Your experience can vary greatly, depending on your Salon and Store Manager. - Pet Stylist PetSmart Employee Review

2.0
15 Jan 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent benefits, 15% discount, pet grooming is a job that can't be "outsourced", free training class, appears to be fairly easy to advance into management if you are willing to relocate.

Cons

As a groomer, you make your money on commissions, if the salon is overstaffed you will not make more than your hourly wage. You must work holidays, nights, and weekends. Safety rules were not enforced by my district manager, my salon manager tried to have us follow rules, but no one else in the district did. The store manager for most of my employment was great with customers but had no interest in enforcing rules. Associates stole from the register, shirked their duties, were rude to other associates, stole merchandise and nothing was done. The second manager of our store had no business being a manager, he had no concept of customer service or being pro-active with problems. He also lied about me at least twice to our district manager. If you have a good manager and district manager you could have a good experience, but it will change greatly from store to store.

Explore other reviews about PetSmart

5.0
8 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good staff, good management here

Cons

Not many here. All good

1.0
2 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company pushes for more and more from the bottom level employees without better pay. I worked there before the restructuring and; not much can make me cry, but working here sure did, even back then. I can’t imagine how anxiety inducing it must be to work there now. Animal welfare is a complete non-concern. The only thing that’s pushed is sell, sell, sell. It’s borderline dystopian. Bad management seems to be a common issue, not only from my experience, but many others’ as well. I worked until I was an exhausted sweaty mess to make sure everything in pet care or, when I groomed, the salon, was cleaned to perfection as expected of me (and I reiterate: “me,” because these standards were not expected of my co-workers, just me) and overall felt very unseen. The only times I did feel “seen,” was when mistakes were made. Work was treated like boot camp. A co-worker that was subtley targeting/bullying me, and even started rumors accusing me of racist remarks(!!!), was promoted and anything I reported was downplayed because they were friends with the assistant manager. Working here was an overall traumatizing experience.

Cons

Employees are expected to be work-robots

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PetSmart Response
1w
We’re disappointed to hear that your experience didn’t reflect what we aim to create for our associates, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We invite you to contact the CareSmart line at 1-800-738-4693 so we can learn more and see how we can support you. Thank you.
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