Pet Valu trims down on store openings for 2023

Pet Valu posted C$262.2 million ($190.3M/€178.3M) in revenue in the third quarter of 2023. During the same period in 2022, it reported C$244.7 million ($117.6M/€166.4M).

System-wide sales hit C$357.2 million ($259.3M/€242.9M), an increase of 7.7%. However, net income took a hit and went down to C$17.9 million ($12.9M/€12.1M) from C$26.9 million ($19.5M/€18.2M) last year. The retailer’s profit also decreased by 6.7% to C$87.3 million ($63.3M/€59.3M).

In an interview with Bloomberg, Pet Valu’s CEO and President Richard Maltsbarger highlighted that they have seen “slowness and softness” in discretionary categories such as toys and accessories. However, Maltsbarger said that he sees this slump as “a temporary softness” as these categories “normally strengthen” going into the end of the year.

“I am proud of the actions our teams took to swiftly adapt to evolving consumer demand while continuing to drive same-store sales growth,” he concluded.

Store-count adjustments

Pet Valu opened 8 new stores between July and September, ending the quarter with 766 stores nationwide. However, it confirmed to investors that they had delayed the expected openings for December. The Ontario-headquartered pet supplies store planned to open 40–50 stores in 2023, but this number has now dropped to between 35–40.

“We have seen other stores holding off on openings, and we are waiting to see how they manage their openings before moving forward,” the CEO said to Bloomberg.

In an interview with GlobalPETS in October 2022, Maltsbarger said they planned to open between 80 and 120 new stores over the next 2 to 3 years.

Guidance

The Canadian company expects revenue of between C$1.05 billion ($761M/€714M) and C$1.06 billion ($769M/€720.8M) in 2023, driven by same-store sales growth between 5.5% and 6.5% and new store openings.

Pet Valu’s outlook has been slightly lowered from the predictions set at the beginning of the year.