PetSmart

Good luck trying to find an associate to help you. It was pretty annoying having to circle the aisles twice before coming across two associates standing around talking to each other while I walked around the store like a chicken with my head cut off.
I will say however, that when I finally did get their attention, they were helpful in pointing me to a different store (Chuck & Don’s) that carried the brand of dog food I was looking for.

Pretty standard Petsmart location. The reason for the downgrade is strictly for the customers at this location who seem to have no respect for anyone else. During a short trip in to grab some cat food I was almost run down by a shopping cart, had to play dodge to get around people standing oblivious in the aisles and also try to get around people with carts parked diagonally blocking half the aisle while the cart user is blocking the other half.
The cream of the customer crop would be the owner of a very large breed dog who didn’t feel they needed to pick up the multiple lumps of dog feces outside the front door of the store. I know the employees will probably end up cleaning it up but the owner should have their nose rubbed in it.
As I said, the location is pretty much standard Petsmart. The customer base however will keep me away from this location.

Pretty standard warehouse style pet store, but it gets the job done. The employees can be really helpful (you can tell they are here because they love animals), but just given the big size of the store it can be hard to find one. My boyfriend and I got a small aquarium for before we were ready to adopt kittens and we got all sorts of guidance about what fish need to school and which ones play nice together, etc. We consistently got honest advice about care and maintenance too. I appreciate when you can believe an employee about when you need branded this and that and when it’s ok to go generic. They really aren’t pushy, they just want your animals to be happy. Another sell point for Petsmart for us was a 14 day return policy on fish (ie if you shake the bag too much on the way home and Nemo is belly up in the morning you can bring him back for Nemo 2.0 free of charge — within two weeks, that is). This was a life saver when we were cycling our tank.
They have a discount program called «Pet Perks» which truly doesn’t save you much money. Eight cents per can of cat food, maybe. But you should sign up for it anyway because it surely adds up over time, especially on essentials. Also, they won’t price match Amazon if you happen to be a savvy shopper and are buying a higher ticket item. It surprises me that in this age a store would rather walk a sale than forgo some margin.

I definitely would choose Petsmart over Petco any day of the week. They always seem to have better prices and service. I like the way the locations are laid out and they’re clean… at least as clean as possible with as many animals as are wondering around.