Dive Brief:

• Looking to serve urban consumers, Petco on Thursday announced it opened Reddy SoHo, a flagship dedicated to the retailer's three-year-old private label focused on premium pet goods.
• The store, located in New York City's SoHo neighborhood, will also offer an "exclusive interactive experience," including services for custom pet tags and product monograms, a fresh nutrition station from JustFoodForDogs and, soon, a concierge to plan activities with pets, according to a company press release.
• The new flagship is Petco's first location dedicated to a single brand.

Dive Insight:

As the pandemic brought numerous uncertainties to consumers' lives, many turned to pets as a source of comfort. Petco's latest flagship appears to be an effort to retain its recently acquired customers, particularly those in younger cohorts.

Petco in August said it added 1 million net new customers in the second quarter, bringing its total active customers to 22.5 million.

With the Reddy flagship, the pet retailer is also entering the popular SoHo shopping neighborhood where many millennial-focused brands have also opened stores, including Allbirds, Bonobos, Warby Parker and Glossier.

"Reddy's growth and popularity among active and trend-forward pet parents has been steady since launch," Nick Konat, Petco's chief merchandising officer, said in a statement. "And it's only accelerated over the last 18+ months as millions of pet parents are exploring outdoor activities and taking their pets with them wherever they go. This first-of-its-kind boutique will continue fueling that exploration by giving New York City pet parents a hub to bond, recharge and find the latest must-have gear to style their best lives together."

The Reddy store, Petco's fifth location in New York City, also deepens the retailer's experiential shopping ambitions. Petco's flagship store in Union Square in 2019 opened the first JustFoodForDogs in-store pet kitchen with trained chefs preparing recipes.

Petco re-entered the public markets earlier this year. In its most recent quarter, the retailer reported net sales increased 19% year over year, driven by a 20% increase in comparable sales. In an attempt to continue the sales momentum brought on by increased demand in the pet category, Petco has been expanding its offerings, including with its PupBox subscription service last month.