PetSmart Operations

[ClownLoach]

PetSmart seems to be coming out of major changes after being taken private, plus the failed Chewy acquisition and subsequent disposal. Looks like they replaced most of the corporate office. The other irony is that they are shrinking - they are getting out of their largest older format stores... at the same time Petco is working to move as many stores as possible into larger boxes. It's like they're trading places. The new Petco stores definitely have the wow factor that PetSmart did back when they first landed on the market. Today PetSmart stores are plain, boring, dark and dingy. New Petco stores are bright, colorful, exceptionally well merchandised and extremely impressive. Seems like both chains need to complete their chainwide fleet upgrades but they are both struggling to find the funding to get the work done.

[babs]

Banfield is getting so big but is such a scam.

Personal experience with them. All about and not necessarily about your beloved pet.

My wife used to be a veterinarian for Banfield. They actually pay better than most veterinary jobs but the expectations and experience that they put their employees through is beyond awful.

Banfield got spooked by Petsmart when Petsmart closed its store (where my wife worked) near the Desert Sky Mall in Phoenix. Apparently it was the first Petsmart to close with a Banfield hospital and Banfield wanted more control over its locations in case Petsmart closed more stores (as Banfield was profitable even though Petsmart wasn't).

Even in Sacramento, Banfield is going to standalones independent of PetSmart.In my CDP/zipcode Banfield has a location independent of PetSmart (though a subdivision of an old blockbuster and in a center shared with Safeway and Rite Aid) though attributable to the fact that PetSmart is a smaller formatted location in a converted financial institution building(in the parking lot of a home Depot).I don't live far from either though I live slightly closer to the standalone Banfield.

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Banfield realized they were too close to PetSmart, limiting their ability to grow since in most customers mind they were the same company. They started opening stand alone Banfield locations about 10 years ago. Now they are going to the next phase where they are moving out of PetSmart stores into freestanding spaces nearby. Several Portland area stores have had them move out. I guessing that as leases expire, more will move out. I'm a bit surprised PetSmart hasn't done anything with the vacant spaces. In the flip side, I'm seeing more and more Petco locations adding vet services.

[storewanderer]

Banfield realized they were too close to PetSmart, limiting their ability to grow since in most customers mind they were the same company. They started opening stand alone Banfield locations about 10 years ago. Now they are going to the next phase where they are moving out of PetSmart stores into freestanding spaces nearby. Several Portland area stores have had them move out. I guessing that as leases expire, more will move out. I'm a bit surprised PetSmart hasn't done anything with the vacant spaces. In the flip side, I'm seeing more and more Petco locations adding vet services.

I think positioning of the Banfield departments in Petsmart is a problem. Every one I've seen is at the back of the store. For certain animal personalities, walking them to the back of the store for vet services is not a great situation for anyone involved. There is a reason freestanding vet offices often have separate entries for dogs and cats. This is one spot where Petco gets it right in placing their services at the front of the store, sometimes even with a separate entry.

Petco is trying to get into different lines of business after basically killing their retail store business by discontinuing mainstream brands and being so overpriced. Also charging sales tax on the regular price when an item is on sale, hiding behind that it is a "manufacturer offer" - okay- so are sale prices at other stores, but other stores don't tax the customer on the regular price when an item is on sale. So I don't know what is so different about these "sales" at Petco. Maybe they know something every other retailer doesn't know. I think they just like to collect and remit extra sales tax. Petco also charges a bag fee in CA despite not being legally required to do so and dispenses only super thick plastic bags (don't really need any bags in a pet store anyway though, but just another thing Petco does to get the customer). The Petco units I go into have almost no traffic and I don't know how they stay in business. One of them you have to squeek a dog toy to get the cashier to come to the register and even on a Saturday afternoon the place is dead. Not sure where they hide but I often don't see anyone working there when I walk in or walk out (never buy anything).

Petsmart could have used the Banfield spaces as mini Chewy fulfillment if they had kept Chewy. Too bad.

