Christopher Buono

March 1, 2020

Having read some of the reviews for Petland, I almost didn’t visit. Plus, I was bringing my daughter along, so was worried about exposing her to a pet store horror show. But the store is close, and I figured it couldn’t be quite as bad as some suggested.

In short, the place is/was fine. The dogs seemed happy and healthy–at least, as happy as one can be cooped up in a cage for 23 hours per day. (Overall, I’m not a fan of getting dogs or cats from chain–or chain-like–pet stores.)

Yes, the place was chaotic. There seemed to be plenty of staff, but they were poorly organized such that the register was left unattended when I wanted to checkout. The ‘rooms’ where people can meet their prospective dogs are tiny. They’re more like small cubicles. SMALL

For a pet store, the whole store is small. I say this because selection was slim. I asked about cat litter (we have both a cat and a dog), and was directed to an area hosting a single brand of cat litter.

My daughter, however, loved her visit to Petland–because the small pet tanks are open-lidded. This adds to the chaos, but there were about twenty kids (from 8 to teenager) reaching in and picking up hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, etc. None seemed overtly mistreated, but there was no staff supervision either.

In summary, if I have a dog toy or treat emergency, I wouldn’t hesitate to make a run to Petland. Otherwise, I won’t make a point of visiting again.