The two-year-old Pets at Home store in New Malden shows how retailers that know their business are comfortable with evolving a format, refining it and constantly looking to improve what’s already there.

It’s more than two years since Pets at Home took the plunge and unveiled a new store format that set it apart from almost every other retailer operating in its relatively narrow sector.

What made it different was the idea that a pet store could, in some way, be a lifestyle and experientially-based form of retailing. The concentration was on making things interesting and on encouraging curiosity and browsing behaviour in the stores.

Visit the south-west London suburb of New Malden and you can get, first hand, an update on what has been done to the format and it’s actually pretty impressive.

Around £1m has been spent on refitting this store and according to chief executive, it’s about helping people to interact with the store environment and the stock – for which read everything from Panther Chameleons to Guinea Pigs.

This is a large store, but wherever you turn, ways have been found to make this edge-of-town warehouse smaller, whether it’s an American-style barn, home to a clutch of chickens, or the more specialist reptile area at the back of the store. In the latter area, enthusiasts can spend up to £1,000 on a “pet”.

The point is that this is a store that is interesting to visit and look around, even if you have no strong desire to be a pet-owner. It also shows how retailers that know their business are comfortable with evolving a format, refining it and constantly looking to improve what’s already there. And the rewards are there for the taking.

Venture-capital owned Pets at Home is currently in the throes of getting things sorted for a 2010 floatation, which, if it goes ahead, should prove something of a honey pot, given current performance.

Which perhaps goes to show how important it is to keep looking at what you’re doing in a store and to endeavour to be, at all times, your most severe critic. 2009 has been, by any standards, a tough year, but for those that have understood their customers and with formats targeted at meeting their requirements, there have been healthy profits to be made.

The question that has to be answered is why, on the evidence of retailers such as Pets at Home, are there still those who seem to attach little importance to creating store environments that cater for a demand.

Topman, Topshop and, to an extent, John Lewis, have all unveiled compelling stores this year, but there remain huge numbers for whom the way their stores look comes a long way down the list of priorities.