Pet supermarket plans opening next month

Carson City pet owners soon will have a new spot to take Fifi for a new do, as well as to find the latest in canine, feline and other pet supplies.

The new PETsMART on South Carson Street and Fairview Drive is set to open Nov. 4 with the grand-opening celebration scheduled for Nov. 9, according to PETsMART corporate spokeswoman Esther Caceres.

Like most of the Phoenix-based corporation's more than 570 stores nationwide, the Carson City PETsMART will offer pet grooming, a veterinary clinic, training and an adoption center.

That's in addition to the retail center filled with pet food, leashes, toys, shampoo, bedding, training tools, fish tanks, bird cages and just about anything else to do with dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles and rodents.

The 18,000-square-foot Carson City PETsMART -- the second in Northern Nevada -- will employ about 30 people, Caceres said.

It shares the Silver City center with Office Depot, Sav-On drugstore and Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.

PETsMART began in Phoenix with two stores in 1987. By the next year, it expanded with five more stores in Arizona, Colorado and Texas, and eventually added pet-grooming services.

In the next few years, PETsMART grew exponentially, with the addition of a few dozen stores throughout the West and a 114,000-square-foot distribution facility in Texas.

In 1993, the company made its initial public offering, raising more than $125 million. The company now boasts almost $2 billion in annual sales.