Lee and Corinne Penner, owners of Pet Planet, took home the Business of the Year award last week. (Submitted photo/Pet Planet)

By Susan McNeil

Business

Supporting local and well-trained staff means success for Pet Planet

Apr 18, 2022 | 3:24 PM

If you ask Lee Penner why the business he and his wife, Corinne, own was named Prince Albert’s Business of the Year, he will give you two reasons: they support other local businesses and they take staff training seriously.

Penner said winning the Business Transformation Award and Business of the Year during the 31st Samuel McLeod Business Awards meant a lot, chosen as they were by other businesses.

“Humbling would definitely be the biggest thing when you hear your name come up like that. Obviously unexpected,” he said.

They have been nominated in the past but this year won for the first time.

Customer service is a huge part of the company’s approach to business and staff are routinely given more training to increase their knowledge, Penner explained.

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“The big thing for us is making sure we hire top quality staff and support them with monthly education courses,” said Penner.

Staff are professionally trained to be able to answer a customer’s questions in areas like nutrition, but the company makes sure that the training comes from professionals rather than suppliers.

The fact that Pet Planet is locally owned allows them to adapt quickly to changes, such as the pandemic, Penner said.

With the onset of COVID, people got more pets, especially cats and spent more time with them.

This meant owners became more aware of physical issues, such as walking, that their pet had and would ask more questions.

A lot were new to having pets and so had a lot more to learn.

Recent renovations to the physical location were done using all local contractors, which was a big benefit for them, he said.

“They were able to find local suppliers and that’s one of the things we did when we renovated, we wanted to make sure we were supporting the local community,” said Penner.

A lot of it was done to meet the needs of future business expansion, online sales and changing demographics in the marketplace, Penner said.

“It allowed us to hold more inventory and more stock so we weren’t as affected by inventory shortages,” he said. “It was all part of the plan as we are growing.”

COVID-19 also changed how they did the renovation. Sales became more digital, so the Penners increased their shelf capacity in order to meet online demand as well as negate supply issues.

“So we had to adapt our business a little bit more from the brick and mortar to doing a lot of online sales and shipping products and curbside,” Penner said.

The Penners have owned the store for seven years. The Samuel McLeod Business Awards event hosted by the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce was on April 14.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow