PETsMART opens new stores in Hampton Roads,  including Columbus Village East in Virginia Beach's CBD.

DRE Unleashes PETsMART on Virginia

VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA -- The nation’s leading retail supplier of innovative products, solutions and services for every stage of the life of pets has expanded throughout Hampton Roads, increasing its market presence from three to six stores in 2003. 

“PETsMART recognized the strength of Hampton Roads and is continuing to effectively service the area’s growing pet supply market,” according to Anne Millar, retail leasing agent in DRE’s Virginia Beach office. 

PETsMART, Inc., founded in 1987 in Phoenix, employs approximately 20,000 pet lovers.   The company carries the industry’s broadest selection for “pets and their people” from 560 superstores in the United States and Canada.  Species served include dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, small animals and horses.  The company first entered Southeastern Virginia in 1995 with a 21,000-square-foot store in the Divaris leased and managed Princess Anne Plaza West shopping center in Virginia Beach.   Stores followed in Chesapeake’s Greenbrier section and on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News. 

The first of two new stores opened in 2003 in Chesapeake, Virginia, adjacent to the Chesapeake Square Mall in a space formerly occupied by Service Merchandise.  The high-growth intersection is home to such diverse retailers as Dillards, Hechts, Circuit City, BJs Wholesale Club, Office Max, Pier 1, Home Depot, JC Penney, Sears, Target and more.  Directly behind the mall, on Taylor Road is the site of a new Wal-Mart super center and Sam’s Club.

The second PETsMART to open in this new wave of stores is in Columbus Village East in the Central Business District of Virginia Beach at Pembroke.  The 21,600-square-foot PETsMART joins Thomasville Furniture, Starbucks, Hallmark, Silver Diner, ALLTEL and Zoots The Cleaner Cleaner.  The 63,000-square-foot shopping promenade is adjacent to the highly successful Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath and Beyond and Planet Music anchored Columbus Village Entertainment Center.  PETsMART is located two blocks from the region’s dynamic new Town Center of Virginia Beach. 

Additionally, Divaris is negotiating two store locations in the greater Richmond area that will join PETsMART's six existing stores in the market.  "As a result,  PETsMART will be well positioned to service Richmond's pet requirements,"  says Debbie Wake of DRE's Richmond office.  Wake heads the PETsMART assignment in central and western Virginia.  "We are also negotiating an additional deal in a western Virginia market in a proposed power center."

Tom Londres, senior vice president of Metro Commercial is the national tenant representative for PETsMART.  As a member of the Realty Resources network, Londres sought local market knowledge from affiliate Divaris Real Estate, Inc. of Virginia Beach. 

“Our initial efforts for PETsMART was an extensive mapping project where we identified current locations of all major pet stores throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, then targeted second and third waves of possible new PETsMART sites,” says Dona L. Hall, director of marketing and research for Divaris Real Estate, Inc.  “Besides existing stores in Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads, the metropolitan statistical areas of Roanoke, Lynchburg, Harrisonburg and Charlottesville were analyzed as part of a possible expansion strategy.” 

The typical PETsMART customer is identified as a “pet enthusiast,” or one who is passionately committed to their pet, who values services and premium products, who is brand loyal and insensitive to price.  PETsMART is tapping into an attractive niche market and differentiates itself from the competition with unique products and the expert advice of its associates.  Improved associate training in customer service helps drive traffic, sales and profitability. PETsMART is developing its higher-demand, higher-margin services, such as grooming and training with a focus on operational excellence in inventory and distribution processes. 

Pet training classes create successful, long-lasting relationships with pets. As obedience problems are the number one reason pets are turned into shelters, training classes are an affordable way to solve the obedience needs of puppies and adult dogs, with discounts available to owners who have adopted a pet from PETsMART’s Adoption Center. 

Additionally, PETsMART holds a 38 percent interest in the full-service, “human quality” veterinary hospitals and wellness clinics found in many PETsMART stores, operated by Banfield, The Pet Hospital.

Most stores feature pet salons for full-service styling, baths, toenail trimming and teeth cleaning.   The pet styling salons can be seen behind large windows in the front of most PETsMART stores.   Owners can watch their pets be styled, bathed, brushed, clipped and cleaned by the nations’ best trained pet stylists. 

The decision was made in the first year of business that PETsMART stores would not sell dogs and cats, but rather find homes through in-store adoption centers for pets that are in jeopardy of being euthanized in shelters.