By Andrea Chan

Petcetera will close all of its Canadian stores. The company is restructuring, offering discounts of up to 90% off on all merchandise at all locations. Three of its 18 remaining locations close at the end of next month and in total, 9 locations will close and 9 will be sold.

Founded in 1995 in Richmond, BC, Petcetera is a pet superstore offering more than 10,000 pet products, as well as pet care services including pet hospitals (Vetcetera), pet grooming, obedience school and 'doggy daycare centres'. In 2009, Petcetera downsized from 50 stores to 18 stores. The company currently employs over 300 employees in its British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia locations.

By June 30th, the company's Kamloops, Regina, and Ottawa stores will close. The company filed a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act on March 17th, commencing an immediate nationwide inventory sale to generate cash. It previously announced the closure of its stores in Abbotsford, Penticton, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Niagara Falls and Dartmouth, NS. Prices have been further discounted to include immediate price reductions on everything in the store with savings of up to 90% on their full range of pet merchandise, with even greater discounts in stores scheduled to closed. The company has also sold 9 stores to other pet retailers and inventory will be liquidated in these stores until the sale and purchase agreements close on May 30th.

"As we developed our restructuring plan it became evident the only viable options available to us were to either close or sell the stores." said Dan Urbani, president and CEO of Petcetera. "We have now rationalized the prospects of every store and have concluded that our stores in Kamloops, Regina, and Ottawa cannot be sold and will close by the end of June. Closing stores is a very difficult decision, but unfortunately this was the only remaining option for these stores. While we have been forced to close 9 stores we are pleased that 9 stores have been sold and will continue operating as pet stores".

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