Dabners has been saved.
Open all hours: Dabners is staying open, thanks to a change in plan from the building’s new owners
The popular pet shop, which has been a fixture on Surrey Street Market for more than 50 years, was due to pull down the shutters for a final time on Saturday.
But in a remarkable twist of fate, the building’s new owners have decided to continue to trade as a pet supplies store, and have reached an agreement to continue operating under the Dabners name.
After having “Closing Down Sale” signs in the shop window for the last few weeks, these were replaced yesterday with new signs.
These say, “Your premier pet shop is here to stay!
“Serving Croydon’s pets and people for over 50 years and we’re not going anywhere!
“Your support keeps us fighting strong!”
Not everything will stay the same. Dabners has entered the 21st Century and now has an Instagram account, filled so far mostly with pics of visiting pets.
Inside Croydon had broken the news of the planned closure of Dabners just a month ago, with Mark Oram, the business’s owner who had taken on the firm from his father, blaming to rising business costs and reducing footfall.
Dabners began trading in 1959, but Oram said that trading conditions had become tougher than ever before, citing a drop by one-third in the number of customers visiting his shop. Dabners, Oram says, pays £20,000 in business rates each year, and last year saw its rebate cut from 75% to 25%.
“You talk to most customers here and they won’t even go to the shopping centre,” Oram said before the change in closure plans had been agreed.
“The council has done nothing whatsoever to promote businesses here. I know other independents and none of them are saying ‘we’re up, we’re doing well’.”
Oram said that crime and antisocial behaviour in Croydon town centre had made it too difficult for independent businesses to operate.
Oram told of how he had a knife pulled on him in the street when he tried to stop a shoplifter stealing an expensive dog harness last year. The police said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute the suspect, despite a member of the public video-ing the incident on their mobile phone.
“Croydon feels a bit lawless,” Oram said. “Shoplifting is worse than ever but we’re not getting any support. If we catch one we’re just told to email the police who never do much about it.”
Oram also complained about the unfair, low-price competition his business faced from the likes of Amazon, which under-cut his shop’s products and made Dabners’ online business negligible.
When Oram sold up, the original intention was to redevelop the building for flats.
Now, according to staff delighted to be working in the store yesterday, the intention is to keep the shop operating on the ground floor, while converting the upstairs into homes.
Two of Dabners’ four staff have accepted offers to keep their jobs, and are working hard to re-stock and organise cover to maintain the “business as usual” stance.
“We were surprised, but of course we’re delighted the shop is staying open,” one told Inside Croydon yesterday.
“This is such good news,” said one regular customer.
“The lesson here’s obvious,” said another. “Use it, or lose it.”
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At last some good news from Croydon wonderful news that this shop has been saved.
Soo happy !
i’ll make the trek to Croydon and buy some cat food.
Do they have love birds