Investors bark. Coles backpedals on ‘peak pooch’ price for pet business

July 20, 2026 — 3:00pm

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

It was roughly 20 years ago when supermarket bosses had their pet epiphany. The beginning of the trend towards pet (mainly dog) anthropomorphism that, perversely, had supermarket chief executives drooling over a retailing category with a hockey-stick-shaped growth potential.

Forget the days when the pet isle in stores consisted of cans of Pal, rather supermarkets were ushering in an era in which shelves were stocked with expensive designer pooch treats, doggy apparel, vitamins and more.

Against this backdrop it might appear counterintuitive that Coles’ boss Leah Weckert decided to abandon late-stage negotiations to spend nearly $4 billion to buy Greencross – the owner of Petbarn and City Farmer retail chains, hundreds of vet clinics and 24 vet hospitals.

But there are plenty of reasons that Coles’ investors were lukewarm to the prospect of Coles making a major investment into........

© The Sydney Morning Herald