Why U.S. Pet Stores Are Shifting From Products to Experiences

Walk into a modern American pet store and you’ll notice what’s missing: aisles of indistinguishable bags and bones squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder. In their place are grooming salons with glass walls, training rings buzzing with clickers, self-wash stations, “puppuccino” pop-ups, wellness counters, and on some weekends a veterinarian doing vaccinations a few steps from the kibble. The biggest names and the best neighborhood shops are all converging on the same idea: the future of pet retail isn’t a product shelf; it’s an experience—one that keeps pet parents coming back every few weeks for service, community and care.

This evolution didn’t happen by accident. It’s the intersection of economics (services carry better margins and recurring revenue), culture (pets are family), and competition (commodities moved online). Below is how—and why—the U.S. pet retail landscape is being rebuilt around experiences.

The Spending Backdrop: Big, Steady, And More Service-Heavy

Despite pockets of pressure on discretionary goods, Americans keep spending on their animals. The American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates $152 billion in total U.S. pet industry expenditures for 2024, with the mix telling an important story: $39.8B on veterinary care & product sales and $13.0B on other services (grooming, boarding, training, pet sitting/walking, insurance and more). APPA projects $157B in 2025. That’s a category where services already represent a meaningful—and growing—slice of the pie.

APPA also reports 94 million U.S. households now own a pet, with Millennials and Gen Z together making up about half of pet owners. Younger “pet parents” drive omnichannel habits and a preference for services that feel personal and convenient—traits retailers now build around.

Beyond the headline totals, the services subindustry itself is expanding. IBISWorld estimates the U.S. Pet Grooming & Boarding market at $15.5B in 2025, up nearly 9% year over year—outpacing many goods categories. ResearchAndMarkets similarly pegs grooming/boarding at $10.2B in 2023, forecast to $15.8B by 2029 (7.5% CAGR). Growth is driven by owners seeking regular care (grooming every 6–8 weeks is common), day care/boarding for busier lifestyles, and training to support the “pet-as-family” ethos.

Financial markets have noticed that healthcare is the most resilient part of the pet economy: even as consumers trade down in food, vet demand and pet medications remain sturdy. The Financial Times recently summarized the split: while specialty retailers navigate slower traffic and value trade-downs, pet healthcare and pharma (think Zoetis) keep posting solid gains.

Culture Shift: From Owners To “Pet Parents”

The experiential pivot reflects how Americans now talk about animals. “Pet parents” is more than a marketing term; it captures willingness to budget for preventive care, training, spa-like grooming, and social experiences—the kinds of services that feel like good parenting, not indulgence. Retailers echo this shift explicitly: Petco’s leadership talks about serving the “whole pet”—physical, mental and social well-being—as it retools stores and assortments.

The practical reality is that experiences solve problems products alone don’t. A skittish rescue dog needs a behavior class, not just a new harness. A doodle needs regular deshedding and dematting. Urban pet parents want a safe, clean play option on a rainy Saturday. Each of those needs pulls a shopper into the store on a rhythm—monthly, even weekly.

The Hard Math: Why Services And Memberships Win

Margins and frequency: Consumables like food and litter are price-shopped and heavy to ship. Services—grooming, training, day care, vet care—tend to carry higher gross margins and, crucially, recurring cadence (grooms every 6–8 weeks, training packages spanning months, annual wellness plans). That cadence boosts lifetime value and reduces churn. Public commentary around Petco’s turnaround repeatedly highlights a deeper focus on higher-margin items and services to lift profitability, even as the company trims underperforming stores.

Memberships: Subscriptions transform sporadic shoppers into members who plan care. Petco’s Vital Care bundles everyday discounts with unlimited routine exams at Vetco Total Care, 20% off grooming (or litter for cats), and monthly rewards—benefits designed to make in-store services the default choice. The program’s positioning and pricing have evolved (now $24.99/month for dogs and cats; $9.99 for small pets), but the strategic intent—recurring, loyalty-building services—hasn’t changed.

Health platforms: The most aggressive bet is happening at the intersection of retail and care delivery. Chewy, once known only for boxes on porches, is opening full-service Chewy Vet Care clinics. By mid-2025 the company was operating ~11 clinics and signaling ~10 openings per year, integrating in-person care with its pharmacy and digital ecosystem—another proof point that pet services are where sticky value lives.

