Walmart pilots Pet Services Center in Georgia
Continuing to innovate within the pet care category, Walmart has opened the first-ever Walmart Pet Services center in Dallas, Ga.
Two-thirds of U.S. households own a pet, according to the American Pet Products Association, with unprecedented growth in recent years. It’s reported that 23 million U.S. households adopted a pet during the pandemic, significantly impacting the pet industry. Unfortunately, many pet owners are feeling the burden of rising costs as pricing in the pet category continues to increase higher than the national inflation rate.
The Walmart Pet Services center aims help these pet parents by improving access to affordable and quality pet care. Located at 3615 Marietta Highway in the town of Dallas northwest of Atlanta, the new center will offer low, transparent pricing for key pet services in a central location within a dedicated storefront. According to the retailer, services will include routine veterinary care (vaccines, wellness exams and minor medical services), grooming (baths, nail trims, teeth cleaning, ear cleaning and basic hair trims) and a self-serve dog wash.
All services will be provided by qualified veterinary and grooming professionals in collaboration with PetIQ.
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The Walmart Pet Services center in Dallas will serve as a pilot where the company can learn how best to work with collaborators and optimize services as the company plans to bring the Walmart Pet Services model to other communities in the future. This store is also the same location where Walmart debuted its first Walmart Health center in 2019.
Walmart currently offers in-store vet clinics onsite in over 65 stores across the country, owned and operated by PetIQ, and all Walmart pharmacies stock the top pet medications. A new online Pet Pharmacy experience is also coming soon to Walmart.com and the Walmart app.
Plus, Walmart now offers a new subscription service that allows customers to subscribe to thousands of everyday essentials. Based on Walmart pilot testing, the pet category has been where customers have most eagerly embraced this convenience.
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Each week, approximately 230 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries.
This story originally appeared on Progressive Grocer.