Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Alpha8472
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Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

Are there any mall Pet Stores left? These used to be common years ago. I haven't seen any in a long time.

A few years ago I saw some pet adoption places in malls, but they were temporary. There were puppies and kittens.

There used to mall aquarium stores too, but those seem to have disappeared too. Independent fish stores seem to be getting rarer. I remember when you could find independent pet stores that sold sharks and saltwater fish. There were some monster fishes too. You would see many 2 foot long or bigger fishes.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by Bradford011 »

I remember a fairly good-sized independent pet store in Rockville, MD back in the 80's-90's (no idea if its still there). Had all sorts of critters including a large tank full of piranha (which are illegal to own but these were grandfathered in).

Despite numerous signs that the piranha were NOT for sale almost every time I was in there some idiot asked about buying some. The owner got so pissed off he finally made asking the question grounds for being turfed from the store for the day...
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by babs »

Alpha8472 wrote: April 2nd, 2022, 11:50 am Are there any mall Pet Stores left? These used to be common years ago. I haven't seen any in a long time.

A few years ago I saw some pet adoption places in malls, but they were temporary. There were puppies and kittens.

There used to mall aquarium stores too, but those seem to have disappeared too. Independent fish stores seem to be getting rarer. I remember when you could find independent pet stores that sold sharks and saltwater fish. There were some monster fishes too. You would see many 2 foot long or bigger fishes.
Unfortunately malls have turned into nothing more than collections of chain clothing stores. If we're wondering why malls are failing, don't blame Amazon. I miss the malls of the 70s and 80s that had interesting places like pet stores.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by Super S »

There still is an independent pet store in Vancouver Mall, in Vancouver, WA. It has been there for many years, and has moved in the mall at least once.

I don't want to derail the discussion, but will say that part of the decline in these types of stores in malls has to do with rumors that some animals are sourced from puppy mills etc. I do know a couple people who have purchased puppies there which have turned out to be great dogs.

Some of the larger chains, instead of selling puppies and kittens, feature animals from local shelters, but are not typically found inside malls.

There is also an organization called Hannah which has had space inside Clackamas Town Center in the past, that advertises a monthly fee that covers vet bills etc. but has made the local news a few times for questionable tactics.

Local Animal shelters sometimes will also rent space in malls to feature adoptable pets.

Viewpoints aside, these stores did add to the variety that used to be present in many malls.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by architect »

Super S wrote: April 2nd, 2022, 6:29 pm I don't want to derail the discussion, but will say that part of the decline in these types of stores in malls has to do with rumors that some animals are sourced from puppy mills etc. I do know a couple people who have purchased puppies there which have turned out to be great dogs.
My one experience with a mall-based pet store revolved around exactly this. Up until a few years ago, there was a puppy store in Post Oak Mall in College Station, TX called The Puppy Store, and later Puppy Station, which sold puppies in a range on breeds. This store was popular with local college students as you could come by and pet/play with the puppies for 25 cents. However, most students and other local residents rarely purchased the puppies in question, due to persistent news surrounding the dogs' puppy mill origins and overall health. The store mostly served as an entertainment venue for the local college crowd, and finally closed after years of controversy.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by storewanderer »

architect wrote: April 3rd, 2022, 12:46 pm
Super S wrote: April 2nd, 2022, 6:29 pm I don't want to derail the discussion, but will say that part of the decline in these types of stores in malls has to do with rumors that some animals are sourced from puppy mills etc. I do know a couple people who have purchased puppies there which have turned out to be great dogs.
My one experience with a mall-based pet store revolved around exactly this. Up until a few years ago, there was a puppy store in Post Oak Mall in College Station, TX called The Puppy Store, and later Puppy Station, which sold puppies in a range on breeds. This store was popular with local college students as you could come by and pet/play with the puppies for 25 cents. However, most students and other local residents rarely purchased the puppies in question, due to persistent news surrounding the dogs' puppy mill origins and overall health. The store mostly served as an entertainment venue for the local college crowd, and finally closed after years of controversy.
Some cities have banned these puppy stores. I think Reno has for sure.

But back to those mall pet stores, I remember there was a chain called Docktor Pets. I think there were other chains.

