Pet Friendly Stores

[Alpha8472]

Joann Fabrics has a sign on their front windows that says pet friendly. I assume that since they sell no food, that they can have all types of animals allowed. The sign looks like the shape of a cat head with ears.

Most other stores do not welcome pets unless it is a pet food store.

[storewanderer]

Just in the past 3 days I've seen pets with no service animal vest in multiple Wal Mart locations, one Safeway, one casino (yes... sitting there inhaling all the smoke), and inside a McDonalds.

It is about 98 degrees.

I've also seen more than a few pets in cars with windows cracked in various parking lots.

At this point I don't know what to say as to what the solution needs to be.

This didn't use to be a problem, people left pets at home, but for some reason that has changed, and the above two scenarios are clearly not right for the animal or the other store customers.

Putting pets in a Jo-Ann Fabric where many customers are buying fabric does not seem appropriate. I hope all of their stores at least have hard floors (I think I've seen some with carpet).

[ClownLoach]

This Joann thing results from some sort of pissing match with Michaels; they also ran ads a few years ago bragging about being pet friendly. I think Hobby Lobby also did some social media with dogs in carts. These three have become a horrible example of a dying industry desperate to come up with ways to get customers into dying stores as their business moves to online competition. Hobby Lobby seems to be performing better than their competition despite a lack of technology, but eventually that will catch up with them as the younger generations shop Amazon and others online for the core items (read: most profitable) and leave them as a oversized HomeGoods/AtHome competitor. Joann's brand spanking new stores are the best of the three chains but they only have a handful open and lack funds to replace the rest of their chain. Michaels has deteriorated severely under private ownership and has basically moved to all unsupervised self checkout at many stores with poor implementation (a weird terminal just dropped on top of existing checkout stands with no room for the customer to unload their cart).

The problem is that all three chains have the majority of their stores in California where it is not legal for them to allow pets under the health code because they have more than 25 Sq ft of space dedicated to foods. All carry prepackaged cake decoration and such, and large snack areas at checkout. There is enough square footage (certainly over the 25 Sq ft minimum) that some do get health inspections like a grocery store including the LA county locations who do have letter grades in the windows. More importantly - these stores have classrooms where food techniques are taught such as cake decorating and that means no pets allowed in California.

It seems that not every health agency has figured out that these stores are food stores and as such don't know to come in and inspect (plus the stores might not have a permit).

So they advertise pet friendly, except for the asterisk that they're technically not allowed to be pet friendly in the state where they have the most stores. They're grasping at straws to find new ways to get customers into their stagnant, declining stores and being "pet friendly" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever as a way to grow a craft store business.

[veteran+]

Just in the past 3 days I've seen pets with no service animal vest in multiple Wal Mart locations, one Safeway, one casino (yes... sitting there inhaling all the smoke), and inside a McDonalds.

It is about 98 degrees.

I've also seen more than a few pets in cars with windows cracked in various parking lots.

At this point I don't know what to say as to what the solution needs to be.

This didn't use to be a problem, people left pets at home, but for some reason that has changed, and the above two scenarios are clearly not right for the animal or the other store customers.

Putting pets in a Jo-Ann Fabric where many customers are buying fabric does not seem appropriate. I hope all of their stores at least have hard floors (I think I've seen some with carpet).

I think we would be a better people if we adopted Germany's laws and practices regarding dogs. They are PRO animal, PRO "other people" rights, PRO health & sanitation, PRO environment and most importantly PRO responsibility and accountability.

We claim to LOVE our dogs like they are our children and we contradict that constantly with the way we take care of them. We are the highest per capita pet owners in the world.

This animals in food establishments trend is so wrong! Properly trained and certified (of the correct size of dog that can physically help a human) Service DOG exempted of course.

You drive a car and have a license and are required to prove it. You have a Service Dog with a certificate and should be required to prove it..........................Full Stop!