Case Study: How The Big Boxes Are Re-Wiring Their Stores

Petco: From “Pet Store” To “Wellness Hub”

Petco’s last two years read like a case study in remix and refocus. After pandemic highs faded and discretionary supplies softened, management doubled down on services and memberships to rebuild the profit engine. Earnings coverage throughout 2025 emphasizes cost discipline, selective store closures, and a “higher-margin products and services” mix to expand EBITDA even as sales run flat to down.

In practice, that looks like:

• Grooming and training investment (clear sightlines, better equipment, consistent class schedules).

• In-store Vetco Total Care clinics and vaccine events, with Vital Care nudging routine exams into Petco’s orbit.

• Events and community—Petco’s “Dog Days of Summer” week encouraged shoppers to bring pets for IRL experiences, not just transactions.

The thesis is simple: if the store becomes the place your pet already goes—to get clean, get coached, get care—then food and treats follow, and the customer relationship becomes subscription-like. Early signs show margin expansion and an improving bottom line as the mix shifts, even with modest revenue pressure.

PetSmart: Services As The Traffic Engine

PetSmart has long embedded grooming, training, and Petshotel boarding/day camp into its superstores, which helps explain why it still wins the foot-traffic race in much of the country. An analysis by Placer.ai found PetSmart captured ~62% of combined Petco/PetSmart visits in early 2024—evidence that services (and a broad physical footprint) can anchor regular trips even as online rivals scale.

The private ownership structure keeps detailed financials opaque, but the in-store services mix—from grooming bays to training rings and day care—speaks to the same playbook: turn a store into a weekly routine.

Chewy: From Autoship To Exam Room

Chewy’s push into clinics reframes the category’s competitive map. Analysts now model vet care as a multi-billion-dollar adjacency—and one where owning the relationship (in person + digital) may matter more than owning the box. MarketWatch recently highlighted Chewy’s clinic count and its plan to add ~10 per year, pointing to the demographic tailwind of aging pandemic pets and the $40B vet/pet-pharma market.

The Indie Advantage: Community, Curation, And Events

Not every great experience is a national prototype. Independent retailers have leaned into hyper-local services and community building—the corner shop with the best groomer in town, the place that hosts adoption Saturdays and breed meetups, the store that knows your pet’s name. The IndiePet association now represents 8,000+ neighborhood retailers and runs a national Neighborhood Pet Store Day to showcase the “indie difference” with events that drive traffic and loyalty.

Trade publications report those community events aren’t just feel-good—they boost same-day traffic and sales dramatically versus typical weekends, cementing stores as local hubs. It’s experiential retail at its most human: shared space, shared knowledge, and a staff that can recommend a trainer down the street because they know your dog.

Economics 101: Why Experiences Beat Aisles

1) Better Unit Economics: Services typically carry higher gross margins than commoditized consumables. Even small lifts in service mix can move a retailer’s overall margin, which is why earnings commentary and analyst notes fixate on “higher-margin services” when discussing turnarounds.

2) Recurring Revenue And LTV: A pet who grooms six times a year plus annual exams becomes a predictable revenue stream. Memberships like Vital Care formalize that cadence while adding points, discounts, and exclusive offers—nudges that lock in share of wallet.

3) Traffic Flywheel: Each service visit is a trip to the store—and attach rates matter. A bath can become a bag, a training class an impulse toy, a vet exam a prescription filled through the retailer’s pharmacy. Chewy’s clinic strategy explicitly aims to lift retail and pharmacy sales by keeping care inside its ecosystem.

4) Defensible Vs. E-Commerce: Boxes of food are price-compared and delivered by the next algorithm. A great groomer, a trusted trainer, and a kind vet are not commodities. They’re sticky, local, and relationship-driven.

What The Pandemic Taught Pet Retail

The pandemic boom created millions of new pets—and revealed which parts of the category were shock-resistant. As inflation later squeezed wallets, consumers traded down in some food tiers, but kept prioritizing health and essential care. Coverage from WSJ and others has chronicled the “value shift” and the relative resilience of healthcare spending versus premium treats and accessories. For retailers, the message was clear: lean into services and value—especially on essentials—to keep the pet parent engaged.