As I recall Docktor sold fish, hamsters/rabbits, birds, and random supplies like fish tanks, bird cages, bird food, hamster bedding, etc. I don't recall they sold dogs/cats. Maybe it varied by location? The one I remember wasn't large at all; only had a couple aisles but was sort of deep (fish back in the back area). I don't even recall if they sold dog/cat food?
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by Brian Lutz »

I know of at least a couple of independent pet stores in the local area that seem to do pretty well, but neither is in a mall. Bridges Pets in Snohomish always seems to be busy when we are there, and even though their prices are a bit on the high side and they tend to sell more high end merchandise compared to the chain stores people seem to prefer to shop there. They have small animals and fish in the store, but don't ever have adoptable dogs or cats as far as I'm aware. Denny's Pet World in Kirkland is another one that has been around for a long time (I believe their origin dates back to the opening of Totem Lake Mall in Kirkland, then they moved to a new location when the upper mall was demolished for redevelopment) and they will occasionally do "pop-up" adoptions by partnering with local shelters to bring in adoptable pets on weekends.

As for the chain stores, the ones here (mostly Petco and Petsmart) typically partner with a local rescue organization on a per location basis to bring in adoptable cats (I'm not aware of any locations here with dog adoptions.) Most locations shut down adoptions during COVID, but have started to bring them back once most of the restrictions and mask mandates were lifted. Most of the Petsmart locations here partner with a cat rescue called Purrfect Pals based out of Arlington, but Petco locations seem to mostly work with smaller ones, or most recently the Petco in Lake Stevens has started bringing in cats from the Everett Animal Shelter. I know my brother in Utah used to spend a couple of hours a week at a Petco near his house volunteering to take care of the adoptable cats they had there. In addition to adoptions, some Petsmart locations here also offer on-site boarding or Doggie Day Care services, and most have on-site vets and grooming services. Petco locations usually have grooming and occasionally do pop-up vet clinics, but don't have any permanent vet facilities.

And somewhat related to this is the trend of "Cat Cafes" in some places, which usually are either run by or partner with an animal rescue organization to provide an environment where people can pay a fee to spend time interacting with a number of different cats, many of which are adoptable. I haven't seen these become widespread, but they seem popular in places where they exist.
Last edited by Brian Lutz on April 3rd, 2022, 8:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: April 2nd, 2022, 3:24 pm
Unfortunately malls have turned into nothing more than collections of chain clothing stores. If we're wondering why malls are failing, don't blame Amazon. I miss the malls of the 70s and 80s that had interesting places like pet stores.
The malls in Canada seem to be much better rounded than in the US. The US malls took the "higher margin" route. We see where that got them.

The demise of the malls came before Amazon was a major factor in most categories the malls focus on. The malls just made it even easier for Amazon.

I think the chain pet stores have the right idea doing the adoption space and letting a local shelter run it. In some cases the store employees are responsible for doing wellness checks/food checks/cleaning litter boxes in the evening etc. for the cat adoption spaces, or letting customers go in who want to see a cat. I think at that point if someone wants to adopt the store employees have to contact the organization who is using the space, for further adoption steps. I have seen cats and other small animals like rabbits at some Petsmart adoptions but usually just cats. Then some weekends some of the groups will bring dogs for a few hours to try to adopt out via Petsmart but the dogs will then be taken back to the main shelter location/someone's house and not left at Petsmart.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by Brian Lutz »

In my experience, adoptable cats at Petsmart or Petco rarely spend long there, and often end up getting adopted quickly. I don't think I've ever seen store employees in the adoption area, every time I see someone there it's a volunteer.
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Re: Mall Pet Stores & Chain Pet Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: April 3rd, 2022, 9:00 pm In my experience, adoptable cats at Petsmart or Petco rarely spend long there, and often end up getting adopted quickly. I don't think I've ever seen store employees in the adoption area, every time I see someone there it's a volunteer.
In Petco I have not seen store employees but in Petsmart and Pet Supermarket I have.

Petsmart has the most elaborate set ups actually constructed into the store. Petco and Pet Supermarket are just freestanding display-like cages, might even be provided by the adoption group not the store.
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