PetSmart

PetSmart Inc.
FormerlyPetFood Warehouse,
PETsMART
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail
FoundedAugust 14, 1986; 38 years ago (1986-08-14) in Phoenix, Arizona,
United States
FounderJim Dougherty
HeadquartersPhoenix, Arizona,
United States
Number of locations
1,600+ (2020)[1]
Area served
United States
Canada
Key people
J.K. Symancyk (CEO)
ProductsPet food, pet supplies
ServicesGrooming, training, PetsHotel, Doggie Day Camp
RevenueIncrease$7 billion (2020)[2]
OwnerBC Partners
Number of employees
56,000 (2020)[3]
DivisionsPetSmart Charities
Websitewww.petsmart.com
PetSmart in Secaucus, New Jersey
PetSmart store in Oakville Place, Ontario

PetSmart Inc. is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco.[4][5] Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, and Target.[6] As of 2020, PetSmart has more than 1,650 stores in the United States and Canada.[1] Its stores sell pet food, pet supplies, pet accessories, and small pets. Stores also provide services including grooming, dog daycare, dog and cat boarding, veterinary care via in-store third-party clinics, and dog training. They also offer dog and cat adoption via in-store adoption centers facilitated by the non-profit PetSmart Charities.

Founded in 1986 by Jim and Janice Dougherty, the company opened its first two stores in 1987 in Phoenix, Arizona under the name PetFood Warehouse, as warehouse-type stores that sold pet food in bulk at discount prices. Under new leadership the company changed its name to Pet Smart in 1989 and, along with expanding around the country, began a long-term shift away from visually unappealing discount warehouse stores to attractive stores that sold pet food and supplies and offered services such as grooming, adoption events, and vet visits. The company went public via an IPO in 1993, and thereafter increased its nationwide expansion and the types of goods and services it offered.

After opening nearly 300 stores in the U.S., in 1996, the company expanded to Canada. Around the same time, it also bought and renamed a pet-store chain in the UK, but the over-priced purchase was a failure financially and operationally, and PETsMART sold the UK chain at a substantial loss to rival UK pet-store Pets at Home, in late 1999. The failed UK expansion brought a loss in profitability and a low point for PETsMART stock in 2000. The company's third CEO, Phil Francis, re-tooled the company by emphasizing employee training and customer service, overhauling operations and systems, redesigning stores for visual appeal, and marketing PETsMART as a one-stop shop for pet products and services. By 2002, the company had fully integrated its in-store, online, and catalog sales. Francis also led the opening of an average of 100 new stores per year from 2002 through 2009.

In 2005, the company changed its name to PetSmart and refocused its branding on "pet parents" who considered their pets part of their families. Differentiating itself by emphasizing its channel-exclusive brands and its in-store services such as grooming, dog training, day care and boarding, veterinary care, and adoption centers, the company nonetheless experienced encroaching competition from big-box stores and online e-tailers. The company was acquired by a private equity consortium led by BC Partners in March 2015. In May 2017 PetSmart purchased the online pet-products e-tailer Chewy as a largely independent subsidiary. Chewy went public in an IPO in June 2019; As of March 2021, PetSmart no longer owns Chewy and they are independently operated companies.

  1. ^ a b "About PetSmart". Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  2. ^ "Petsmart". Forbes.
  3. ^ Louch, William. "PetSmart Workers Ask Retailer’s Private-Equity Owner for Coronavirus Protections". Wall Street Journal. July 8, 2020.
  4. ^ "Petco vs PetSmart". BestCompany.com. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  5. ^ Kalaygian, Mark. "The Top 25 Pet Retailers in North America". Pet Business. March 1, 2019.
  6. ^ Thau, Barbara. "Why Bed Bath And Beyond, PetSmart Should Fear Showrooming More Than Best Buy". Forbes. March 1, 2013.