Since it was launched as a small stall, Daisy’s Dog Empawrium has grown from strength to strength. Here, owner Lisa Gosling explains how a business relationship played a pivotal role through good times and bad
Kelly Purvor remembers exactly where she was on her birthday in 2017: attending the opening of Daisy’s Dog Deli, a store dedicated to handmade canine treats and accessories, at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. Purvor’s self-appointed role that day was to stand outside, drumming up business by flyering passersby or ushering them into the shop where owner Lisa Gosling was busy serving customers. “Her support, as always, has been amazing,” says Gosling of the helping hand at the launch of her store (renamed Daisy’s Dog Empawrium in 2019).
Purvor’s relationship with Gosling and her business extends far beyond acting as, appropriately enough, a de facto “barker” that special day. Because she also happens to be Gosling’s local business manager at the Maidstone store of Metro Bank. It’s a working relationship that has grown over two decades, having begun in 2000 when Gosling won a competition for small businesses in the area. Gosling had traded in her long-term career as a chef to launch a business that combined her culinary skills and love of dogs by making hand-crafted canine treats, suitable for pooches with sensitive stomachs who have difficulties eating commercial dog food – such as her own dog, Daisy.
