A dog groomer awash with success has moved into new premises after running her business from a shed in her back garden for the last five years.
Emma Jane Sanderson welcomed existing and new customers to her new unit in South John Street, Carlisle, on Monday.
The unit, near Crown Street, provides her Scallywags operation with 500 sq ft of space, much more than the small shed in the garden of her family home in Hawthorn Palace.
Mrs Sanderson, who launched Scallywags five years ago, said: “I’ve been running it from home for the last five years but it is in a shed at the bottom of the garden and it has its limitations.
“I had to consider my neighbours so I only really did through the day and the shed was very small, I couldn’t do anything bigger than a springer spaniel.
“On average I can do about five dogs a day at the moment. The new place means I can do so much more and I want to open early at 7.30am and go through to 6.30pm for my customers.”
Mrs Sanderson, who is married and has a grown-up son, became interested in dog grooming because of her pet chihauhau.
She embarked on a 10-week course at Newton Rigg, near Penrith, and then went on to train further, which included a stint working in Greenock, near Glasgow.
“I’d always worked in the pub trade with my mum and dad. My mum used to have the St Nicholas pub and I worked for her,” Mrs Sanderson said.
“I didn’t know anything about dog grooming or running a business but I remember seeing something for the 10-week City and Guilds dog grooming course at Newton Rigg and thought it was worth going to because of my dog. It has really gone from there, I worked voluntarily for a time afterwards and did some more training. I also went to Greenock for a course.
"The business has really developed because of word of mouth.”
The 40-year-old added: “The new unit allows me to put things in like a sofa and TV for customers, have a waiting area and I’m wanting to with local vets and animal organisations to do things like a lost and found board and highlight good animal care.”
Mrs Sanderson’s first customer Anne Dolan was invited to cut the ribbon on bank holiday Monday to mark the official opening of the new Scallywags base.
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