I think both of these pet chains are living on borrowed time, especially Petco. I don't really care what Wall Street says, I am basing that solely on how the stores look and how store traffic is.

[ClownLoach]

Banfield realized they were too close to PetSmart, limiting their ability to grow since in most customers mind they were the same company. They started opening stand alone Banfield locations about 10 years ago. Now they are going to the next phase where they are moving out of PetSmart stores into freestanding spaces nearby. Several Portland area stores have had them move out. I guessing that as leases expire, more will move out. I'm a bit surprised PetSmart hasn't done anything with the vacant spaces. In the flip side, I'm seeing more and more Petco locations adding vet services.

I think positioning of the Banfield departments in Petsmart is a problem. Every one I've seen is at the back of the store. For certain animal personalities, walking them to the back of the store for vet services is not a great situation for anyone involved. There is a reason freestanding vet offices often have separate entries for dogs and cats. This is one spot where Petco gets it right in placing their services at the front of the store, sometimes even with a separate entry.

Petco is trying to get into different lines of business after basically killing their retail store business by discontinuing mainstream brands and being so overpriced. Also charging sales tax on the regular price when an item is on sale, hiding behind that it is a "manufacturer offer" - okay- so are sale prices at other stores, but other stores don't tax the customer on the regular price when an item is on sale. So I don't know what is so different about these "sales" at Petco. Maybe they know something every other retailer doesn't know. I think they just like to collect and remit extra sales tax. Petco also charges a bag fee in CA despite not being legally required to do so and dispenses only super thick plastic bags (don't really need any bags in a pet store anyway though, but just another thing Petco does to get the customer). The Petco units I go into have almost no traffic and I don't know how they stay in business. One of them you have to squeek a dog toy to get the cashier to come to the register and even on a Saturday afternoon the place is dead. Not sure where they hide but I often don't see anyone working there when I walk in or walk out (never buy anything).

Petsmart could have used the Banfield spaces as mini Chewy fulfillment if they had kept Chewy. Too bad.

I think both of these pet chains are living on borrowed time, especially Petco. I don't really care what Wall Street says, I am basing that solely on how the stores look and how store traffic is.

Funny because down in OC, IE and SD Petco can't seem to spend enough money remodeling and relocating stores. They are headquartered in San Diego and seem to dominate the market down there. They definitely are busier in SD than PetSmart where I've observed the same "press button for checkout" setup in a big older store that subsequently disappeared in Vista about a year ago. I was in a Petco in a rougher area (Escondido) and was shocked by how high end the store was, expanded and well maintained tropical fish department including significant saltwater and coral which is hard to maintain for chains. The store had about 40 customers on a Saturday afternoon and isn't even in a busy center. I think both of them have doomed their stores to irrelevance by pushing online subscription delivery so hard. If there was ever a business ideal for repeat delivery orders it is pet food, especially for dogs where larger breeds need consistency in their diet to prevent gastrointestinal upset. If you've got a big dog nothing like opening the door once a month for Spot's 40 lb sack of kibble. I saw the mention of mainstream brands but Petco has never carried supermarket brands that I am aware of, only PetSmart.


I will say however that if you compare the new Petco stores to newer PetSmart stores there is no comparison. Petco is doing a great job of adding the previously mentioned vet clinics, dog training, grooming, and a higher end competently operated tropical fish department. I just think that Petco has more bad stores in need of closing or replacement than PetSmart does right now, and that these new Petco stores are probably the most expensive per square foot pet stores ever built with high end signage and fixtures.

