Independent Retail Still
Reigns in Pet, Execs Say
Brick-and-mortar retailers declare growing strength and relevance
in the industry, despite developing market challenges.
BY JENNIFER BONCY
The brick-and-mortar independent pet spe- cialty retailer channel continues to be the life- blood of the industry, and manufacturers that
are dedicated to those retailers are reaping the rewards. That was the consensus among a gathering
of retail executives at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas a day before the kickoff of
the SuperZoo trade show in June.
The informal meeting, which included officials
from 30-plus retail operations representing approximately 2,100 doors, has become a customary gathering at the industry’s major trade shows and is an
opportunity for participating retailers to discuss
common interests and their most pressing concerns,
participants said.
“We’ve grown significantly each time,” said Mi-
chael Levy, founder and president of Pet Food Ex-
press, a 62-store chain in California. “Every meeting
seems to flow more each time. Everyone participat-
ed, everyone shared different opinions and, overall,
it went really well.”
Scott Click, owner of Tomlinson’s, a Texas chain
with 15 stores, shared a similar sentiment.
“Several of us are direct competitors, but we are
here in the same room talking about the same goals
that we have [and] the same interests.”
Among those shared concerns are the roles that
pet specialty retailers are playing within the indus-
try and how manufacturers are diversifying the way
they market their products.
“Channel came up a lot [during the meeting],”
said Al Puntillo, chief merchandising officer for
Mud Bay, which has 45 stores in Washington and
Oregon. “There is such a blurring of the lines of
channel now. What used to be considered true
independent brick-and-mortar [brands] are now
hybrids—spanning from brick-and-mortar, maybe
a little online, maybe some natural grocery retail,
maybe Chewy.com, maybe not. So, we talked about
getting back to basics on channel.”
Jim Castleberry, director of merchandising for
Pet Food Express, also noted product companies’
changing market strategies, as manufacturers in-
creasingly look to circumvent traditional channels
to reach their target customers.
“Many manufacturers are going around inde-
pendent retail now,” Castleberry said. “They’re
finding other alternatives to get directly to the con-
sumer. We are very aware of that, and I think that’s
very important to most people in the room.”
Despite this trend, retailers in attendance at the
meeting agreed that the independent brick-and-
mortar retail channel continues to be instrumental
to the growth of a majority of successful pet brands
on the market, and many manufacturers, they con-
cluded, would not disagree.
“Years ago, back after Procter & Gamble bought
Natura, I was in a meeting with them, and they said
they love independent pet retailers because we are
the incubator of brands,” Click said. “Of course,
we’re tired of birthing babies, but manufacturers
know we can get their brands started.”
Lars Wulff, co-CEO of Mud Bay, concurred that
independents have much to offer brands, stressing
that the relationships product manufacturers forge
with their vendor partners are key to the success of
everyone involved.
“In this enormous industry, there is room for
an ecosystem made up of strong independent pet
retailers and manufacturers that are committed to
them and sell exclusively to them,” Wulff said. “To-
gether, they are on the cutting-edge of this rapidly
evolving industry.”
Whereas last year’s SuperZoo gathering focused
largely on e-commerce pricing—with a handful of
manufacturers having also been in attendance to
pledge their allegiance to the independent chan-
nel—Wulff said the focus for the meeting’s par-
ticipants shifted this year toward building reve-
nue-generating, mutually beneficial relationships
between stores and manufacturers.
“MAP pricing is almost kind of yesterday’s
news,” he said. “The future is these long-term part-
nerships between brands and retailers, and it’s not
about us birthing a brand—it’s about decades-long
partnerships where we grow sales and customers
for brands that are committed to our channel be-
cause of what we bring to the table.”
Retailers also asserted that brick-and-mortar in-
dependents are increasingly growing confident in
their position within the industry, as they perceive
online and big-box competition to be less menacing
to the independents than in the past.
Biff Picone, co-owner of Natural Pawz, a chain
of 23 stores in Texas, said, “Independents are not
running scared. They are not contracting and pull-
ing back. Independents are finding their voice, if you
will. We are a growing group, and we are a group
that matters, that still matters.”
He added that nearly every retail business in
attendance had opened at least one store in the
past year, calling it a “testament to the growth and
relevance of the brick-and-mortar independent
channel.”
Natural Pawz co-owner Nadine Joli-Couer
echoed the statement by noting that pet specialty
retailers often are key at driving innovation into the
market.
“If independent pet retailers didn’t take on prod-
ucts that don’t exist elsewhere on the market and
drive them into the market, [these products] proba-
bly wouldn’t be successful,” she said.
Mark Witriol, who co-founded Pet Food Ex-
press with Levy, added to the chorus of retailers
expressing the conviction that key manufacturers
are committed to the channel. “Brands that have
passion and innovation are all coming to indepen-
dent pet,” he said.
“The manufacturers that supported us are the
leaders now in the industry,” Witriol added. “Ev-
erybody is now chasing them and wondering what
they did to really move the needle.”
Independent pet specialty retailers gathered before SuperZoo to discuss
their top concerns, including their partnerships with suppliers.
“The future is these long-term
partnerships between brands and
retailers, and it’s not about us birthing
a brand—it’s about decades-long
partnerships where we grow sales
and customers for brands that are
committed to our channel because of
what we bring to the table.”
—Lars Wulff of Mud Bay
