Pet Essentials in the Porirua Mega Centre is the Wellington region's branch of a group of nine individually owned pet stores spread across the North Island of New Zealand. Owned and run locally by Murray and Leslie Hill, it carries the group's full range for household pets: raw meats, premium dry foods, dog rolls, bird seed, aquatic and reptile food, and everyday accessories.
Raw meat is the store's speciality, and the group backs it up with unusual control — the meat is processed at a plant owned by Pet Essentials store owners themselves, arriving raw and preservative free, diced or minced into blocks and medallions ready to defrost. The group's own dog rolls, made with a large portion of real meat rather than fillers and water, are another fixture, alongside super premium dry foods such as Hill's Science Diet, Orijen, Acana and Nutrience.
What regulars value most is the advice. Staff don't recommend any one brand — from fussy eaters to skin conditions, they'll work with you to find a food, or combination of foods, that suits your pet, your lifestyle and your budget. The store is 100% locally owned and operated, and true to the group's motto: it's where your pets would shop.
Pet Essentials on Parumoana Street, in the Porirua Mega Centre, is where Wellington-region pet owners come for the one thing many big-box stores struggle with: honest advice and a proper raw meat counter. The shop is the Wellington branch of Pet Essentials, a group of nine individually owned pet stores spread across the North Island, and it runs on the same philosophy the whole group shares — no two pets eat alike, so no single brand or food type gets pushed. Instead, staff work with each customer to find the food, or combination of foods, that suits their pet, their lifestyle and their budget.
Pet Essentials Limited was formed in March 2002, but the people behind it were already seasoned pet store owners, many with years behind the counter before the group existed. The Wanganui store has been operating since 1995, and the newest, Hastings, opened in June 2009. It isn't a franchise in the usual sense: every store is individually owned and operated, and most are still run by their original owners. The Porirua store is owned by Murray and Leslie Hill. Everything is 100% locally owned — and the group is explicit that it has no plans to change that.
That ownership structure matters to customers in practical ways. Because the stores buy in bulk as a group, they can negotiate with suppliers and pass on deals, specials and promotions that land on shelves regularly, including a monthly specials run.
Meat has always been the standout line at Pet Essentials, and the group is unusually well set up for it: a meat processing plant is owned by a group of Pet Essentials store owners themselves, giving the stores control over consistency, quality and delivery. The result is raw, preservative-free meat presented for easy feeding — diced for convenience, or minced and packaged as blocks or medallions you defrost one meal at a time.
The range in most stores includes beef mince, diced beef, steak & kidney, chicken mince, heart & chicken mince, chicken necks, venison mince, diced venison, mutton mince and brisket bones, with many stores also stocking Real Thing Raw in chicken, beef and veal flavours. Meats can be seasonal, so stock varies from time to time — worth phoning ahead if you're after something specific. The group's feeding philosophy is that raw meat should make up an important part of a cat's or dog's diet, and many vets in New Zealand and overseas now see the benefits of natural, raw diets.
The group's dog rolls come from a manufacturing plant owned by Pet Essentials store owners too, and the team is visibly proud of them: unlike many rolls on the market, they contain a large portion of actual meat rather than fillers and water. There are three different rolls to choose from, and customers have their own tricks — freezing the whole roll, or slicing it into meal-sized portions and free-flowing them in the freezer for convenient feeding.
Raw isn't the only story. The dry food shelves carry super premium brands including Hill's Science Diet, Orijen, Acana and Nutrience, all fully balanced for the nutrients, vitamins and minerals pets need. Orijen and Acana are produced in Canada from fresh, locally sourced ingredients with no artificial ingredients or by-products, and Orijen has been rated Pet Food of the Year by the Glycemic Research Institute in Washington DC. Hill's offers life-stage ranges from kittens and puppies through to senior pets, plus blends for oral health, hairball control, sensitive skin, sensitive stomachs and weight management. Most dried food brands run a loyalty card — buy ten bags of a brand and the next bag is free.
Bird seed, aquatic and reptile food, and everyday accessories round out the shelves, and as times have changed, a number of Pet Essentials stores have also added pets and fish. Stock varies store to store, but because the stores share suppliers, it never hurts to ask if there's a product you need — staff can usually hold items in store for you to collect.
For Wellington-region pet owners, the pitch on the group's website is hard to argue with: Pet Essentials — it's where your pets would shop. You'll find the Porirua store in the Porirua Mega Centre on Parumoana Street.