[storewanderer]

Funny because down in OC, IE and SD Petco can't seem to spend enough money remodeling and relocating stores. They are headquartered in San Diego and seem to dominate the market down there. They definitely are busier in SD than PetSmart where I've observed the same "press button for checkout" setup in a big older store that subsequently disappeared in Vista about a year ago. I was in a Petco in a rougher area (Escondido) and was shocked by how high end the store was, expanded and well maintained tropical fish department including significant saltwater and coral which is hard to maintain for chains. The store had about 40 customers on a Saturday afternoon and isn't even in a busy center. I think both of them have doomed their stores to irrelevance by pushing online subscription delivery so hard. If there was ever a business ideal for repeat delivery orders it is pet food, especially for dogs where larger breeds need consistency in their diet to prevent gastrointestinal upset. If you've got a big dog nothing like opening the door once a month for Spot's 40 lb sack of kibble. I saw the mention of mainstream brands but Petco has never carried supermarket brands that I am aware of, only PetSmart.


I will say however that if you compare the new Petco stores to newer PetSmart stores there is no comparison. Petco is doing a great job of adding the previously mentioned vet clinics, dog training, grooming, and a higher end competently operated tropical fish department. I just think that Petco has more bad stores in need of closing or replacement than PetSmart does right now, and that these new Petco stores are probably the most expensive per square foot pet stores ever built with high end signage and fixtures.

The newest Petco in my area is in Sparks, NV and it is a few years old so it isn't really fancy at all. The other locations have not been touched since opening in the late 90's. That Sparks unit, is basically on par with a newer Petsmart (that is no compliment).

Petco used to sell mainstream brands of pet food but stopped about 4 years ago. They had not been price competitive on any of it for quite some time, but they still had the supermarket brands.

Petco sounds like another one of those chains that puts in unlimited resources near HQ and then the further from HQ you get, the most lost the chain is. Maybe they can make it as a regional chain long term.

Petsmart has made a couple of interesting closures in Sacramento area- one was a newer smaller store in Roseville at the corner of Douglas and Auburn-Folsom (Safeway center). No clue why this closed. The other closure was up on East Sunrise. The East Sunrise Store was one of those giant stores from the early 90's. That store actually reopened as "Pet Club" which is an interesting operation. Petsmart claims the East Sunrise store was relocated out to Rocklin-Sierra College-Wal Mart center. That is a smaller Petsmart and does no business.

Also in Reno area we have 2 Pet Supermarket locations- one in South Lake Tahoe and one in Sparks. They have cut back on SKUs and promotions significantly since the affiliated US Pet Valu Stores closed and I am not sure what is happening with them but they do not seem healthy at all. Next closest stores are in Texas. These were some kind of franchise/dealer arrangement in the 90's and that is how they ended up here but all of the Pet Supermarkets have been corporate owned for quite some time now. The next closest store is in Texas. The distribution center is in Florida. I have no clue how this arrangement makes any sense to have two stores so isolated.

[ClownLoach]

Funny because down in OC, IE and SD Petco can't seem to spend enough money remodeling and relocating stores. They are headquartered in San Diego and seem to dominate the market down there. They definitely are busier in SD than PetSmart where I've observed the same "press button for checkout" setup in a big older store that subsequently disappeared in Vista about a year ago. I was in a Petco in a rougher area (Escondido) and was shocked by how high end the store was, expanded and well maintained tropical fish department including significant saltwater and coral which is hard to maintain for chains. The store had about 40 customers on a Saturday afternoon and isn't even in a busy center. I think both of them have doomed their stores to irrelevance by pushing online subscription delivery so hard. If there was ever a business ideal for repeat delivery orders it is pet food, especially for dogs where larger breeds need consistency in their diet to prevent gastrointestinal upset. If you've got a big dog nothing like opening the door once a month for Spot's 40 lb sack of kibble. I saw the mention of mainstream brands but Petco has never carried supermarket brands that I am aware of, only PetSmart.


I will say however that if you compare the new Petco stores to newer PetSmart stores there is no comparison. Petco is doing a great job of adding the previously mentioned vet clinics, dog training, grooming, and a higher end competently operated tropical fish department. I just think that Petco has more bad stores in need of closing or replacement than PetSmart does right now, and that these new Petco stores are probably the most expensive per square foot pet stores ever built with high end signage and fixtures.

