Retail Pets Department

The pet department of a retail store can be a lot of fun, just because you get to see and play with the many things that people buy for their pets, from cute toys to interesting treats to doggy clothing in various sizes and styles. This is a department that requires little work, however, unless there are actually pets for sale in your department store.

Most department stores keep the pet department supplied with items like pet food, kitty litter, bedding, collars, and other pet needs. You will also find an assortment of pet snacks and treats as well as toys for your animals, from jingling balls for cats to tennis balls for dogs and beyond. The variety depends entirely on the store and how much they want to carry.

Some department stores go the extra mile with their pet department, and may actually have live animals, usually just fish and small creatures like hamsters and birds. Your job, in that case, would also include things like cleaning out cages, feeding the animals, and answering questions about them to the customers who come by and are interested.

Some department stores with extensive pet departments might also host adoption days for cats and dogs, which you may have to help facilitate. This might include taking care of the animals for the days, helping the adoption crew set up and then clean up, and taking animals out for people to see and handle. If you aren’t an “animal person,” this is definitely not the job for you!

In the smaller department stores, the pet department may not even have any staff assigned to that specific area. In most cases, the majority of money is made elsewhere, as people tend toward pet stores for pet supplies, leaving the pet department with very little activity.