PetSmart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| PetSmart, Inc. | |
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| Type | Pet Store (NASDAQ: PETM) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | pet supplies |
PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is the leading chain of retail stores doing business in the United States and Canada engaged in the sale of specialty pet supplies and services such as grooming and dog training, PetSmart PetsHotel dog and cat boarding facilities and Doggie Day Camp. PetSmart also offers veterinary services, provided by Banfield, the Pet Hospital, which leases out space in many stores. Technically, in full, the company's name is the PetSmart Store Support Group, Inc. It is based in Phoenix, Arizona. The name PetSmart was coined as a double entendre.
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[edit] History
PetSmart was founding by Jim Dougherty in 1986 under the trade name Pacific Coast Distributing, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and opened its first Pet Food Warehouse stores in the Phoenix area the following year. In 1988, the stores' names were changed to PetsMart. Through several mergers and acquisitions, PetsMart expanded in the early- and mid-1990s across the U.S. and into Canada, and entered online retailing through a partnership with Idealab in 1999 (which later became a wholly owned subsidiary of PetsMart).
In early 2000, PetsMart remodeled most of it's store in a plan they called "Eagle" which changed many of its stores from a front-half storefront, back-half warehouse feel to an all-over standard retail market, in hopes of not intimidating customers.
In August 2005, the company announced that it rebranding its name from PETsMART to PetSmart. This move is designed to emphasize its evolution from a pet supply store to a solutions-oriented company. [1] (It would also allow PetSmart to further distinguish itself from its main competitor, Petco, which uses all capital letters in its name.)
As of the end of the 2006 fiscal year, PetSmart operated approximately 840 stores, and will have more than 60 PetsHotels and Doggie Day Camps by the end of 2006.
[edit] Product lines
Petsmart has many lines of products that it owns and sells in its stores.
[edit] Dog Product Lines
Petsmart owns several brands that produce a variety of products. Grrreat Choice, previously Award, is a grocery line of dog food which Petsmart owns. Authority is a bridge dog food (a compromise of the quality and cost of premium and grocery dog food) that Petsmart distributes. Petsmart also has a series of leashes manufactured by Pacific Cost Distributing (Costal) Coastal Pet Products Inc.. Top Paw produces a variety of leashes and harnesses. Petsmart also owns Bargain Hound, which produces crates and dog beds. Grrreat Choice and Authority also produce lines of dog treats in a range of treat sizes and flavors. Toy Shoppe is Petsmart’s toy label, though seasonally other names appear such as Pet Holiday.
[edit] Cat Product Lines
Petsmart also owns several brands that produce cat products. Like dog food, Petsmart has a line of Authority cat food, available in canned and dry varieties. Similarly, Authority is considered a premium food. A second, lower price brand, Sophisticat, is Petsmart's grocery cat food, which is also available in dry and wet varieties. Unlike Petsmart's dog food brands, Grrreat Choice (previously Award) is not distributed for cats. Petsmart also produces cat litter, under the name Exquisicat, as well as most litter related products. Toy Shoppe, which produces dog toys, also has a variety of cat toys.
[edit] Bird, Fish and Small Animal Product Lines
Petsmart produces fish toys under the Top Fin name. Aquariums, gravel, filters, heaters and other accessories are all produced by Top Fin, including starter kits that include several basic components. Bird products are created under the Top Wing label, and includes most items needed for birds, including cages, bowls, perches, and other products. Petsmart also has a small animal brand.
[edit] Petsmart Charities and Adoption Centers
Petsmart has devoted itself to helping stray pets find homes with families. Rather than selling dogs, cats, rabbits and other larger animals in the store, Petsmart instead donates space to local rescue groups. Rescue groups are provided with donations of food, litter and other supplies, and are given free space in the store. Fees from adoptions are collected by the groups themselves, rather than Petsmart. With each adoption, new Pet Parents are given a book (dog or cat) that gives them basic care information and coupons for products they may need for their new pet. As of December 28th, 2006 over 2,814,000 pets have been adopted through Petsmart adoption centers. Annually, Petsmart hosts an adoption weekend where potential pet adopters are encouraged to visit and browse a large number of adoptable pets that rescue groups bring.
Petsmart Charities also raises money for local adoption groups, including groups that it does not offer in store space. In many stores, donations are collected at the register via traditional drop boxes that customers can donate change into. Some stores also have a prompt to customers asking if they wish to donate a dollar at the register when they use a credit or debit card. Twice a year, Petsmart charities also has a donation drive where customers are offered a range of gifts including shirts, mouse pads and tote bags with a Petsmart Charities picture (which is rotated each season) in exchange for donations of larger amounts. Proceeds from Petsmart Charities events are given to over 3,400 adoption partners and are used to try to stop euthanasia. Petsmart also uses money to spay and neuter dogs and cats to attempt to control the pet population. Petsmart Charities claims that of the six to eight million pets collected by rescue agencies, three to four million are euthanized simply because they do not have a loving home.
Petsmart Charities is also known for its Rescue Waggin' program. The program operates specially-designed trucks that transport adoptable dogs from areas that are overpopulated to partner shelters where adoptable animals are in demand. Rescue Waggin' operates trucks in the Midwest and the Northeast regions of the United States. The program has saved more than 10,000 pets since 2004.
PetSmart Charities is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
[edit] Allegations by Peta
PetSmart is being pursued by animal rights organization PETA for the company's sale of live birds. PETA alleges that it is cruel to sell birds bred in warehouses and feels that the breeding of the birds is similar to the use of puppy mills. PETA also claims that the use of pest control glue traps within PetSmart stores is cruel. PETA feels that because the stores sell various species of rodentia, that it is hypocritical for them to engage in rodent pest control. PetSmart counters that it is unfair to characterize its bird breeders as similar to puppy mills since these operations must meet the company's veterinarian established and industry leading standards for the breeding, care and transportation of these pets. Also, small pets sold in the stores are bred to be pets and should not be confused with wild rodents, which carry disease and are destructive to property. It maintains that essentially all major retailers, restaurants and grocers with rodent control programs effectively use glue traps.
PetSmart no longer sells most large sized birds, in fact, in most stores it no longer carries large birds at all. In most stores, Ferrets are also not sold. Also, the store chain does not sell dogs, cats or rabbits, donating space within its stores to local humane societies and animal rescue and pet adoption agencies. Petsmart Charities also raises money for donation to local rescue groups, and attempts to partner with adoption groups that do not use Euthanasia. The company on average finds homes for 1,000 homeless pets each week and has adopted out more than 2.6 million pets since its inception.
[edit] Name Confusion
Frequently, comedians refer to their confusion regarding Petsmart's name. They argue that Petsmart could be read as either Pet's Mart or Pet Smart, because it appears as a string of letters on the store's logo without a break. Petsmart's official answer is that the company is called Pet Smart. The logo was altered in 2006 to reflect the name, with the first three letters, Pet, in a different color than the last 5 letters, Smart. This name is important to Petsmart, because the store tries to emphasize smart solutions for pet owners rather than the "mart aspects" of many other stores that focus less on lifetime care of pets.