The newest Petco in my area is in Sparks, NV and it is a few years old so it isn't really fancy at all. The other locations have not been touched since opening in the late 90's. That Sparks unit, is basically on par with a newer Petsmart (that is no compliment).

Petco used to sell mainstream brands of pet food but stopped about 4 years ago. They had not been price competitive on any of it for quite some time, but they still had the supermarket brands.

Petco sounds like another one of those chains that puts in unlimited resources near HQ and then the further from HQ you get, the most lost the chain is. Maybe they can make it as a regional chain long term.

Petsmart has made a couple of interesting closures in Sacramento area- one was a newer smaller store in Roseville at the corner of Douglas and Auburn-Folsom (Safeway center). No clue why this closed. The other closure was up on East Sunrise. The East Sunrise Store was one of those giant stores from the early 90's. That store actually reopened as "Pet Club" which is an interesting operation. Petsmart claims the East Sunrise store was relocated out to Rocklin-Sierra College-Wal Mart center. That is a smaller Petsmart and does no business.

Also in Reno area we have 2 Pet Supermarket locations- one in South Lake Tahoe and one in Sparks. They have cut back on SKUs and promotions significantly since the affiliated US Pet Valu Stores closed and I am not sure what is happening with them but they do not seem healthy at all. Next closest stores are in Texas. These were some kind of franchise/dealer arrangement in the 90's and that is how they ended up here but all of the Pet Supermarkets have been corporate owned for quite some time now. The next closest store is in Texas. The distribution center is in Florida. I have no clue how this arrangement makes any sense to have two stores so isolated.

I just miss when Petco was a small enough store that each location had their own store cat. Probably helped prevent rodent infestation and it felt like a cozy, mom and pop type place when you would see the store cat snoring away on his bed by the register. This era seemed to end in the late 90s when Petco started to move from 5K strip mall locations to 15K+ big box center locations. I think the late 90's unremodeled ones like the store you described are probably the worst stores Petco operates today and all of them need to be fully gutted, relocated or closed to save the brand.

I always thought of Petco as a regional player specifically in the SoCal area and what you said about radius to the corporate office makes sense.

I am still puzzled about the fact that they tried carrying supermarket brands in your area. Their ads here were always very direct and adamant about the fact that they would never carry "unhealthy" supermarket foods and that they only carry premium brands that won't sell at grocery stores. These ads were definitely targeted at PetSmart. But I always suspected they didn't carry supermarket brands because of lack of space just as much as branding. So hearing that they intentionally run a operation elsewhere that they would advertise as "unhealthy" in other areas really speaks poorly about the leadership decisions being made by the company.

[Alpha8472]

I remember a tiny Petco that was probably a late 80s store. It was extremely small like a convenience store. It did not sell any live pets except for a small number of betta fish. That store lasted until around the early 2000s. Then it moved into a former Cost Plus.

In my city, a new Petco and PetSmart opened up across the street from each other around 2016. The PetSmart is tiny, but the Petco is quite large with a Veterinarian office inside. PetSmart has no pet hospital or anything else. It is a bare bones store. However, the Petco in my city that used to be Cost Plus is still one of the largest Petco stores that I have ever seen.

[storewanderer]

I just miss when Petco was a small enough store that each location had their own store cat. Probably helped prevent rodent infestation and it felt like a cozy, mom and pop type place when you would see the store cat snoring away on his bed by the register. This era seemed to end in the late 90s when Petco started to move from 5K strip mall locations to 15K+ big box center locations. I think the late 90's unremodeled ones like the store you described are probably the worst stores Petco operates today and all of them need to be fully gutted, relocated or closed to save the brand.

I always thought of Petco as a regional player specifically in the SoCal area and what you said about radius to the corporate office makes sense.

