Name: Di Cheal

Business: Cat World, 3C Church Street, Oswestry

Opening Hours: 9am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday

When did you open and why?

This shop opened up in May 2019 – this year. I opened because I was obviously interested in cats and had been running an online business and going to cat shows.

It was the next step to open a shop. I had been in the indoor market for a few months previously, and I came up with a concept.

Then I decided to go for it and open the shop.

Ultimately I’m a ‘mad cat lady’ but I’ve gone against stereotype and dragged my ‘mad cat husband’ into it too. He pretends he doesn’t like cats but he does.

I catch him talking to the cats when he thinks I’m not looking.

I started going to cat shows about six years ago and it evolved from little tables to then getting 12-18 feet tables of stuff. I did the Oswestry Show too, and in Shrewsbury as well.

It’s grown organically – I used to work for Littlewoods/Very catalogues and used to do this part-time, but I’ve been able to build it up.

Why did you open in this location?

I OPENED in this specific location because of its potential. When I first saw it, it wasn’t even a building site – it hadn’t got a building site stage by then.

But I thought, from what I could see of the black hole at the time, it looked like a great location, as we have the main car park by us and it’s a thoroughfare through the main street in town.

It was quite a big gamble because it was a mess and had been previously, but they have done a good job, made a good thing of the alleyway and people come in and say they’ve not seen anything like it, and people who don’t like cats can appreciate it for what it is.

I’ve got good friends next door and we all get on like a little community – it’s a bit of a hub.

When the one next door opens then it will be complete and it will be great.

Tell us about your business?

Basically, we’re a cat lover’s dream store. We cater for cat lovers and by that we mean humans, but we like to cater for cats too – for our furry friends.

But I don’t do stuff that normal pet shops or supermarkets do, such as food and litter, so we try to get them toys and treats. We are probably ‘nicher then niche’ – you don’t normally see the kind of stuff I have but it doesn’t have to be weird. We have a good choice of cat bowls and blankets, for example.

What’s your most memorable/proudest moment in business?

I THINK opening my shop is my proudest so far. I was commuting to Liverpool every day and it was a feeling that I was never going to get out of this and here I am, two years later, with my own shop.

The customers are lovely and I’m living my dream – quite a few of my old customers come in. We have regulars that we recognise and get to know and there’s new people, plus we support local traders.

Any strange requests?

Dog stuff!