PetSmart

Founding and expansion 1986–1993 PetSmart is originally started as Pet Food Warehouse in 1986. The initial two stores opened their doors in 1987 in Phoenix. Jim and Janice Dougherty conceived the idea of a chain of discount pet-food warehouses, and, with the initial financial backing of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, incorporated under the name Pacific Coast Distributing in 1986. In 1987 they opened their first two superstores, in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, under the name PetFood Warehouse, offering pet food in large quantities for low prices, a new concept at the time. The stores welcomed customers and their pets, which was a first for the retail industry. and PetFood Warehouse stores began working with local animal welfare groups to hold fundraising and pet adoption events. By 1989 PetSmart (name changed from Petfood Warehouse in 1988) continued to grow and began the search for new investors. The company also hired retail veteran Samuel J. Parker as president and CEO. Jim Dougherty retired from PetSmart in January, 1991; thereafter he was retained on a consulting basis with the company. Janice Dougherty retired in 1992. Under Parker's direction, that year the company added pet grooming services in some stores, In 1990 mobile vet clinics were brought to stores to administer vaccinations. In 1993 Parker was elected Chairman of the company in addition to being President and CEO. IPO, new services and expansion 1993–1998 In July 1993, the company went public on the NASDAQ under the ticker "PETM". Its 100th store was opened in 1994. Instead, via PetSmart Charities it donates space inside its stores to local humane societies and animal shelters for them to display homeless animals that customers can adopt. Also in 1994, PETsMART signed a deal with Banfield Pet Hospital clinics to include their veterinary clinics, initially called VetSmart, in PETsMART stores. By 1996 each new PETsMART store included a clinic, and by 1996 had acquired the leading pet-products catalog business in North America and a major equine products catalog business. In 1996, the company opened its first eight Canadian stores, Petsmart.com was initiated as an information website. Hansen resigned that year and Parker was brought back in to revive the company as chairman and CEO. and divested the rest of the stake in 2015, and in 2018 the company began recruiting independent veterinary operators to house clinics inside its stores which did not yet have one. In 2000 PETsMART increased its 49.9% stake and in January 2002 acquired the site outright for an additional $9.5 million. It fully integrated its online operations and marketing with its existing brick-and-mortar business and with its direct-marketing catalog business. The 1996 overpriced acquisition of the British chain store Pet City and its transformation into PETsMART UK had proved disastrous financially and operationally, In an attempt to bolster growth, the company adopted a new vision statement, "to provide Total Lifetime Care for every pet, every parent, every time." PETsMART began remodeling all of its stores, creating a new store format that was warmer and friendlier and organized by pet type, and adding emphasis on in-store customer service; In 2001, the company laid out a three-year plan to expand in-store services and products and provide high-quality customer service, Rename and rebranding 2005–2013 In 2005, PETsMART rebranded itself PetSmart and embraced a new concept and image which focused on "pet parents" and the trend of humanizing pets. It introduced a major television ad campaign appealing to pet owners who treated their pets as children or considered them family members. The rebranding repositioned the company as a petcare specialist, offering services and specialty products rather than just a big-box discount mart. By 2008 PetSmart had 1000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Walmart, The company's direct competitor is Petco, a nationwide big-box pet supplies retailer that was sold to private equity owners in 2006. In June 2009, Bob Moran, President and Chief Operating Officer of PetSmart, became CEO, succeeding Francis, who became executive chairman of the board until 2012. Moran's vision was to slow the opening of new stores, and to focus instead on improving store productivity by pursuing the company's differentiation strategy, and on reaching its target market and improving its customer focus, especially regarding the humanization of animals. These were followed by other exclusive product partnerships, including with Bret Michaels, Toys "R" Us, Marvel Comics, and Tommy Bahama and in 2017 with Ellen DeGeneres. In a planned management succession, after four years at the helm of the company, Moran retired as CEO in June 2013 and was replaced by then President and COO David K. Lenhardt. Private equity ownership 2014 to present Although it continued to differentiate itself by stressing and broadening its in-store services such as boarding, grooming, dog training, and veterinary care, The winner in the bidding war was a consortium of private equity investors led by BC Partners, which completed a leveraged buyout of PetSmart for $8.7 billion in March 2015. The company ceased trading on the NASDAQ, and Lenhardt stepped down as CEO, replaced by Michael Massey, formerly CEO of Payless ShoeSource's parent Collective Brands. Massey and BC Partners replaced seven senior PetSmart managers and a significant portion of VP-level employees, and reorganized the company for quick decision-making. To combat this PetSmart purchased the still-unprofitable yet popular pet e-commerce site Chewy as a largely independent subsidiary in May 2017 for $3.35 billion. Added to its debt acquired from its 2015 leveraged buyout, this brought PetSmart's total debt load to $8 billion, which reached $8.6 billion as of February 2019. PetSmart CEO Massey abruptly resigned in August 2017; pending a replacement Raymond Svider, managing partner at BC Partners, served as executive chairman and oversaw the company with its senior leadership team. In May 2018 J.K. Symancyk, previously CEO of Academy Sports + Outdoors, was appointed the new CEO. In June 2018, PetSmart transferred a 20% stake in Chewy to its BC Partners–led parent holding company, and also transferred a 16.5% holding in Chewy to a wholly owned "unrestricted subsidiary" of PetSmart; these transactions kept a substantial portion of Chewy out of reach of PetSmart's creditors. PetSmart used the proceeds of the IPO to pay down some of its debt. In March 2026, comedian musician Ben Lapidus released the music video "PETSMART," which humorously questioned the interpretation of the pet supply retailer PetSmart's name and branding. In the video, Lapidus questions whether the company's name and logo are intended to read as "Pet Smart," suggesting pets themselves are intelligent, or "Pet's Mart," implying a marketplace for pets. PetSmart responded to the video later that evening on its official Facebook page, stating that the company's name is intended to be read as "Pet Smart." ==Leadership==