Store Design: From Warehouse To Welcome Mat

Experience-led pet stores look and feel different:

• Visibility & Trust: Glass-walled grooming and training areas normalize the service and show off quality. Signage sets expectations (timing, add-ons, coat-specific care).

• Flow Around Services: Consumables are merchandised along the path to service (litter near cat grooming pickup, dental chews near training), turning time spent into baskets.

• Self-Service & Convenience: Self-wash bays and quick-clinic vaccination events draw in price-sensitive customers who still want a store-based experience. Petco has even tested rural formats that blend supplies with mobile vaccination and self-wash for farm animals—a reminder that “experience” also means meeting local needs.

• Programming: Calendars featuring adoption days, breed meetups, puppy socials, and “ask-a-trainer” hours turn Saturdays into community gatherings rather than errand runs.

Competitive Pressures Pushing The Shift

• Online Eats The Middle: With Autoship and mass retail squeezing margins on staples, specialty stores can’t out-Amazon Amazon. They win by being a place, not a warehouse.

• Pharmacy & Vet Integration: Pet medications are moving into more consumer-friendly channels, but the trusted-vet relationship still matters. That’s why Chewy and retailers are racing to integrate clinic services with pharmacy and digital care.

• Macro Normalization: Post-pandemic slowdowns and traffic volatility have forced a rethink. Analysts and journalists covering Petco and the sector repeatedly note the pivot to higher-margin services as a core lever to restore profitability.

Risks And Realities: Execution Counts

Experience isn’t a switch you flip. It’s an operating model.

• Labor & Training: Great groomers and trainers are hard to hire and keep. Quality issues can torpedo trust fast.

• Capacity Planning: Grooms and vet exams require scheduling software, predictable staffing, and smart pricing (peak vs. off-peak).

• Capital & Layout: Converting footage from shelves to salons takes cash and careful store-by-store ROIC math.

• Local Fit: A Brooklyn dog-spa’s playbook won’t map 1:1 to a rural market. Petco’s rural test concept underscores how format flexibility helps services succeed outside major metros.

Where it works, though, the payoff is clear: more visits, higher margins, and stronger loyalty.

What Boutique Leaders Are Teaching The Giants

Independents have always been laboratories for experience: a groomer who remembers coat notes, a trainer who texts homework, an owner who curates local rescues and in-store events. The Neighborhood Pet Store Day initiative is essentially a national “open house” for that ethos—and participating stores report big traffic and sales lifts during the event, a demonstration that experiences convert.

Associations like IndiePet are building shared infrastructure (POS data feeds, marketing toolkits, education) so independents can scale what they do best—community and care—without giving up their local flavor.

Where This Goes Next

1) Health Memberships Go Mainstream: Expect more bundling: annual plans mixing grooms + vaccines + tele-vet with automatic refills. Petco’s Vital Care and Chewy’s Vet Care suggest a future where care pathways are stitched together across the retailer’s ecosystem.

2) Clinics In, Aisles Out: Over time, floor space reallocates toward exam rooms, training rings, and self-wash bays, especially in high-density trade areas where services are capacity-constrained.

3) Data-Driven Personalization: Services create richer first-party data (coat type, behavior goals, medical needs) that inform product recommendations and reminders (“due for a groom,” “time for flea & tick”). That drives retention.

4) Experience Partnerships: Expect co-branded events—from rescue groups to dog-friendly social clubs—to keep stores lively and local.

Bottom Line: A Store You Visit, Not Just A Site You Click

When pets are family, product alone feels incomplete. The retail winners will be the brands—big or boutique—that build places where care happens, questions get answered, and the community of pet parents can show up together. That’s not a fad; it’s a durable shift in what “pet retail” means.

By aligning economics (higher-margin, recurring services), culture (humanization and community), and design (stores as hubs), U.S. pet retailers are writing a new playbook—one appointment, one class, one wellness plan at a time. And for millions of dogs and cats and the humans who love them, that’s a better experience than any shelf could offer.