THE Pet Palace Hamilton has been announced as a finalist for the Positive Impact Within the Community Award and the Overcoming the Odds Award at the 2023 Australian Rural Business Awards.

The Australian Rural Business Awards are presented by Australia’s leading online marketplace for rural and regional small businesses Spend With Us (spendwithus.com.au) to celebrate, highlight and recognise the absolute talent that exists out there in rural and regional Australia.

For the second year running the Australian Rural Business Awards are shining a light on what small businesses in rural and regional Australia are achieving in business excellence, innovation and sustainability, new business, Australia made and e-commence.

After the success of its inaugural event last year where hundreds of businesses were put up for nomination by the people, the awards are once again bringing out the best of rural and regional Australia.

Designed to acknowledge the strength, resilience and talent of small business owners in rural and regional areas, the awards recognise that businesses in these areas have been through it all including droughts, bushfire, mouse plagues, floods, a lack of tourism and a global pandemic in the past few years alone.

Chris and Jules Worthy, owners of The Pet Palace, said they are excited to be named as a finalist in not one but two award categories.

“We found out in an email from the Australian Rural Business Committee firstly that we had been nominated by the public for the awards in general,” they said.

“A few days later we were informed of which categories exactly.

“To say that we are flabbergasted that people within our small community took the time to nominate us for the Australian Business Awards is an understatement.

“We honestly had not even heard of them until we received the email of confirmation, and to find out it is Australia wide, just wow.

“We purchased the business six years ago from its original owner Mr Darryl Lacey, determined to share our combined knowledge and experience of over 50 years with everything animal from scaley to fluffy with our community,” they said.

Jules’ qualifications include a Cert II in Animal Studies, Cert III in Pet Grooming and Cert IV in Companion Animal Services.

She has a passion for all animals and keeps a wide variety of them at home including dogs, cats, ferrets, rats, mice, rabbits and birds.

Chris has 30 plus years in the aquarium field and you can ask him any question about a fish and its temperament, water pH level, nitrogen level, softness or hardness, temperature or ideal living conditions, appropriate beneficial bacterial levels and he will be able to tell you in a heartbeat (no google needed).

He has also been an avid breeder of both tropical and cold-water fish since he was around eight years old and very active within the aquarium industry.

To add to this, he has more than 20 years of experience in the herpetology field.

For those who don’t know what that means he is experienced and qualified in both reptile relocation and holds certificates in reptile biology and herpetology. Chris and Jules truly do have a passion that runs deep, very deep.

As many in the community know Jules was diagnosed with stage 3c ovarian cancer just over three years ago and this had and still has a great impact on the couple, their private life and their business.

At one point they considered selling up because the challenge of attending numerous medical appointments and the gruelling treatment had taken a toll.

But with the help and support from within the Hamilton community they have managed to stay the course and keep their doors open continuing to welcome their very treasured customers.

Jules is now undergoing maintenance treatment and can happily report that she has “stable disease” and extremely happy that she can return to pampering some of the town’s beautiful pet population four days a week.

Their combined greatest achievement is simply being able to pass on their knowledge to the younger generations, offering old fashioned service and being able to offer a foot inside the pet industry door for those that seek a career in the demanding and growing industry.

It can be challenging to be a successful small business in rural and regional Australia but community plays an enormous part in their success.

Chris and Jules truly believe that the community has played an enormous part in their business success by just choosing to shop and buy local.

The founders of Spend With Us have been overwhelmed by the response to the awards and are so excited to see how many businesses have been involved.

Founders of Spend With Us, Jenn Donovan and Sarah Britz, said there is nothing that gives them greater joy than seeing businesses from the bush succeed and to see their passion and determination shine through.

“We’re also so thankful to our amazing sponsors who have been inspired by many of our finalists’ journeys,” they said.

The winners of The Australian Rural Business Awards for 2023 will be announced during an online event on Friday, June 23 from 7.30pm. The keynote speaker for the night will be bestselling author Andrew Griffiths with another speaker yet to be confirmed.

For more information on the Australian Rural Business Awards, visit spendwithus.com.au/the-australian-rural-business-awards