Since 1989 the CEOs of the company have been: • Samuel J. Parker (1989–1995) • Samuel J. Parker (interim; 1997–1998) • Ken C. Hicks (2024-Present) ==Controversies==

In January 2016, PETA released details of an investigation of Holmes Farm, a major supplier of live animals to Petsmart, Petco and Pet Supplies Plus, which highlighted abusive conditions at what is described as a complex of "filthy, windowless warehouses." Small animals such as rabbits, hamsters, rats, mice and gerbils were confined to overcrowded bins and often drank from contaminated water bowls or had no water altogether. Cats, who freely roamed around the facilities, regularly jumped in and out of bins and preyed on the animals within them. PETA's investigators reported that, during their observations, injured animals never received veterinary care, but instead were piled by the dozens in "feces-smeared coolers" and then gassed to death with carbon monoxide; others were put into ziplock bags and frozen to death. Over the span of roughly three months, PETA's investigator found hundreds of dead animals at the complex, often in habitats which contained no drinking water. In May 2016, PetSmart ceased utilizing the rodent dealer Holmes Farm, Inc. in Barto, Pennsylvania, after the dealer was cited for multiple infractions by the U.S. Department of Agriculture during an inspection. The USDA inspection of the rodent dealer had followed the undercover investigation launched in late 2015 by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In February 2016, another PETA investigation discovered rampant abuse and neglect at Mack, an Ohio reptile mill and a supplier for Petsmart, including, among other things, frogs, lizards, turtles and other animals being "crammed into filthy, crowded plastic bins stacked into shelving units like old bank statements. Living beings deprived of water for days or even weeks. Sick and injured animals denied veterinary care. Emaciated, severely dehydrated animals desperate for water. Animals cruelly killed by being gassed or frozen to death." The investigation did not find any abuse from PetSmart employees. The company released a statement saying "We are reviewing the matter internally, and if we find that our standards have not been met, we will take appropriate action immediately." An undercover operation by a PETA employee who got jobs at three PetSmart stores in Arizona, Florida, and Tennessee Six sick or injured small animals – a guinea pig, mice, and hamsters – were confiscated from the store and sent to a veterinary hospital after video and photos were presented by the PETA operative. In June 2018 PetSmart filed suit against the undercover employee, on the grounds that she failed to disclose on her job application that she was a paid PETA operative, took secret surveillance videos and photos, and withheld medical care from the animals in question, instead filming them to produce an exposé. In May 2019 PetSmart added PETA to the lawsuit as a defendant, describing it as a "militant, activist organization" that has "a long history of conducting unlawful, covert operations and infiltrations to eradicate pet ownership". Thirty-two of the cases occurred after the start of 2015, the year the private-equity buyout of the company was finalized. In 2021 and 2022 reports published by Vice Media, United for Respect, and World Animal Protection found that since the company was acquired by private equity firm BC Partners in a 2014 leveraged buyout, cost cutting has resulted in unsafe working conditions, inadequate training, understaffing, lack of supplies, consolidation of jobs, and increased animal deaths at multiple PetSmart stores, with freezers overfilled with dead animals. Former employees have reported that PetSmart managers would ask them to take dead animals with them after their shift to dispose of them off the clock. In July 2025, PetSmart was sued by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, with the lawsuit alleging that the company tricked prospective dog groomers into signing training repayment agreement provision contracts (or TRAPs), "that required them to stay with the company for years or risk paying thousands of dollars." ==References==