Business Grooming Pet Sale

PetSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is a retail chain 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 Care. The name PetSmart was coined as a pun, since its name serves both as Pet Smart and Pets' Mart.

History

PetSmart was founded in 1986 and opened its first Pet Food Warehouse stores in the Phoenix area. Through several mergers and acquisitions, PetSmart expanded in the early- and late-1990s across the U.S. and into Canada, and entered online retailing through a partnership with Idealab in 1999.

In early 2000, PetSmart remodeled most of its 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 was 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.

As of November 2007, PetSmart operated approximately 1,145 stores and about 150 locations with PetsHotels and Doggie Day Camps. Some PetSmarts are co-located with Banfield Pet Hospital veterinary offices.

Product lines

Dog products

PetSmart owns several brands that produce a variety of products:

Grreat Choice, previously Award (although the Award name still appears as a selection of canned wet dog food) and treats, is a grocery line of dog food which PetSmart owns.

Authority is a bridge dog food that PetSmart distributes

Bargain Hound, which offers crates (manufactured by Midwest Homes for Pets) and dog beds.

Groomax, grooming tools for both dogs and cats, (including brushes, combs, nail trimmers, shampoos, and conditioners) is a PetSmart private brand as well.

Cat products

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, Grreat 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.

Bird, fish and small animal products

PetSmart produces fish tanks, stands, and aquarium decorations under the Top Fin name. Top Fin also makes gravel, filters, heaters and other accessories, including starter kits that include several basic components. The former PetSmart label for store brand fish supplies was Proquatics. 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, named All Living Things.

In January, 2008, PetSmart voluntarily stopped selling live birds at all of its 785 stores in the US after the discovery of psittacosis in some cockatiels in their stores in December 2007. Psittacosis is an infection caused by a strain of bacteria closely related to chlamydia that can be transmitted from birds to humans and produces symptoms similar to the flu. PetSmart has now started selling live birds again as of about April, 2008.

Horse products

Formerly, certain PetSmart stores included a State Line Tack section. It provided a wide selection of saddles, halters, bridles, saddle pads etc. State Line Tack also sold feed and other equipment for the care of horses.

In 2007, PetSmart put State Line Tack, including all catalog and internet business, up for sale and effectively removed all State Line Tack merchandise from stores. State Line Tack was eventually purchased by Horse.com, one of many websites owned by Pets United.

Charities and adoption centers

PetSmart has helped stray pets find homes with families. Rather than selling dogs, cats, rabbits and other larger animals in the store, PetSmart donates space to local rescue groups. Rescue groups are also provided with donations of food, litter and other supplies. Fees from adoptions are collected by the groups themselves. With each adoption, PetSmart gives the new guardians a book which provides basic care information for their new pet. As of August 22, 2007 over 3,000,000 pets have been adopted through Petsmart adoption centers. Bi-annually, PetSmart hosts an adoption weekend featuring more adoptable pets than at other times.

PetSmart Charities, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, 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. Some stores also ask customers if they wish to donate a dollar at the register when they use a credit or debit card. PetSmart charities also has an annual donation drive. Proceeds from Petsmart Charities events are given to over 3,400 adoption partners. 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 Inc. is set to award the Austin Humane Society the first of three grant installments totaling $227,000 to assist in funding AHS's new Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Program.

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 also operates an online Pet Parent community at Pets.com.

Allegations by PETA

PetSmart has been the subject of public criticism 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 renewed its demands that PetSmart permanently stop selling live birds after the voluntary halt in bird sales because of the psittacosis outbreak in January 2008. 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 rodents, 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, even though many chains including Rite Aid and CVS have stopped selling glue traps.

January 23, 2008, PETA posted a press release accusing one of Petsmart's largest vendors, Rainbow World Exotics, of neglect and cruelty to animals. Videotape provided by an undercover PETA member who infiltrated the facility as an employee shows small animals apparently treated cruelly and neglected. The more serious allegations included laypersons (not vets) neutering animals with unsafe provisions, live animals thrown in the trash, loose animals killed intentionally, and sick animals killed or left to die with no veterinarian interaction attempted. After these allegations PetSmart launched an investigation which reported discovering no serious wrongdoing by Rainbow, although they agreed that a neutering which was videotaped did not meet their or veterinary standards.. PETA is filing complaints with the USDA and pursuing criminal charges with the county of Hamilton, where Rainbow World exotics is located.

References

1. ^ PETSMART Company Info
2. ^ PetSmart halts sales of birds after testing reveals infections
3. ^ Pets United buys State Line Tack
4. ^ "Austin's Humane Society nets PetSmart grant"; Austin Business Journal ; February 19, 2007
5. ^ PetSmart Suspends All Bird Sales Following Outbreak
6. ^ Glue Traps
7. ^ Rainbow World Exotics Expose by PETA
8. ^ PetSmart's Investigation of Rainbow Exotics

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