Petco

This place is the woooorst. I will say that I think Petco is to Petsmart what Target is to Walmart. The store has a nicer feel but that’s about it. It is so hard to hunt down an employee to help you in this store and when you do, they act like you’re an inconvenience. Also, their prices are ridiculous. They charge exactly double what Amazon charges for the same items. I used my phone and literally ordered the same stuff while we were still in the store.
I spent over $ 100 and the guy that rang me up had a terrible attitude. He was just flat-​out rude to me and after being in the store for over an hour trying to track down everything we needed, I wasn’t in the mood. And for whatever reason he couldn’t find my rewards information, which I know for a fact I’m signed up for, and was really dismissive about it. I don’t know, it was pretty awful all around.
They also don’t carry a safe bedding option for bearded dragons in their reptile section. After some extensive googling I went with some bedding from the «small animals» section that seemed okay. But it’s frustrating that pet stores don’t actually know anything about the care of pets unless they’re cats or dogs.

I only come here because they happen to sell Merrick brand dog food (specifically the Grain Free variety). So, I stop in once every couple of weeks and buy some. Outside of that, I really don’t browse around or use any of their other services.
Checkout lines can be a bit slow.
Loyalty program (Petco Pals) is nice and every time you drop $ 100 at Petco you’ll get a $ 5 coupon. I’m sure there are other perks too, but I don’t take advantage of them.
I did see that Amazon is now selling the specific Merrick pet food I buy and it qualifies for free shipping under Amazon Prime. It appears to be cheaper than Petco (even with their Pals coupon) so I may just start ordering it online.

The store itself is fine. Their dog grooming on the other hand, is completely unacceptable. I made an appointment for my dog on Saturday at 2pm. I came on time and waited for 10min to be helped. The lady groomer that checked us in was very unprofessional (asked 0 questions on the type of cut I wanted for my sheltie, unfriendly, and even spelled my name and my dog’s name incorrectly when I spelled both out for her). I told her I wanted my sheltie cut as short as possible without being shaved and ruining her coat. When it came time to put the leash on, my dog was scared and got out of the leash and almost ran out of the front door into traffic in the parking lot. If it wasn’t for her discipline, that scenario alone could’ve ended very poorly. After that, the lady proceeded to offer my dog (who is on a strict diet and not allowed to have treats) a treat without asking. I then asked about how long the grooming would take. She said she had no idea. I asked for a general timeframe and she said at least by 5 bc that was when they closed (3hrs later).
When I came back at 4:15, I asked the checker if he could see if my dog was finished. He went back and told me it would be another two hrs! I then asked to speak to the groomer. A guy came out and said that she had just finished her bath and they were waiting for her to dry. He was very rude and also had horrible customer service.
When I finally got my dog back, I looked at her cut and I couldn’t even tell that they trimmed her nails, paws, or legs.
Safe to say, I will never go back.

I LOVE this store!
My pet, unfortunately, has a lot of health problems. Because of this, I had to buy extremely specific food that was only sold at holistic pet food stores. Not anymore!
Petco has a great variety of all natural, grain-​free and holistic pet foods. (The selection of food at Petsmart is not good at all) You may be wondering why I love this store so much?
The employees. From the managers to the trainers to the part time employees — they are seriously the nicest people ever. I have come into the store so many times with questions about foods and such and they have always helped me. Even if they didn’t know the answer they would try to find out for me. They all genuinely love animals and I have never had a bad experience here. I come in here so much that some of the employees even ask me how my pet is doing.
Petco also has a loyalty program. It’s free and you get coupons. what’s not to like about that?!