate, Leeds and Wakefield.