Howling success for dog salon

Carmen Hanif at her new salon

Carmen Hanif set up her dog grooming salon, Groomed with Love, in Lodge Street, Middleton in June and provides everything from health checks and massages to facials.

Carmen, who has two rescue dogs, lives in Hollins and is delighted with her early success, she said: “I’m not taking anything for granted but 98% of my customers are coming back on a regular 5-6 week schedule, which is great.

"I’d been an office manager for twelve years but love dogs and decided if I didn’t retrain now I’d never do it. So I did my City and Guilds and here I am. I’m absolutely loving it.”

Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) helped with finding premises. Sherrie DeCourcy of RDA said: “Carmen knew exactly what she wanted. We were able to offer her advice and support as it was a new start-up and also help her with her property search. We are delighted that she found the ideal premises and she’s doing so well.”

Carmen added: “I want to say a big thank you to RDA for being so encouraging and also to my customers. Before I set up I was told that it would take a long time to build up the business but thanks to the loyalty of the dog owners of Middleton I’ve got off to a fantastic start.”