I am still puzzled about the fact that they tried carrying supermarket brands in your area. Their ads here were always very direct and adamant about the fact that they would never carry "unhealthy" supermarket foods and that they only carry premium brands that won't sell at grocery stores. These ads were definitely targeted at PetSmart. But I always suspected they didn't carry supermarket brands because of lack of space just as much as branding. So hearing that they intentionally run a operation elsewhere that they would advertise as "unhealthy" in other areas really speaks poorly about the leadership decisions being made by the company.

Never saw a store cat here. Those late 90's Petco stores don't even have a built in adoption center. They have a temporary adoption center on a wall that moves around sometimes (like a fixture that you can move around). The Pet Supermarket has what is like a big tall bird cage for cat adoption and they used to put it in the middle of the store, the cats seemed to like that (could see the whole store), but they have only gotten a couple cats from the Humane Society in the past couple years due to COVID and due to a cat shortage.

They used to promote mainstream brands. For instance:
https://hip2save.com/2013/12/27/petco-f ... at-food-2/

Also used to have Pedigree etc. on dog.

The shift came in 2018. https://truthaboutpetfood.com/petco-mov ... gredients/

[ClownLoach]

I was in a 1994 build PetSmart yesterday in Signal Hill, CA - one where they had already started reducing their footage slightly when it opened. I know this was a rather busy store and still appears to be so. It is just sad to see what has happened to these stores under private equity mismanagement.

All of the assortment has been pruned down dramatically as if the store was only about 10K sq ft. despite living in a 30K sq ft. building. The dominant merchandising feature is empty space. They have sawed off the back 20 feet of each aisle - from back endcap to the wall - leaving a vast empty space at the end of the aisles yet the store no longer has a wide open "racetrack" which made it easy to shop. Due to their poor merchandising ability the empty space just becomes a drop zone for random overstock merchandise that the employees are too lazy to put up into the pallet racking around the perimeter wall. In addition the perimeter walls are just "there", nothing at all to draw the customer down the aisle towards them. With all this empty space in front these could be "brand showcases" exactly like their competitor Petco is doing with premium brands (in electronics see Best Buy, where for example now the TV dept. has a Samsung Wall, a LG Wall, a Sony Wall, etc.). Then they have slashed and burned other areas leaving bleak emptiness. The tropical fish section was reduced by two thirds - but they just painted the wall white where all the displays were removed. Meanwhile aquarium tanks and stands are still shoved down a narrow aisle where the customer cannot really grasp the size of the tank on display and envision it in their home; I would imagine that they sell very few larger tanks and that business is going back to mom and pop shops. All professional quality acrylic tanks have been removed from the assortment including the "all in one" type that would be better for an entry level customer like a PetSmart shopper. This area has many local tropical fish stores compared to other areas so I know there is demand for the product but PetSmart has the wrong assortment entirely with super low end cheap glass tanks, cheap lighting, but then expensive premium filters and other accessories. There are some filters sold there that are so high end and complicated I don't know how to use and I have nearly four decades of experience with tropical fishkeeping - if I don't know how to use it then PetSmart is probably not the place it should be sold; in fact I'm not even sure that they sell tanks that these filters fit nor the plumbing to install them (pressurized external canister filters). Zero alignment across their product line. They could easily move all of the display tanks to the now empty space along the wall which would give the customer enough space to stand and make a good decision about how large/wide/tall their new tank and stand should be. Instead it is a small panel of aquariums with a poor assortment of fishes (although they were healthy and some were bargain priced) surrounded by bleak, white, dead space. They could have moved the bird and reptile displays into this empty wall area as well but instead they're built into aisles wrapping onto endcaps - again too many examples where they have an abundance of open space right next to aisles too tightly packed to shop.

The adoption center used to be on the front wall but may have been moved elsewhere; again they just bought a bunch of drywall and covered it up leaving nothing, They should have maybe installed some wall gondola and moved items out of the aisles to open up more walking space but for some reason again it is like they made a tight ball of aisles in the center of the store with a "exterior racetrack" of empty space littered with half filled pallets of literal cat litter and other commodities that should have been put up high with a forklift but instead are tripping hazards.

