PetsMart Spares Bucks, Hosts Carnival

PetsMart begins panhandling for homeless pets this weekend with the kickoff of its semi-annual "Just A Buck, Change Their Luck" fundraising drive. Through May 30, shoppers will be asked to make a donation with purchases. Those who donate $10 receive a Just A Buck T-shirt; a $15 contribution earns a commemorative tote. Contributions can also be made at petsmart.com, where the T-shirt and totes are awarded for $15 and $20 donations, respectively. The effort is organized by the retailer's nonprofit arm, PetsMart Charities, which has donated more than $31 million to animal welfare groups and has found homes for 1.7 million animals since 1994 through PetsMart Adoption Centers located in stores. The fall 2003 Just A Buck campaign raised more than $2.7 million. Meanwhile, PetsMart hosted a Summer Carnival on May 4. Owners and their pets were invited to stores to participate in games and contests such as the Bow Wow Boardwalk, Doggy Musical Chairs, Fastest Tail Wags and the Treat Cup Shuffle. Pet toys and other prizes were distributed. Sales employees organized the event in the center aisle of stores and sported cabana hats. The Carnival, which was sponsored by Hill's Pet Nutrition's Science Diet, was touted in the chain's weekly circular and via flyers and stanchion signs in stores. (Hill's is a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive.)In other activity, the retailer's aisles are brimming with rebate offers from pet food manufacturers. While such promotions, communicated via tearpads and shelf signs, are customary at PetsMart, the offers are even more ubiquitous now as pet owners prepare their furry friends for spending more time outside this spring and summer. Among the offers currently being advertised on shelves: The Blue Buffalo Co. is offering a full refund for a $12.99 bag of Life Protection Formula Dog Food. The program runs through June 30 and is promoted via tearpads. Mars, Inc.'s Pedigree is hosting a buy-two-get-one-free offer for its 2-Step Weight Program dog food. Tearpads and shelf signs support. Nutro Products, Inc. is offering a variety of rebates. Consumers who purchase an eight-pound bag of Natural Choice Complete Care dry food receive six free pouches of Complete Care wet food. Consumers who purchase a 35-pound bag of Nutro Max or Natural Choice puppy formula receive a free ID tag (retail value: $6). Both offers are redeemable only at PetsMart and are communicated via tearpads. Nutro also is hosting a buy-one-get-one-free offer for a four-pound bag of Natural Choice Complete Care cat food, and an offer for six cans of Max dog food with the purchase of 12 cans. (Mail-in forms are found on tearpads for both.) Nestle Purina's Pro Plan on April 30 wrapped up an exclusive promotion at PetsMart offering 12 cans of free dog food with the purchase of a 37.5-pound bag of chow. Shelf signs and tearpads supported. Phoenix, AZ-based PetsMart operates 643 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

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