Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Anywhere But the Pet Store


A small observation: Pet stores levy huge markups on the most basic products, and big cost savings can be had by getting the same items at the grocery store.

A case in point: I just paid $3 for a nylon snap-clip collar that cost $7 at the pet store. Dog food is also cheaper (and fresher!) at the grocery store than it is at any of the local pet stores. Both regular and flea shampoo is much cheaper at the grocery store. The most expensive source of rawhide chews is the pet store; the least expensive is Target. Home Depot has the cheapest 25 pounds bags of sunflower seeds -- pet stores and the Wild Bird Store will leave you broke. Bottom line: before you consider a specialty store, price check at the stores you frequent every day --- and NEVER pass up a dollar store that actually sells stuff for a dollar.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've found the opposite to be true here. We don't have a SafeWay, but the Kroger's here is the most expensive place to buy pet items. I get some of my dog items at the super Wal-Mart, and some of them at the local pet store.

I do not care to feed the dog food the Kroger's and Wal-Mart carry. My pet store and the local Tractor Supply carry a dog food with no chemical perservatives (like BHA and BHT). I don't want to eat those myself and do not care to feed my dogs a food with such things.

We also have a large warehouse type pet store that stocks food for all domestic animals and wild birds. It is very reasonable on it's pricing.

It does pay to comparison shop and read labels.

Yvonne