Petsense to close 75 locations

Tractor Supply Company released its second quarter financials last week and also shared plans to close about 75 Petsense stores because those individual stores’ sales did not cover their local operating expenses.

Chief Executive Officer Hal Lawton commented in a press release, “Following a disciplined review of Petsense, we’ve decided to close approximately 75 underperforming stores. We believe these actions will improve returns, simplify the business, and allow us to direct resources towards higher growth and higher return opportunities.”

Petsense currently operates 209 stores across 23 states, so the closures will have a sizeable impact. The company has yet to disclose which specific store locations will be shuttered.

“We’ll have a very strong, profitable Petsense business. It will work well with the broader pet ecosystem that we’re building with Allivet as well as with VIP Petcare,” Lawton said. “I will reiterate that while those two businesses, VIP Petcare and Allivet, do integrate and we fully expect them to be core parts of our integration with Tractor Supply, the Petsense business is not directly connected to the core Tractor Supply business. We feel this doesn’t do anything in terms of impacting our pet re-acceleration in the core Tractor Supply business.”

While the closures signal difficulty, the company remains optimistic about the business’s outlook.

“The strategic repositioning of Petsense is expected to create a healthier, more profitable business that better complements our Tractor Supply stores and strengthens our ability to serve pet customers across our integrated pet ecosystem,” said Kurt Barton, Chief Financial Officer of Tractor Supply.