I absolutely love it when my Auntie and Uncle go on holiday. Not because I want rid of them, just because it means I get to help my Grandma look after my favourite little floof…Crunchie!

If you follow my socials you’ll no doubt be familiar with him. He’s a two and a bit year old Coton de Tulear who’s lively, playful and a little bit of a pain in the bum! We love him though, obviously.

Last month when we were looking after him, we decided to have a run out and took him to our family friends pet store – Kimi’s Pet Emporium!

Based in Washington, Kimi’s Pet Emporium has been open for around 2 years and is a shop which caters for all of your pets needs whether they’re dogs, cats, birds, hedgehogs or other small animals! The store is named after owners Karen and Lee’s gorgeous dog, Kimi, and they sell a huge range of quality foods, grooming and health care products and toys.

Kimi’s Pet Emporium is dog friendly so we were able to take Crunchie inside, and he was excited to sniff about. Lee greeted us, then Karen and Kimi arrived too. I think Crunchie enjoyed meeting Kimi as he kept following her around the shop!

Karen and Lee are happy to help with whatever questions and queries you might have, and if they don’t have what you’re after in stock – they can get it in for you. Looking around the shop, you can see why it’s so popular as they really do have everything you could possibly need. One of my favourite parts of the shop is their doggie deli which has many different types of natural and unusual treats. I think it was Crunchie’s favourite part too as he kept sniffing around it!

I decided to catch up with Karen and chat life with the shop…

So Kimi’s Pet Emporium is named after your gorgeous pooch – had you always wanted to open a pet shop, or was it only after Kimi came along that you decided to? 

When we first opened our business Kimi was a pup and we sold pet stuff online. We later decided to have a pet shop too and the obvious name was Kimi’s.

Amazing! You sell a lot of natural foods and unusual treats at the shop- would you say that’s important to your brand and what makes you different from other stores? 

Definitely! Over the last few years we have strived to stock unusual products, but with emphasis on healthy foods and treats. As dog owners we believe that the better the food, the healthier your pet will be.

With that, what would you say your best sellers are? 

Our best sellers are Canagan and Eden grain free cat and dog food. They’re quality products and produced using ingredients for the human food chain, so we feel assured that they will be good for your pets.

Obviously you have the online shop that people can order from, but how important was the location of the shop in Washington to you? 

I think the location of the shop is great because it’s in a busy little retail park and each busines attracts their own customers so you can get a lot of passing trade.

Finally, as well as your huge range of products, you offer advice and support at the store- what’s the best bit of advice that you could give to dog owners? 

Because pet food can not only affect your pets health and wellbeing but also their behaviour, the best advice I can give is get your pet on a decent food ASAP.  I know some of the better brands can be more expensive, but you will feed less because the food is more nutritious.

Some pets seem fussy eaters but it could be because some brands often change their recipes and put in whatever is cheapest at that time. If you dog seems hyper, it can also definitely be linked to what they’re eating – same as with humans. So as well as the health benefits of feeding a quality food, you will also see a happy more content pet!

You can find Kimi’s Pet Emporium at –
27 Phoenix Road, Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE38 0AD

Huge thank you to Karen and Lee as well for giving us some treats for Crunchie, and a ‘LickiMat’ too which has been great! You can read their blog on the product here.