Pet food aisles were a mixed bunch, some were full and neatly stocked while the supermarket brand aisles were basically whatever product they owned thrown randomly onto shelves. Clearly they are still being impacted by supply chain issues.
Since I know that many of the same corporations make both high end and grocery store brands it is pretty obvious they're using limited capacity to ensure all high end product is fully stocked and force the customer to upgrade or their pet will go hungry. Pricing was difficult to discern because the grocery store brand aisles were all "flexed" with whatever they had, so for example a 12 foot section of canned Friskies cat food was all the same flavor where normally you would expect to see at least 8 varieties.

But the worst part of all was the lighting. They have installed very small square low intensity LED downlights on the sales floor that are far too weak for high ceilings like this. There are maybe 8 light fixtures in the entire back left quarter of the store - they need at least 30 to 40 to maintain "average" level lighting in this area. Imagine 8 aisles in your neighborhood grocery store lit by 8 total light bulbs and that is what is in this store. Clearly dirt cheap operations from the private equity guys. To make up for this poor lighting job they have removed all of the decorative and colorful hanging department signage that used to hang from the ceiling, leaving the store feeling empty and dull. They added a few little "flags" on endcaps to help the customer locate the "dog" and "cat" areas but again there was nothing wrong with the signage they had before other than it probably blocked the insufficient light these cheap new fixtures provide.

All I could say after seeing this dismal store is "Woof." And this is one of their "better" stores. I think it is time for someone to build a better pet store and come in and clean house with all of these lousy chains. (I heard Tractor Supply Company has a pet chain called PetSen$e that they are growing - maybe they will overtake them). PetSmart is clearly declining into a sad shadow of itself. It is obvious that they are limping along and not investing anything into their store environment. Petco is a chain of "mutts" - big stores, small stores, good stores, bad stores, new stores, old stores, but nothing consistent outside of the clearly overbuilt prototypes in their home market of San Diego. There is clearly room for a new leader in this category.

[storewanderer]

All I could say after seeing this dismal store is "Woof." And this is one of their "better" stores. I think it is time for someone to build a better pet store and come in and clean house with all of these lousy chains. (I heard Tractor Supply Company has a pet chain called PetSen$e that they are growing - maybe they will overtake them). PetSmart is clearly declining into a sad shadow of itself. It is obvious that they are limping along and not investing anything into their store environment. Petco is a chain of "mutts" - big stores, small stores, good stores, bad stores, new stores, old stores, but nothing consistent outside of the clearly overbuilt prototypes in their home market of San Diego. There is clearly room for a new leader in this category.

PetSen$e is nothing to get excited about. I went into one in Ontario, OR and it feels about as lacking as a bad Petco, but it is a small size store. It may have been 10k square feet but probably not. They don't even have an automatic door. Tough to take them seriously. I thought they were some kind of independent store as I was walking it. When I paid for what I was buying, which scanned wrong (some individual toys that had a quantity buy deal like 4 for $4 "mix and match" or something and all scanned at individual price since I bought 4 different ones) I had to wait around for them to figure out how to change the price or scan the same one 4 times or whatever they decided to do and noticed some signs at checkout about Tractor Supply. Since there were no other customers in the store (it was middle of the day on a weekend), it didn't inconvenience anyone as the only two employees on duty concluded how to handle it. I was standing there thinking surely this isn't owned by Tractor Supply. Then I learned it was.

I'd take Petco or Petsmart over PetSen$e any day.

PetSen$e may have been a good merger partner for Petco a few years ago but it sounds like Petco has gone in a much different direction as of late and that would no longer make sense.

Pet Supermarket may be a logical merger partner for PetSen$e. I'd miss Pet Supermarket but it has really gone downhill since the US Pet Valu Stores closed, far less mix and fewer promotions. Good thing about Pet Supermarket is there is usually a 10% off coupon available and the loyalty program of spend $100 get $5 off is straight forward.