PetSmart is the staple retail pet store in the United States that has all of the products and services customers need relating to their pets. The company was founded in 1986 in Phoenix, Arizona and started out as a small local company that provided pet supplies until they began to keep growing and eventually become a NASDAQ listed public company. PetSmart now offers a full range of pet services throughout its thousands of different locations across the country, but here are five things you didn’t know about the company.
5. The original name was PetFood Warehouse
PetSmart originally went by the name of PetFood Warehouse when they opened in 1986. Upon their expansion they changed the name to PetSmart and began to offer more than just pet food. Ever since the company name has stuck and the brand has grown as PetSmart ever since.
4. The Grooming Guarantee
PetSmart offers pet grooming services in their stores but actually offer a guarantee to customers that their pet will look good. If anyone is dissatisfied with the service or how their pet ends up looking, the PetSmart employees will do everything in their power to fix the look, and on top of this, if the customer is still not satisfied, the store will completely refund them. This policy helps to keep the customers on the company’s good side if anything ever goes wrong and will hopefully not alienate them from using the grooming services again in the future.
3. They have helped millions of pets get adopted
PetSmart is huge on helping stray animals find safe and loving homes. They donate space in their stores for local animal shelter groups to help promote adoptions and even gives each new owner and in depth guide on how to properly care for their pet. Back in 2012 PetSmart had helped over 5,000,000 pets find homes with caring owners and has helped to raise over hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities helping animals in need.
2. PetSmart has had problems with PETA
PETA has gone against PetSmart’s selling of birds in their stores because the birds are bred in warehouses. PETA believes that this way of breeding birds is the equivalent of puppy mills and wrong to do. They believe that PetSmart should immediately stop selling live birds in their stores because of this and has created an ongoing controversy. PetSmart claims that these are not like puppy mills because they are carefully taken care of and safely nurtured.
1. They changed from PETsMART to PetSmart
When PetSmart made their move from a supply company to retail, they made a small but very important change to their name. For awhile they went by PETsMART to emphasize that they were a market for any and all pet supplies; however, with their large expansion they re-branded the company to pure more emphasis on “Smart” so customers would think of them more as a pet solutions company for all needs rather than just supplies.
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