[veteran+]

This Joann thing results from some sort of pissing match with Michaels; they also ran ads a few years ago bragging about being pet friendly. I think Hobby Lobby also did some social media with dogs in carts. These three have become a horrible example of a dying industry desperate to come up with ways to get customers into dying stores as their business moves to online competition. Hobby Lobby seems to be performing better than their competition despite a lack of technology, but eventually that will catch up with them as the younger generations shop Amazon and others online for the core items (read: most profitable) and leave them as a oversized HomeGoods/AtHome competitor. Joann's brand spanking new stores are the best of the three chains but they only have a handful open and lack funds to replace the rest of their chain. Michaels has deteriorated severely under private ownership and has basically moved to all unsupervised self checkout at many stores with poor implementation (a weird terminal just dropped on top of existing checkout stands with no room for the customer to unload their cart).

The problem is that all three chains have the majority of their stores in California where it is not legal for them to allow pets under the health code because they have more than 25 Sq ft of space dedicated to foods. All carry prepackaged cake decoration and such, and large snack areas at checkout. There is enough square footage (certainly over the 25 Sq ft minimum) that some do get health inspections like a grocery store including the LA county locations who do have letter grades in the windows. More importantly - these stores have classrooms where food techniques are taught such as cake decorating and that means no pets allowed in California.

It seems that not every health agency has figured out that these stores are food stores and as such don't know to come in and inspect (plus the stores might not have a permit).

So they advertise pet friendly, except for the asterisk that they're technically not allowed to be pet friendly in the state where they have the most stores. They're grasping at straws to find new ways to get customers into their stagnant, declining stores and being "pet friendly" makes absolutely no sense whatsoever as a way to grow a craft store business.

A big problem is that in California and probably all across the nation these departments (health, safety, sanitation, etc.) are severely understaffed. There are fewer and fewer live bodies to go out and audit.

I noticed this decline first with Ralphs, then Vons-Pavilions and worse with Fresh & Easy.

[Brian Lutz]

About the only non pet store I see pets in regularly is Home Depot stores, and I know that some of those stores actually take specific steps to accommodate dog owners. The Snohomish store near our old house had plywood boards set up that you could put in your cart to make it more comfortable for a dog to ride in it, and that particular store also had a display of customer pet photos near the checkouts in front.

There also seems to be a bit of a cottage industry out there for companies that will sell you "service animal documentation" for a fee, which basically amounts to a diploma mill for dogs. I've seen some of these companies be bold enough to even advertise on Facebook and other platforms, although they tend to get reported as fraudulent and taken down quickly. Even so, I doubt most of the people inclined to bring their pets with them into stores they aren't allowed to even bother with that level of effort.

[storewanderer]

Went to Smiths tonight.

Heard a dog barking. Constantly.

Got to produce. Saw customer with dog walking around on leash. No vest or anything. Dog was quiet, was thinking what was this dog barking about? It seems really mellow.

Then heard from way off in the distance the dog barking again. Like, from the completely opposite end of the store.

Eventually made my way over there to see another person had a dog in the store, this dog was sitting/standing directly in the shopping cart mixed in with the groceries (why not I guess?)... but agitated and wanted out of the cart. And still barking, loud, steadily. You could hear this dog barking throughout the store, and the music was pretty loud already. Again no vest etc.

[Alpha8472]

I have seen barking dogs at stores and some seemed vicious. I also saw people carrying cats with no leash. That would be a bad mix.

[storewanderer]

I have seen barking dogs at stores and some seemed vicious. I also saw people carrying cats with no leash. That would be a bad mix.

In I think it was Kohls I saw a person who had a cat attached to a sling type thing around her neck and the cat was positioned around heart or upper chest level of the person. This did not look safe or comfortable for either party. The cat looked completely out, like half asleep, but moods can change fast.

[buckguy]

The problem is that all three chains have the majority of their stores in California

Not really--I only looked at JoAnn. but the DC/Baltimore area has almost as many as LA County (probably similar populations). JoAnn got their start in the Cleveland area and expanded from there, so there are plenty of stores in the Midwest. JoAnn began in the fabric business and grew by taking over other fabric chains. I don't know about Hobby Lobby, but Michaels seems to have long been a place that mostly sold the kind of cheap stuff that used to be sold by Woolworth and Kresge variety stores.